Maven Adds Agency Partners
Thirteen agencies have signed on to keep up with Maven's latest developments.
Interactive video platform developer Maven Networks has added three more interactive agencies to its agency partner program. Agency.com, iEntertainment and Tribal DDB join the ten charter members who have been on board since the program launched in September.
Maven Agency Partner Program (MAPP) members receive special incentives on Maven solutions, including tiered margins for agencies to resell the Maven platform, and other discounts able to be shared among an agency’s clients. MAPP also provides consulting and training resources for agencies to create broadband marketing campaigns utilizing the Maven Media System.
Partners are provided help designing demos and prototypes and receive training on best practices to fully utilize the platform. Maven’s professional services group offers application design, development and strategic consulting so partners can apply new technological capabilities to their client’s marketing strategies.
“We don’t tend to have a preference in technology where there are several players, but Maven is the only player doing this sort of thing that can work with agencies to make it happen,” said Dorian Sweet, VP of creative at Agency.com.
Although the discounts are helpful, Sweet said he thought it was more important to consider the level of connection between the agency and vendor. Maven’s MAPP keeps agencies abreast of the company’s latest developments in technology as well as what other people are doing with the software.
Sweet expects to use Maven’s technology “in a big way” with multiple clients in the coming years. Agency.com clients include Miller Brewing, HP and eBay. Sweet expects to help clients take television content and use it online in a meaningful way, he said.
“They have content, but they don’t want to just put TV on the Web. They’re looking for us to find a way to take their content and deliver something that’s a lot more than just a TV spot,” Sweet said. “Users are looking for something a lot more interactive than that.”
Sweet tells his clients that, while the technology is not yet the equivalent of interactive TV on the Web, it is a step in that direction, and makes sense as a natural progression.
The Maven application layers interactive functionality over full-screen video delivered to the consumer’s desktop during the user’s idle time. Once the entire channel is downloaded, the user is notified, and then is able to view the video content that is pre-loaded on the user’s hard drive. Maven tracks consumer activity within the application and provides multiple campaign metrics through an online interface.
The technology has been used in the past by GM, which created a “ChevyLive” implementation to deliver Chevy-sponsored event content, such as behind-the-scenes footage of the Country Music Awards, along with music videos and Chevy promotions.
