Thursday, Oct 9, 2007 6:24 PM EDT
by A.L. Friedman
Profile: Panache Remains Switzerland
The video advertising platform Panache's demo page is both startlingly cool and misleading. The highlighted products in the Extreme Makeover demo, for example, make you consider how underutilized the capabilities of internet advertising are. But Panache really isn't about impressive advertising, as I incorrectly stated last week. It's about flexibility.
(Profile continues below...)
Panache at a Glance:
Founded: 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Size: 20 employees
Product: Panache Technology Suite
Funding: No funding, spun off of Panther Technology
Competition: YuMe and Brightroll
"It was really important to us to remain Switzerland as [internet video] started developing," said Brad Feldman, COO of Panache. "We don't know what technology is going to win or what ad network is going to win. But no matter what happens, the business is going to be taking content and selling ads against that content."
Consider YouTube's recent announcement to adopt overlay ads. The giant's huge market share allowed it to instantaneously create a new legitimate ad format. Before, there were only TV-style video ads, and the big debates were over length and location. Now advertisers design overlay ads and sites are revamping their players to adjust. It was sort of an event when Blip.tv put overlays in QuickTime for Rocketboom, right?
Well, according to Feldman, Panache was capable of overlays before YouTube, and will likely be able to pull off the next new format whenever it makes itself known. While the technology allows for really cool branded entertainment, it also helps anyone with video content adapt to the emerging world of online video advertising standards.
"The most important thing to understand is that we don't create an ad unit," noted Feldman.
The company actually stumbled onto the flexibility aspect of its technology: The Panache Technology Suite was originally pushed for its ability to "separate the advertising from the engineers," in the COO's words. The Panache Technology Suite allows for the creation of those cool-looking ads from materials familiar to designers and advertisers. A small plug-in, also included in the suite, allows the video host to run the Panache ads. The plug-in can run the Panache ad scripts on a Flash player, regular TV, IPTV, and pretty much anywhere else that uses digital video.
Feldman told me that the Break.com deal emerged from connections established while working with Lionsgate (which owns 42 percent of Break) on an interactive ad for the movie The Condemned. Panache has a good thing going, and if the technology works like it's supposed to, the deal should be the first of many. (More actually are in the works, although Feldman was mum on specifics.)
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