Quattro Wireless, the Waltham, Mass-based mobile ad company that helped encourage mobile-savvy youth to vote for Obama in the 2008 election, announced a “strategic relationship” with Microsoft Corp.’s advertising unit on Monday.
Microsoft is getting down to business when it comes to sorting out their mobile strategy. Just last week, the software giant announced a search partnership with Verizon Wireless, a blow to ad-hungry competitor Google. According to Verizon, Microsoft Live Search integration will enable easier access to context-relevant search results–Microsoft will also manage display advertising, promising a one-stop integrated channel for advertisers and ad agencies to target mobile users.
Quattro earned its Microsoft agreement by showing off its mobile ad influence during the 2008 election. The company put together an Obama ad campaign targeting youth in 10 battleground states. Its ads appeared both on mobile Web sites and as text messages.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the election work led to a broader relationship with Mobext, a mobile marketing network of French ad giant Havas. Since the partnership began in August, the company has increased its purchases from the ad network since, buying space on behalf of McDonald’s franchisees and for Amtrak.
As far as the Microsoft agreement goes, Quattro’s ad targeting platform and publisher inventory will accept traffic from Microsoft Advertising’s Atlas Media Console buy-side ad serving technology. This will offer advertisers and agencies an efficient option for setting up, tracking, billing and measuring an integrated mobile campaign.
Once a campaign is set up via Atlas Media Console, it can be seamlessly served across any publisher within the Quattro Ad Network, with Quattro partner integration tools simplifying mobile media planning and buying chores by refining the targeting method and dynamically serving ads based on the subscriber’s mobile device and screen size. In addition, media planners and buyers may work directly with Quattro to further extend their reach and placement alternatives.
