By Ken Kraetzer
Can you imagine speaking from a 360 degree round stage in the busy exhibition hall at a major international marketing conference with just minutes to describe why your start-up company should win a prize that could fuel future growth? That is what five companies did in the final afternoon in at the @Then Conference in Boston. The five finalists earned the time on stage by winning the preliminaries over ten other start-up technology firms invited to participate by the Direct Marketing Association and its sponsoring members.
“What was really amazing about the “Hot Zone” program” commented the Competition Director, David M. Kohl, of Morgan Digital Ventures, “Is that we really had 15 companies and they were almost all distinct from the next, trend is that there is more innovations and more disruption across a broader area of topics then there might have been three of more years ago.
The finalists were:
www.sticky.ad USA/Sweden based, provides a platform for pre-test ads on sites and networks to identify the true value of each placement before committing to it.
www.vistarmedia.com, New York City based, an advertising platform that enables brands to reach consumers based on geospatial location based technology, analyses consumer behavior to determine means to reach them through mobile and out-of-home advertising.
www.TrackIf.com : Minnesota based, monitors sites and categories such as Amazon, Twitter, stocks, job postings, entertainment listings and alerts customers when the constant search process meets a criteria. Helps e-tailors track website browsers and prompt offers to encourage purchases.
www.Refuel4.com : Has offices in San Francisco, London, Singapore and Japan, helps clients manage campaigns with creative platforms for Facebook and Instagram advertisements
www.Robuzz.com Another New York City based start-up, a digital clipping service that helps businesses identify and process real-time news on people and business topics. Used for background research, sales triggers, spark conversations with prospects, and meeting preparation.
Kohl announced the winners as: #1 Vistar Media, #2 Sticky, #3 TrackIf . Afterwards Lucy Markowitz the presenter for VistarMedia described the opportunity and excitement of the event:
“It was incredible, great exposure with everyone here, really fun to compete against these awesome companies, it showed that even on an national stage people are still interested in the innovative offerings that we have.”