Viewpoint Lays Off, Tightens Focus on Ad Products

Viewpoint plans to lay off the bulk of its creative services group in New York and outsource their jobs, a move that should focus the somewhat sprawling company more tightly on its Unicast ad solutions unit.

The cost cutting maneuver will sever 29 percent of the creative services staff, the company said, most of whom are based in its Manhattan offices. That group focuses on Viewpoint’s 3D modeling products, whose biggest customers are in the heavy industry and automotive verticals.

While it will continue to service the 3D applications, Viewpoint has determined to focus on its ad products, which it acquired just over a year ago.

The company also plans to bring to the fore its recently-inaugurated search consulting practice, to be led by Jason McKay, previous head of interactive advertising at Sony Electronics. The new unit is rumored to have received only moderate investment from the company, but was mentioned in Viewpoint’s statement on the layoffs.

“Outsourcing more of our services business… will allow us to increase the focus on our high-growth businesses of search and ad solutions across our company,” said CEO Patrick Vogt in the statement.

The company has also said it plans to release a behavioral targeting product this year. Such a product would collect clickstream data on users who have installed the Viewpoint media player, then use that data to target ads and content on the company’s partner sites.

Viewpoint declined to specify the number of employees being let go.