It has been a tough time for many businesses in the Tampa/St. Petersburg region of Florida. Many that survived the financial implosion of what was only a few years ago a booming area of growth and prosperity have done so through reduction of staff, revenue and profit.
There are, of course, exceptions, companies that were able to brush aside the challenges and actually continue along on a nice, positive trajectory. One local, Tampa-based company that I have watched with great interest and admiration is Triad Retail Media.
Greg Murtagh, CEO and founder of TRM, is featured this week in a special report on "Media Mavens" in this week's Advertising Age. Congratulations to him.
Murtagh is a former brand manager for the Dial Corp, a CPG expert who enthusiastically dove into the digital world as it was developing. He recalls in the article being treated like he was crazy for suggesting the purchase of search keywords. In 2001 he launched TRM based on an original and innovative business model.
His big idea was to view large retail websites which already boasted heavy traffic (Walmart.com, eBay, ToysRUs.com, etc) as a publisher would view a news/information site. He viewed the consumers who were visiting those sites as an audience. Working hand-in-hand with these retail sites, he sold access to that audience in the form of advertising, creatively designed, highly interactive advertising. TRM sells this advertising to the marketers of items available in those sites. So, for example, Walmart.com would feature a section of SE Johnson products (Ziplock, Glade, Pledge, etc.), paid for by SE Johnson. The end result: advertising in the right place, at the right time, in front of the right people; highly productive and cost-effective advertising.
Despite the economic turmoil in the Tampa Bay area and state of Florida, Murtagh and his team have been doing quite well.
This all points to the value of a good idea, the importance of innovation, the rewards for finding a new response to an existing challenge. The success of Triad Retail Media even at a time when so many other companies have faced terrible declines should serve as a reminder to all in marketing to resist settling comfortably into a tried and true routine.
There are, of course, exceptions, companies that were able to brush aside the challenges and actually continue along on a nice, positive trajectory. One local, Tampa-based company that I have watched with great interest and admiration is Triad Retail Media.
Greg Murtagh, CEO and founder of TRM, is featured this week in a special report on "Media Mavens" in this week's Advertising Age. Congratulations to him.
Murtagh is a former brand manager for the Dial Corp, a CPG expert who enthusiastically dove into the digital world as it was developing. He recalls in the article being treated like he was crazy for suggesting the purchase of search keywords. In 2001 he launched TRM based on an original and innovative business model.
His big idea was to view large retail websites which already boasted heavy traffic (Walmart.com, eBay, ToysRUs.com, etc) as a publisher would view a news/information site. He viewed the consumers who were visiting those sites as an audience. Working hand-in-hand with these retail sites, he sold access to that audience in the form of advertising, creatively designed, highly interactive advertising. TRM sells this advertising to the marketers of items available in those sites. So, for example, Walmart.com would feature a section of SE Johnson products (Ziplock, Glade, Pledge, etc.), paid for by SE Johnson. The end result: advertising in the right place, at the right time, in front of the right people; highly productive and cost-effective advertising.
Despite the economic turmoil in the Tampa Bay area and state of Florida, Murtagh and his team have been doing quite well.
This all points to the value of a good idea, the importance of innovation, the rewards for finding a new response to an existing challenge. The success of Triad Retail Media even at a time when so many other companies have faced terrible declines should serve as a reminder to all in marketing to resist settling comfortably into a tried and true routine.
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