Profiled By Duane Barnhart | @duanebarnhart | January 2nd, 2011
The ubiquity of the internet has monumentally revolutionized how we interact with each other, and has changed the way company’s manage their branding strategies. From the advent of email, bulletin board systems, to current social networking sites, technology has been integrated with communication to become a prominent focus of the new digital age. Branding strategies have expanded to include smartphones and phone apps, mobile websites and mobile ads as well as social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Ning. Heading into the new year it’s not enough to have a Facebook page or a Twitter account, you must participate in the conversation by making regular posts and replying to direct messages from your customers. In other words social marketing can not be thought of and utilized the way traditional media has been for years. It is not a “one way street” where you just pump out your message to as many people as you can; you must engage your customer.
If you accept and agree with this premise, then your next question is probably going to be, ” then how do I do this”? Good news! Introducing our “Disruptor of the Day” 33Across -
The folks at 33Across, believe that social dynamics drive purchasing activity and brand favorability. New movie? Latest smartphone? Best hotel in London? Social connections influence brand and product decisions in powerful ways.
33Across has built a groundbreaking marketing technology called SocialDNA™ Targeting. This technology enables clients to discover and reach the social networks that surround their brands. At its core, 33Across technology helps marketers identify high-potential prospects who are socially connected to existing customers and brand loyalists. For consumers, they offer highly-relevant advertising and a more user-friendly web experience.
33Across uses proprietary technology to build a unique Brand Graph for each of their 350+ Fortune 1000 customers. A Brand Graph predicts millions of new customers and loyalists by plotting the anonymous social engagement, influence and interests of a brand’s customers against our enormous 200+ million U.S.-user social graph. Advertisers then target the millions of consumers revealed in their Brand Graph online with brand and direct response initiatives.
Why the name 33Across? The toughest crossword puzzles can be solved if you decipher a large horizontal word in the middle of the puzzle. In many difficult puzzles these are often around 32 or 33 across. 33Across unlocks the puzzle of social connections.
The team at 33Across is made up of many industry professionals and are led by co-founders Eric Wheeler and Greg Levitt – Eric serves as the company’s CEO and brings 20 years of experience leading successful Internet businesses to 33Across. Prior to 33Across, he was the CEO of Neo@Ogilvy and Executive Director of Ogilvy Interactive North America. Under his leadership, Ogilvy Interactive’s revenue grew five-fold from 2003-2007 working with leading brands including IBM, American Express, TD Ameritrade, Cisco, and Yahoo!. Eric was COO of Carat Interactive and co-founder and President/COO of Lot21, the award-winning digital agency that sold to Carat in 2002. Eric’s career includes leadership positions at CNET, Young & Rubicam, and Anderson & Lembke in San Francisco.
Greg serves as the company’s Vice President of Product Management, bringing 15 years of experience scaling digital and offline media businesses to 33Across. Prior to 33Across, Greg led business development at Yahoo! Finance, where he secured multi-million dollar partnerships with CNBC and Bankrate, and set the M&A strategy. Prior to Yahoo!, Greg managed a marketing team at Primedia that generated over $80MM in magazine retail sales and led corporate development for 24/7 Real Media Europe.
If you want to learn about the social characteristics of your customers 33Across’ SocialDNA™ platform provides insights you won’t find anywhere else about the social dimensions of your brand.
To learn more about our “Disruptor of the Day”, please visit their website at www.33across.com
good idea im gonna try it