New York, NY - January 12, 2009 — Performance enhancing, online advertising technology company Linkstorm has appointed media veteran Ari Brandt as its chief executive officer. Mr. Brandt, recently named to MIN's 2008 Digital Hot List, has 16 years of experience building effective products for the Web, most recently as the head of digital media for Condé Nast Business Media Group. He succeeds Linkstorm's founding CEO, David Sidman, who will remain involved full-time in the business as chairman of the board.
Linkstorm is the provider of Banner Xpander™, which clients such as Cisco, E*Trade, American Express, Wal-Mart, IBM, Microsoft and Chevrolet have utilized to create greater value for their consumers and in turn greater performance for their campaigns. Since its commercial launch in April of 2008, Linkstorm technology has consistently delivered an increase of 2x-5x in click-through rate for some of the world's largest brands and agencies.
"In our current economy, advertising effectiveness is an absolute imperative. The unique technology pioneered by Linkstorm allows marketers to gain greater efficiencies from their display advertising," said Ari Brandt, CEO, Linkstorm. "There is a real need for this product in today's marketplace and I'm thrilled to be given the opportunity to lead such a talented team through the company's next phase of growth."
While at Condé Nast, Mr. Brandt guided the launch of the critically acclaimed Portfolio.com. As the general manager, he was responsible for developing the Web site and building an infrastructure that supported the generation of several million dollars of revenue, over 4MM monthly visitors and six awards during its first full year in operation.
Prior to Condé Nast, Mr. Brandt was the director of ad solutions for the Yahoo! Media Group, where he led business operations for the top ranked Yahoo! Finance and Yahoo! News properties and oversaw the successful go-to-market launch of Yahoo! Tech. In this role, Mr. Brandt oversaw strategic monetization initiatives representing nearly $200MM in annual revenue and led a team responsible for creating innovative advertising solutions. Before joining Yahoo!, Mr. Brandt held senior roles at SmartMoney.com, DoubleClick, New York money management firm Neuberger Berman, and several leading ad agencies including Weiss Whitten Stagliano, Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, and MVBMS/Euro RSCG.
"Ari's proven leadership in advertising and publishing, and his experience on both the client and agency sides, make him the perfect candidate to lead Linkstorm into its next phase of revenue growth," said David Sidman, founder and chairman of Linkstorm. "The industry relationships and skill-set Ari brings to the table are exactly what the company now needs to leverage its early success into widespread industry adoption."
Linkstorm is also announcing the appointment of the following four new board members: Kim Goh, entrepreneur, private investor and most recently senior managing director of Hudson Ventures; Jay Shapiro, founder and most recently CEO of ad agency Blue Interactive, sold to WPP in 2007; Ewan Main, CEO of The Daggerwing Group, a marketing strategy company owned by Omnicom; and Jonathan Emery, full-time investor and former corporate counsel at Network Solutions and Tambrands. They join Ari Brandt and David Sidman, Linkstorm founder and now chairman.
Linkstorm is an advertising technology company that is pioneering a new approach to online marketing, e-commerce, publishing and social networking. The company's unique ad enhancement technology significantly improves performance of all online advertising and enhances customer engagement by overlaying cascading menus onto any ad format and quickly connecting customers to the information they want. Clients include national and global advertisers, agencies and publishers such as Cisco, E*Trade, American Express, Wal-Mart, Nissan, IBM, Microsoft, Ogilvy, Razorfish, Grey, Digitas, MRM, AOL, Meredith and the New York Times. Linkstorm is headquartered in New York City and is funded by visionary investors such as and Jim Rutt. For more information, please visit www.linkstorm.net or click .
Bio and photo available upon request
Dina Freeman
Cell: 310-433-1765