STARTUPS

Ads constructor going global

In the Russian market, there are plenty of instruments for Internet advertising robotization. The issue has attracted both Internet giants and fresh startups. The latter include Viewst project launched back in 2016. Viewst is a computerized cloud platform for advertisers and media agencies which simplifies managing advertising campaigns. The service allows composing customized floating ads (for mobile devices in the first turn) and launching advertising campaigns within closed premium networks. Customers can also use programmatic mechanisms for acquiring audience, while Viewst solutions prevent obstructing content of mobile devices with advertisements. Besides, the clients get real time analytics access. Therefore, by using the constructor, one interface permits producing animation, launching advertising campaigns and following respective analytics.

Viewst domestically

Viewst was founded by Victoria Duben and Igor Barinov. As a matter of fact, interest towards Viewst prototype was first seen in 2015 when well-known publishers Hearst Shkulev Media and Independent Media decided to experiment with unordinary web advertising solutions offered by the startupers. Viewst’s first customer was L’Oreal with its Kerastase products. The campaign was launched at cosmo.ru portal. Even though the customer did not have a mobile version of the products catalogue, the results of the launch were most successful. It became evident that Viewst has good prospects.

Formally, Viewst was launched in January 2016. Since the outset, the team tried to respond to the requests and feedback from its partners and users. Over the two subsequent years, the startup managed to raise $400K of investments. Viewst cloud platform has since then launched 700 advertising campaigns in and outside Russia.

Viewst’s average contract amount depends on the campaign duration and specifics of the country where it is launched. At the earlier stages, Russian clients tested the capacities of the service and made placements worth about RUR 250K ($4.2K). Later, Viewst’s team successfully tripled the amounts of the contracts of its regular customers.

In June 2017 Viewst’s Russian office was joined by Roman Nikiforov who had had a long experience of working for Microsoft and Hearst Shkulev Media. Viewst’s Moscow office initially had just three employees, whereas now the number has grown to 15. Last spring, Moscow office broke even.

Viewst internationally

Quite soon it was clear that in the global market a respective niche is actually vacant and that the project can therefore be in demand not in Russia only. To open an office in the US, Victoria Duben, a project cofounder, moved to that country. In autumn 2017 a New York representative office started operating. In June 2018, in partnership with Captify.us, first advertising campaigns were launched in the US. For Viewst that was a real breakthrough.

Viewst is also expanding its activities in Asia and Africa. To be specific, the company is active in Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria and is getting ready to establish its presence in South Africa. As a matter of fact, in African countries an average contract is now $6K, even though a lot depends on the region and campaign duration. It’s noteworthy, Viewst plans to get a market share in Philippines, Indonesia and India and to open an office in Singapore.

As Victoria Duben notes, the interactive formats which are Viewst’s specialty, attract significant interest of prospect Asian customers. These days specialists of the startup are preparing a launch of a trial campaign in Indonesia. According to Duben, that will be done in partnership with Dentsu Aegis Network, one of the most visible players in the digital media segment.

Few secrets of Viewst’s success

Viewst’s main feature is it offers 100% computerized solutions for the banners construction and launch segment. That makes the service different from its many competitors who keep designing some banner elements manually which makes them several times more expensive. Viewst can even be called an alternative to Google instruments in the premium segment of mobile Internet advertising.

You can only enter a market and successfully grow there if your service can resolve specific and until now unresolved problems of your clients”, Victoria Duben says. “Over two and a half years of Viewst’s operation, its business strategy has been amended three times. To always be on the frontline of the technology progress instead of permanently catching up and being late adopter, one has to permanently learn and develop”.

No doubt, the project could not have been successful abroad without employing good sales managers and IT developers there. As a rule, Viewst made contacts with such specialists at professional conferences. Recruiting companies have been contracted to hire required specialists as well.

Victoria Duben believes that most startups fail at their early stages not because they have chosen a wrong strategy or their service is not functioning properly, but specifically due to a human factor when people just give up.

In Victoria’s view, a team as such is a most essential factor for a startup’s successful advancement. Unlike a big and stable business, a startup’s operation is based on totally different principles. In a startup, everyone is in charge of everything with no fixed working hours.

Hence it’s very important to bring in right people and find right motivation solutions”, Viewst cofounder resumes.

By Christina Firsova

Previous ArticleNext Article