In our continuing our series on Content Unlocking, we present another interview, this time with Dale Carr, the owner and CEO of LeadBolt. LeadBolt is a fast growing content unlocking company that was the first company to promote mobile content unlocking, and because of that has become the “go-to” place for that side of the industry. Again, another informative interview from a CEO of a Content Unlocking company – revealing more about the industry and where it’s going.
How did you get started in the industry? Can you give me a brief Background on yourself?
I have always been involved in technology even from an early age – whether it was breaking computers, fixing them or programming them. Over the years I have been fortunate to be involved in a number of successful start-ups. My first major gig was as the CIO of a technology start-up in the UK. After the business was bought out during the dot com bubble, I moved to Australia and co-founded a mobile content and technology company which became the Fastest Growing Company in Australia and Asia Pacific.
While in that company, I was heavily involved in advertising and its products online. I saw click throughs drop massively over the years in line with the industry as a whole. I knew that rich media was going to change the face of internet advertising and content locking was going to play a major role in certain industries.
I launched LeadBolt in mid-2010. It was a very opportune time as the industry was still relatively fresh, but there were many disillusioned publishers looking for a home that would treat them fairly. We benefited from this and our growth has been beyond our expectations.
As you know, there have been accusations that content unlocking is a scummy model. What are you guys doing to prevent advertisers from showing up on your network, if they have no interest in being involved?
We were a little surprised in the early days as to the efforts some people would go to buck the system. We don’t support any kind of rogue activities and pride ourselves on being a clean network. To this end we monitor activities on the network very carefully to make sure that we have the highest quality in terms of advertisers, publishers and returns. After all we are here to keep both sides happy and make sure we deliver good leads which convert like crazy to give incredible returns to publishers.
How do you respond to the implications by Ryan Eagle that his competitors don’t care about merchant quality?
He is probably right. That is why they are coming to us – we have a network they can rely on.
What are you better than the rest of the content unlocking companies?
Our superior technology is the backbone of LeadBolt. We invest most of our resources developing solutions that will ensure our Publishers and affiliates make better returns and our advertisers receive better leads. Combine this with our customer service, publisher and advertiser management portals, our advanced ad serving technology and formulas … well, that is more the one thing we are better at.
What do you think is the biggest challenge in the incentive based Marketing industry in general? What changes would you like to see?
I think that the marketing industry still see online incent as niche because it’s potential is misunderstood. So many brands throwing money at campaigns without direct and measurable results could benefit from incentivised marketing. What do you think would be more powerful for a brand, 1 million viewers seeing their ad on TV, or 100,000 targeted viewers, seeing that ad and being incentivised to provide feedback on the ad? This is the real potential of incentive based marketing – we are just ahead of the industry.
If I was going to ask your publishers & affiliates why they work with you over another company, what would they say?
They would tell you that we deliver what we promise. We promise world class service, the best technology and incredible returns. We are a highly reputable and trust worthy network that truly values our clients. Most of all though, they will tell you they work with us because we are true to our name as we “lead” the way.
Can you tell us about your mobile content unlocking? Why did you start to focus on this?
We took the best of our web technology and content locking solutions, and in a way ported it to the mobile. This was a world first as it was not a matter of simply replicating what was there. It was a rewrite as we re-engineered things from the ground up so it would work for mobile. We started focusing on it so we could continue offering the best solution to our customers. Many had dual assets both online and on the mobile and wanted us to port things over so they could enjoy the same returns they were getting online. They asked, and we had to deliver.
What does the the LeadBolt team do on a daily basis that makes the job enjoyable?
I enjoy everything about the job, developing leading edge technology, working with an incredible team, speaking with our customers, but above all, I enjoy delivering awesome returns for our publishers. We are a dedicated team that have a single focus – to increase ecpms and ensure they remain consistently high. There is nothing more satisfying than hearing howhappy our pubs are and seeing the buzz in the forums. After all, a happy customer is a loyal one and their success means our success. We truly value them and that is one of the main reasons why they continue to flock to us.
What is your dream car?
My dream car at the moment is the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento. When you see it after it rolls off the production line late 2011 you’ll know why.
