First, I’d like to thank you for covering today’s announcement of ZoomInfo’s ‘bizographic’ ad targeting platform. We are very excited about the response we’ve had so far.

And, if you’ll permit me, I’d like to share a couple additional thoughts that may enhance and/or clarify a few points for your readers.

For starters, ZoomInfo is a business information search engine that focuses exclusively on…well…business information. Unlike other companies who have announced (or are about to announce) ad targeting platforms, ZoomInfo is not a social network, so we do not rely on user created profiles which can include personal and private information. On the contrary, our ‘bizographic’ ad platform is based on business information about people and companies which they have already chosen to make publicly available, and which our semantic search technology has identified and summarized.

Secondly, ad targeting, in general, provided that it’s not done in a personally identifiable manner, actually addresses two of the primary complaints that users consistently express about ad-driven Web sites: A) too many; and B) irrelevant ads. Consumers enjoy free content (i.e. ad-subsidized), of course, but can be frustrated by a barrage of irrelevant banners. On the other hand, with the right kind of targeting, ads can actually be inherently value-added content for the user.

Finally, as advertisers already know, targeting the business user online is difficult. Via bizographic targeting, ZoomInfo is uniquely positioned to create this connection between advertisers and the business Web audience. For more specifics on our bizgraphic platform, check out my colleague’s blog – Sought After. Here’s the link:

http://zoominfo.blogs.com/soughtafter/2007/11/bizographic-tar.html

Matt – Thanks again for keeping an eye on us. Keep up the great work.

Cheers,

Bryan A. Burdick
Chief Operating Officer
ZoomInfo.com