After a record first quarter where it seems like no one in the office has had time to even get up and go home, we would like to shed a spotlight on some of the new digital publishers who have recently launched their own self-serve advertising offerings using Shiny Ads.

	Wikia.com - a top-50 global website recently named the top gaming online destination. Their products include World of Warcraft Wiki and Star Wars The Old Republic Wiki.
	Kijiji.ca – a Canada’s largest classified site with over 2 billion monthly page views and is part of eBay.
	IGN.com - includes some of the world’s leading sites targeting young men and gaming, including IGN and AskMen.
	Mocospace.com - largest entertainment destination on the mobile Internet.

If you want to check out a partial list of our premium digital publishers, please visit our partners page.

TORONTO, ONTARIO. Shiny Ads, the innovator in white-label self-serve advertising platforms, announced today that it has been chosen as one of the top 25 “Up an Comers” for the 2012 edition of the Branham300, the definitive listing of Canada’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry leaders.

“Shiny Ads is pleased to be part of this year’s Up and Comers in the Canadian technology industry.”, said Roy Pereira, CEO of Shiny Ads. “We have always pushed the innovation boundary with our technology, and continue to exceed our partners’ expectations. This award signifies that we are on the right path”

About Shiny Ads

Shiny Ads is an advertising technology company specializing in sell-side automation of premium inventory. Our award-winning Self-Service Advertising Platform is our core product offering. With Shiny Ads, publishers are able to facilitate ad buys to smaller advertisers in a quick, easy and affordable way. Visit our website at ShinyAds.com or follow us on Twitter at @shinyads.

About the Branham300

For nearly 20 years, the Branham300 has highlighted the top Canadian and Multinational ICT companies operating in Canada, as ranked by revenues. It illustrates the depth and breadth of innovative technologies developed in Canada and is widely considered to be a leading source of intelligence on Canada’s ICT industry. The Branham300 list consists of the following major categories:

• Top 250 Canadian ICT Companies
• The Next 50 Canadian ICT Companies
• Top 25 ICT Multinational Companies operating in Canada
• Top 25 Up and Comer ICT Companies (category ranked on innovation/not revenue)

The Branham300 is published annually on www.branham300.com, as well as in the April/May issue of Backbone Magazine (www.backbonemag.com). Keep up to date with the Branham300 and Branham Group on twitter at @branhamgroup, through Branham’s Newsletter, or RSS feed.

About Branham Group Inc.

Branham Group Inc. is a leading industry analyst and strategic consulting company servicing the global Information, Communication and Entertainment (ICE) Technology marketplace. Branham Group assists ICE Technology companies and related institutions in achieving market success through its custom consulting services (Planning, Marketing and Partnering), and through its multi-client research subscription programs (Digital Health, Green IT and Cloud). Branham also produces an annual listing of the top ICT companies in Canada (www.branham300.com) and monitors over 450 Digital Health vendors (www.branhamgroup.com/digitalhealth).

For more information regarding Branham Group, please visit www.branhamgroup.com.

For further information, please contact:

Darren Anderson
Project Manager, Branham300 & Research Analyst
Branham Group
613-745-2282 Ext. 122
danderson@branhamgroup.com

Shiny Ads, the innovator in white-label sell-side automation for premium inventory, today announced that Graham Huddlestone has joined the company as Director of Client Services.

Graham will lead the client services team in managing post-sales engagement of Shiny Ads’ self-serve advertising platform and direct sales order management products with our premium publisher partners.

Graham held his previous position at AOL Canada, where he led all Canadian publisher relationships including inventory acquisition and management for the Advertising.com display network. Graham utilized his strong relationship management skills to grow the stable of publishers in Canada and increase the US, Canadian, and UK remnant impression inventory coming from Canadian publishers. Prior to his role with Advertising.com, Graham managed all publisher relationships for AOL Canada’s ad representation business. He also has in depth knowledge and experience in mobile technologies from his time as a Product Line Manager for mobile commerce products with Redknee. Graham has an MBA from the University of British Columbia.

“Shiny Ads is known as a great partner to our premium publishers in the way that we work with them and our technology to generate more revenue for them.”, said Roy Pereira, CEO and Founder of Shiny Ads, “Graham will bring great experience and the perfect attitude to the Director of Client Services role as we continue to work with more premium publishers.”

Shiny Ads provides its self-serve advertising platform to premium publishers such as CBS Interactive, Wikia.com, DeviantART.com, Ebay’s Kijiji.ca, AdWeek.com, and Unanimus.co.uk.

ABOUT SHINY ADS

Shiny Ads is an advertising technology company specializing in sell-side automation of premium inventory. Our award-winning Self-Service Advertising Platform is our core product offering. With Shiny Ads, smaller advertisers are able to quickly and easily purchase advertising without the need of industry knowledge, graphic designers, or a large budget. Visit our website at ShinyAds.com.

Yesterday, the Federal Canadian government announced that their FedDev agency provided funding to 8 Toronto-area startups including Shiny Ads.

You can read about it at the following links:

FedDev Ontario Invests $4.85 Million in Toronto Startups

A Total of $20 Million Was Just Invested in Eight Toronto Startups

Eight Toronto startups To Watch

Today, Shiny Ads is announcing that the company has closed another financing round. The round was lead by Intertainment Media with existing investors, Maple Leaf Angels and York Angels, also participating and continuing to support the company.  Total capital raised was $400k plus an option for an additional $250k.  Proceeds of this financing round will be used to accelerate the company’s sales strategy and continued product evolution.

You can view Intertainment Media’s press release below;

Intertainment Media Inc. closes Investment in Award Winning Advertising Technology – Shiny Ads

Canada’s technology incubator, Intertainment Media, takes stake in Toronto advertising technology start up

NEW YORK / LOS ANGELES / SAN MATEO / TORONTO – February 1st, 2012 – Intertainment Media Inc. (“Intertainment” or the “Company”) (TSXV:INT / OTCQX: ITMTF / FRA: I4T) announced today that it has finalized its early stage investment in Shiny Ads, an award winning advertising technology company, which specializes in the sell-side automation of premium inventory for online publishers.

Shiny Ads and its suite of products is well positioned to capture a share of the estimated $14 billion dollar self-serve ad market. Winner of the Foreign Affairs Technology Growth Initiative and chosen by the IDC as a top 10 digital company to watch, Shiny Ads currently counts an impressive list of clients including CBS Interactive, DeviantArt.com, Wikia.com, AdWeek.com, Unanimis.co.uk, and SourceInterlink as well a number of other tier one brands.

“Intertainment Media is very excited to close its investment in Shiny Ads. The potential for this advertising technology to successfully deploy on a global scale is, in our opinion, phenomenal.” said David Lucatch, CEO of Intertainment Media. “Intertainment Media is committed to its philosophy of investing, nurturing and developing leading edge technologies digital and social media platforms and the Shiny Ads investment was a natural fit with that mandate.”

“We are extremely happy to have an organization such as Intertainment Media share in our vision for our technology.” said Roy Pereira, CEO and Founder of Shiny Ads. “We look forward to tapping into their experience and resources as we look to take Shiny Ads to the next level.”

“The investment in the Shiny Ads platform provides a fantastic strategic opportunity for Intertainment Media’s current portfolio of investments.” said Brad Parry, CMO of Intertainment Media. “The ability to more efficiently direct premium advertisers to our available inventory across our multiple platforms will ensure that we are securing the best possible returns for our inventory.”

The initial early stage investment of $250,000 will provide Intertainment Media with an ownership stake in Shiny Ads and also provides the opportunity for Intertainment Media to increase its investment by an equal amount within six months at today’s valuation and will also provide Intertainment Media with a seat on the Shiny Ads board.

About Intertainment Media – www.intertainmentmedia.com
Intertainment Media Inc. is one of Canada’s leading technology incubators and is focused on developing, nurturing and investing in technologies and companies that provide technology solutions for brands and consumers alike.
Intertainment Media also owns and operates a number of key properties including Ad Taffy, itiBiti, Ortsbo, Deal Frenzy and Magnum, with investments in leading edge technologies and social media platforms including theaudience.com . For more information on the Company and its properties, please visit www.intertainmentmedia.com

Headquartered in the Toronto, Canada region, with offices in New York, Los Angeles and San Mateo, CA, Intertainment Media Inc. is listed on the Toronto Venture Exchange under the symbol “INT” (TSXV:INT) and in the US on the OTCQX Exchange under the symbol “ITMTF”. Intertainment is also traded in Europe, on the XETRA Exchange under the symbol “I4T”.

About Shiny Ads – www.shinyads.com
Shiny Ads is an advertising technology company specializing in sell-side automation of premium inventory. The award-winning Self-Service Advertising Platform is a core product offering. With Shiny Ads, smaller advertisers are able to quickly and easily purchase advertising without the need of industry knowledge, graphic designers, or a large budget. Shiny Ads is NOT an ad network, nor does it solicit directly from advertisers or ad networks. Shiny Ads is a solutions provider that supports direct sales team and works in conjunction with ad networks – providing online publishers with access to an untapped revenue stream. Visit website at ShinyAds.com or check out the demo at vimeo.com/shinyads/intro.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain certain forward-looking information. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, is forward-looking information and such information involves various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. A description of assumptions used to develop such forward looking information and a description of risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in the company’s disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

This release may contain forward looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbour” provisions of US laws. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward looking statements. Intertainment Media Inc. does not assume any obligation to update any forward looking information contained in this news release.

Contacts:

For Intertainment Media Inc.:

Brad Parry, bparry@intertainmentmedia.com
Tel: 800-395-9943 / 905-763-3510
Email: info@intertainmentmedia.com
To learn more, visit: www.intertainmentmedia.com

For Shiny Ads Inc.
Roy Pereira

http://ShinyAds.com

(416) 844-7697

Public Relations / Media Inquiries:
SS | PR
Email: mcampe@sspr.com
Web site: www.sspr.com

Shiny Ads has a new case study outlining how one of our publisher customers, iGreatLakes.com (now part of OutdoorHub.com), utilized Shiny Ads and Google DFP to bring our their self-serve advertising solution.  This Google-written case study can be found here.

As Shiny Ads marks its 2 year launch anniversary, we are bringing out a large set of new functionality in Jan 2012.

We’ve learnt a lot since launching our Self-Serve Advertising Platform for premium publishers in January 2010.   One of the most important elements to providing a simple and effective way for advertisers to purchase ads directly on a publisher’s web or mobile properties is how a publisher promotes their “new” self-serve advertising product.

Smaller advertisers are unaware that they can advertise directly on a specific website as there hasn’t been any technology to do that and all premium websites have a minimum ad buy amount that is typically much higher than what a small advertiser can afford.  As a result, since its launched in 2000, Google AdWords has been synonymous with self-serve online advertising for small advertisers.

To overcome this hurdle, premium publishers need to promote and offer incentives for their white-labeled self-serve advertising product.  One way to promote the new self-serve advertising product is to highlight it on high-traffic web pages.  The other way is to market and promote it to existing advertisers.

Today, Shiny Ads is launching a set of powerful marketing and promotion tools to assist our publisher partners in generating greater revenue from their advertisers.  Of course, all options are optional and highly configurable by the publisher.

Cart Abandonment Incentives – Automatically sends the advertiser an email plus an optional promotional discount code at specific intervals after they have created an ad buy, but have not paid for it.

Campaign Renewal Incentives – Automatically sends the advertiser an email plus an optional promotional discount code at specific intervals after their campaign is fully delivered, but they have not renewed and purchased a new one.

Frequent Buyer Incentives – Automatically sends frequent advertisers a promotional discount code to thank them for their loyalty.

Sales Events – Allows the publisher to set specific time frames throughout the year that trigger a sales event for their ad products and automatically emails their current and past advertisers about the upcoming sales event.

Special Promotional Broadcasts – Allows the publisher to quickly send an email with an optional promotional discount code out to all current and previous advertisers.

Weekly Campaign Status Emails – Each active advertiser now receives a weekly campaign status email displaying total impressions and clicks, plus the option to purchase another campaign form the same publisher.

Importing of Previous Advertisers – A publisher’s promotional emails can be sent to not only their advertisers on Shiny Ads, but also their previous advertisers.  Those previous advertisers can be imported quickly either from a list of email address or through our  SalesForce.com integration.

Today, Shiny Ads is releasing further enhancements to the Ad Product/Zone.

An ad product is how publishers define “what” they want to sell in their white-labeled Shiny Ads self-serve advertising product.  It is an incredibly flexible construct that not only allows for specific pricing to be set, but also targeting, the customization of lead times, validation rules and other options.

Targeting: Hour of Day, Day of Week, US DMA, US ZIP Code - These new targeting options, for the advertiser to choose, are now available along with the existing targeting options such as country, state, city, language, site, zone, placement.  Some targeting options only work with some supported ad servers.

Alternative Ad Server – Each ad product can now point to a different ad server and account.  This provides greater flexibility to larger publishers with multiple ad servers and accounts through out their network of sites.

Start Lead Time – This option enables the publisher to offset the advertiser’s selected starting date for their campaign. It facilitates a “lead time” for publishers with internal processing policies.

Flight Duration Pre-Set – A publisher can now choose to pre-set the default campaign flight duration. eg. 30 days.

Destination URL Validation – A publisher can set a root domain that all destination URLs must be a subdomain of.  All URLs are checked against a malware database and are rejected if they are found to contain malware.

Country Targeting PreSets – Ad products can be preset to target a specific set of countries, which prevents the advertiser from choosing which country they want to geo-target.

Order Sales Representative – To ensure compensation is allocated to sales representatives associated with assisting advertisers, this feature provides the option of requesting the advertiser to reference the salesperson’s name.

Defer Green-lighting the Approved Order – Publishers now have the option to defer “green-lighting” the inserted campaign in their ad server.  This option allows a further approval by ad ops for such items as ad tag validation.

There is a lot more new functionality coming out shortly.

AdWeek has partnered with Toronto-based technology company Shiny Ads to create the new Adweek Self-Serve Ad platform.

The service now lets anyone upload a 300 x 250 banner ad and secure a set number of impressions for as little as $500. This will allow marketers with any size budget to speak directly to Adweek’s growing readership. If you don’t have a banner design handy, don’t worry. Just use the platform’s tool set to create banner ad designs that will run alongside Adweek’s editorial content.

“The interest in Adweek.com has exploded since its relaunch,” said Adweek publisher Erica Bartman. “The new Self-Serve Ad Platform is a great tool for products and services looking to connect with Adweek’s readers, who are not only decision makers in every sector of the industry, but also executives looking for new and exciting ideas.”

“We are Adweek after all,” added Doug Ferguson, gm of digital at Adweek. “We should constantly be investigating and even experimenting with new digital ad models.”

The Shiny Ads technology integrates with Adweek.com’s advertising system, automatically inspecting available inventory and fulfilling self-serve clients’ desired number of impressions. That allows it to generate revenue from new sources while avoiding any interference with ads sold to clients by the Adweek sales team, which the system always grants priority.

“Shiny Ads enables premium publishers to generate revenue from sources which were either shut out from or were very unprofitable,” said Shiny Ads founder and CEO Roy Pereira. “Our products target sell-side automation of premium inventory and are geared toward maximizing revenues for online publishers.”

At Shiny Ads, we strongly believe in minimizing costs for our premium online publisher partners. Our architecture is built exclusively on that premise.

One of the unique features is the ability of Shiny Ads to directly integrate into our premium online publisher’s own ad server via its API.  Over the last several months, we’ve quietly added support for four new ad servers to better support our online publishers.

• 24/7 RealMedia OpenAdstream
• ADTECH IQ
• AppNexus DisplayWords
• OpenX Enterprise v3