AdExchanger.com reached out to a cross-section of executives from the digital advertising ecosystem to gauge their reaction to the acquisition of display ad technology firm Dapper by Yahoo!
Bill Wise, CEO, MediaBank
“While the acquisition is reactive to Google’s acquisition of Teracent last year, it is an deal that actually makes a ton of sense to Yahoo & its shareholders, and should be accretive. More holistically, Yahoo needs to become THE UNDISPUTED LEADER in display like Google became in search, which will require a much more proactive, innovative and visionary approach to driving share shift. Thus, I look forward to more deals like this and hope the integration leads to synergies across the Yahoo properties, as well as the Right Media Exchange…”
Elizabeth Blair, CEO, Brand.net
“The Dapper acquisition shows Yahoo! is moving forward again in display advertising technology. Most people forget that Yahoo! pioneered this technology in 2006 with “Smart Ads” and led the industry. It worked beautifully and clients loved it. But previous management decided to rebuild it from scratch, shutting it down (!) in the interim and outsourcing to Tumri and Teracent. Like most display initiatives, it fell behind Search projects (Panama) and Newspaper Alliance projects (APT). The error was compounded by letting Google pick up Teracent (and cheaply). So – it’s symbolic of how and how badly Yahoo! lost its way. Positively, it’s a sign that Yahoo! is serious about resurrecting its history of display advertising technology innovation. Google, Microsoft and Facebook are moving fast and closing the gap quickly. I want to see more, bigger, faster Yahoo! announcements focusing on technology and talent acquisitions, and superior execution, to catalyze promising first steps.”
“Customizing and optimizing messaging rounds out the ability to target messages to the right audiences and right contexts. VivaKi Ventures recognized the importance of this capability and had both Dapper and fellow
creative optimization company, Tumri, in the Ventures portfolio. Yahoo has had success working with all of these players in the space and it makes sense for them to bring this in-house, as the additive cost of the service is more difficult to sell and operationalize as a separate, stand alone enterprise. How they evolve buy side tools will be interesting.”
JB Rudelle, CEO, Criteo
“Congratulation [to the Dapper] guys. After the Google acquisition of Teracent, it was logical for Yahoo! to integrate the same functionality within their offer. It’s great to see that dynamic display banners are getting growing recognition and will hopefully become the tomorrow standard of ad serving.”
Brendan Moorcroft, CEO, Mediabrands’ Cadreon
“We are excited by the focus on the creative space and tools to help create rich creative experiences.”
Bill Todd, GM, ValueClick Media
“Yahoo’s acquisition of Dapper reconfirms the powerful combination of data and creative to drive advertiser performance. It also validates the importance of our investment in dynamic ad creative and real-time bidding technology and the direction we see display advertising moving as an industry.”
Terence Kawaja, CEO, LUMA Partners
“I think this is a very smart move for Yahoo. In Dapper, they gain leading ad customization and targeting technology as well as an excellent team with a proven track record of product innovation. The display media landscape is a very dynamic one and Dapper will help keep Yahoo on the cutting edge of technology. This is a prime example of the “Science-ification of Media” concept I have been talking about and it is exactly the kind of smart strategic transaction on which LUMA Partners was formed to advise. It’s a real win-win. Expect more consolidation. (Disclosure: LUMA Partners advised Dapper on this transaction.)”
Hari Menon, CEO, Tumri
“Yahoo’s acquisition of Dapper validates the Dynamic Ad category even further and the fact that creative is the next frontier in display ad performance. Tumri is now the only independent company with an agency/advertiser self-serve model (SaaS) in the Dynamic Ad category and the independence allows us to partner with agencies, ad networks, DSPs and other demand and supply aggregators.”
Michael Katz, President, interclick
“The acquisition seems like great news for all parties involved. There have been a ton of companies that have been built for consolidation over the past few years, so congrats to these guys for taking the chance and having it pay off.”
By John Ebbert
