dry in 2008, the company shifted in 2009 to its current approach and technology to make banner ads media-rich.
Now Kartzman says Spongecell is focused on enhancing display ads with new features and functionality including ways to quickly generate ads that are tailored to customers’ needs. Spongecell works with such brands as Dell, IBM, HP, and Comcast. Kartzman says though Spongecell’s technology already works with banner ads for the traditional Web, his company plans to expand this year with technology geared for the mobile market. As more of the public interacts with content through mobile devices, the advertising industry must adapt. “We’re consuming content on our tablets, mobile devices, and connected TVs,” he says. “Advertising will play a key role in each one of those interfaces.”
Using technology such as Spongecell’s to shorten the time it takes to create interactive ads has become a crucial part of bringing down costs in the industry, Kartzman says. He also says it helps ad agencies target audiences more closely and increase the relevancy of the ads. “It gives creative agencies a ton more flexibility and power,” Kartzman says.
Kartzman says Spongecell plans to expand its staff, which is currently about 50, this year across all its departments, but he did not have a target number for potential hires. “We’re actively looking for engineers, sales, and production,” he says. Many of the hires, Kartzman says, will be in the new territories the company is expanding into. In particular, Spongecell is establishing a presence in London and fleshing out its teams in Chicago and the West Coast. “In Chicago we have some feet on the street already, but we’re going to add to that,” he says. And recruitment is already underway to build up the London branch. “This [new] funding helps us accelerate and move faster,” Kartzman says.
