Ad Summos, Polk Sign Online Automotive Agreement

Southfield-based Polk and New York City-based Ad Summos Tuesday announced an agreement giving Ad Summos access to Polk's automotive information, helping the company provide insight into whether consumers that have seen an ad online actually end up purchasing an automobile.

Underpinning the arrangement is Ad Summos' proprietary privacy-sensitive technology, Dual Blind Attribution, which allows for matching ads served online with actions taken offline on a census basis with complete anonymity.

With access to Polk's vehicle make and model data, Ad Summos is able to determine the vehicle purchasing and ownership behaviors of individuals served online display ads. Ad Summos analytical products can determine whether the ads are being presented to the appropriate consumers and can be used to understand resulting vehicle purchasing behaviors.

"Accessing Polk's data is a significant arrow in the quiver of weapons we're providing marketers," said Curt Viebranz, CEO of Ad Summos. "A significant portion of online advertising is purchased by automotive marketers. The combination of Polk information and our analytics will provide these marketers with unprecedented insights into whether their media spend influences vehicle purchases, including data on competitive purchases. Moving beyond proxies for purchase such as tracking hand raisers or leads will be a game changer."

Automotive marketers can use Ad Summos to make buys on premium Web sites, getting their ads in front of in-market audiences while using Polk information to understand how online activities might influence vehicle purchases.

Said John McBride, a director in Polk's customer services team: "Ad Summos brings a unique model that we believe will be very intriguing to automotive marketers that are trying to better understand how online display ads influence vehicle purchasing behaviors."

Ad Summos' patent-pending technology provides a definitive, census-based link between ads served online and actions taken offline in a privacy-safe way.

More at www.polk.com.