UnSoldSpace enters increasingly crowded aggregator game

July 18, 2008 by Dave Haynes

An Atlanta-based startup has announced its entry into the increasing crowded competition for getting in the middle of advertising transactions in the out of home sector, including digital.

Last week it was AdSemble.

Now we have UnSoldSpace.com, a Web-based search and broker tool that enables media planners/buyers to sniff out available media and quickly put out competitive bidfs among media companies for chunks of ad budget.

“Our Lead Generation System dramatically reduces the time, effort and expense typically associated with trying to find qualified buyers and suppliers of OOH media,” says Jim Walman, Chairman, CEO and co-founder of UnSoldSpace, LLC, in a press release. “In addition, OOH media suppliers can use our Lead Generation System as a new, efficient and supplemental means of prospecting new business and connecting with qualified buyers, risk-free, at UnSoldSpace.com.”

According to Walman, an advertiser (or agency) creates and submits a public e-RFA using UnSoldSpace’s Lead Generation System, which ensures all proposal details are viewable except the buyer’s contact information. Suppliers can use UnSoldSpace’s search engines to locate the e-RFA, or suppliers will receive a buyer’s electronic proposal via E-mail if it matches their customized e-RFA alert profile. Suppliers are then able to evaluate an anonymous e-RFA for free. If interested in responding to a qualified opportunity, a supplier can opt to reveal or “unmask” a buyer’s contact information for a $35 charge. Upon the supplier’s payment, media buyers receive multiple responses (directly) from pre-qualified suppliers, resulting in more choices and optimal pricing for the advertiser’s brand.

With the July 2008 launch of UnSoldSpace, buyers and suppliers of all OOH media are now able to take advantage of a web platform that delivers collaborative campaign-building tools and services that are simple to use and supportive of almost any company’s business needs and workflows. UnSoldSpace requires no training and is free to media buyers and commission-free to media suppliers. This versatile platform accommodates all OOH media types and OOH media formats, including traditional, non-traditional, and digital. UnSoldSpace also offers geographic targeting capabilities down to the zip-code level.

I spend precious little time on the ad sales side of the game, so I can’t provide much useful comment on whether this is the Big One or a fringe service. Depending on your point of view about the media planning process, it may or may not be a good thing that the management team is mostly made up of ex Delta Airlines guys. Ad sales and planning experience among the bunch is limited.

It looks like the primary source of revenue will be through the lead generation fees.