Battle at Kruger: Ad Networks vs The Powerhouses

Some of you may have seen YouTube's "Best Eye Witness" Award Winning Video, "Battle At Kruger." This heroic video shows a poor baby Buffalo's struggle to survive an attach from two of Africa's most powerful predators; the Lion and Crocodile. Oddly enough, this battle ends with a convincing victory for the Buffalo because of the power of strenght in numbers.

At the completion of this incredible video, I sat there applauding the audacity that this herd of Buffalo had to challenge two of the most lethal animals in Africa. Then all of a sudden, it dawned on me that this concept of strength in numbers is the same strategy that Ad Networks use to combat the powerhouses of the Ad World.

Let's use the obvisous example of Kid's Marketing. As an Advertiser, I know that if I was doing the buy for a brand like Matel, I'd immediately reach out to the people at Disney and Nickelodeon. This is the obvious route knowing that they have an established and credible network of properties that reach children of all ages. However, that's precisely where every other Marketer is trying to reach this audience. Is there another source that has just as much power?

Let's take a look at GoFish, a very intriguing Kid's Ad Network that I've been lucky enough to learn about just recently, and that has some of the most popular kid's websites in their repertoire. Some of these sites include Miniclip, Piczo, WeeWorld and Whyville. Like the Buffalo, GoFish cannot compete with just one of their sites against Disney and Nick. However, when you combine all of the sites in the network, GoFish accounts for a monthly reach of 18.2 Million uniques, which is just behind Nick's 25.4 Million and Disney's 27.5 Million. Suddenly, we find that the Buffalo, although modest and sometimes unnoticed, can also fight with the most powerful of all.

I don't know about you, but when I watched this video I found myself routing for the Buffalo. This is what I like to call the case of the underdog. Although it may be odd to relate a Kid's Ad Network to an battle of animals at a watering hole in Africa, I think the same underdog priciples apply with GoFish. They're a true underdog in the sense that they work that much harder to compete with the powerhouses of Nick and Disney. Their impressive reach and customized solutions for advertisers are truly worthy of admiration and placement alongside the likes of Nick and Disney. At the very least, they're worth of a mention in The Digital Dojo as a company that embodies the characteristics of an innovative and well managed Digital Corporation. If you'd like to check them out you can click here.