Linescape Launches AdRoutes™ User-Managed Advertising Platform
Press Release
Search Engine Introduces Low-Cost and Highly-Targeted Advertising Model to Maximize Return on Ad-Spend
Burlingame, CA – April 19, 2010 - Linescape announced today the launch of its new AdRoutes™ subsystem, a user-controlled on-line advertising system for serving ads on the Linescape search engine. AdRoutes™ gives sponsors unprecedented direct control over their advertising strategy and expenses, allowing them to fine tune the targeting of their advertisements to the precise audience they wish to reach, and to dynamically manage their campaigns themselves.
Advertisers no longer need to commit to long term fixed-cost ad placements, which may or may not be seen by a target customer. AdRoutes™ can place ads that are related to the ports or trade lanes searched by users, allowing advertisers to get their message across to customers at the moment they are searching for container transport. AdRoutes™ works through a simple user control panel that enables advertisers to manage their ads including create, start, edit, stop or change geography with a few clicks of the mouse.
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"We are no longer tied to the conventional advertising model. AdRoutes™ operates somewhat like advertising on Google, Yahoo or Bing, but because Linescape is a 'vertical search engine' with 100% of our audience interested in ocean freight, the advertisement is much more qualified and targeted" said co-founder David Tarizzo. "This tool is ideal for anyone wishing to advertise to the ocean freight industry in any way. And it is also attractive to smaller advertisers because AdRoutes™ can accept small payments by credit card online."
After an AdRoutes™ account has been created, advertisers upload one or more ad images of various sizes and therefore maintain a library of images to choose from at any time. Then, a campaign is created in which the advertiser chooses the geography to be applied. Geographic areas can be as broad as the entire world, or as small as a single port, with separate geographic areas selected for origin and destination. Next, one or more images is associated to the campaign. Start and end dates may also be specified. Users may create as many campaigns as they wish and are in complete control at all times. Advertisers can manage their AdRoutes™ account at any time, 24 hours a day. Funding for the ads is as simple as using a major credit card. An example of an advertiser's campaigns may be:
Campaign A - Run Image01 for all searches between the port of Hamburg and any port in Japan.
Campaign B - Run Image23 for all searches originating in North America to anywhere only in September.
Campaign C - Run Image52 for all searches between Europe and China.
AdRoutes™ records statistics for all impressions and clicks per campaign. This lets advertisers measure the effectiveness and progress of each ad or campaign and therefore to easily make changes in order to optimise campaigns for maximum impact and lowest cost.
Linescape is a powerful search engine with a broad database of container sailing schedules from over 125 vessel-operating carriers. The number of visits to Linescape is growing by 6% each month and users are primarily shippers (53%) and freight forwarders (40%). Each unique visitor searches up to 3 port pairs, on average. With the ability of advertisers to associate their ads to any specific region, country or port desired, the advertising message is highly targeted and more relevant to those who will see it, and advertising costs are kept low because impressions are not wasted outside the target area.
"AdRoutes™ changes the advertising mind-set in this industry," according to co-founder Dimitrios Sogas. "Linescape now makes it possible for advertisers to promote their services in a highly effective, targeted fashion. This means lower advertising costs and more results for each dollar spent -- a recipe for success in these difficult times."
For more information: www.linescape.com/about/advertise
Linescape Launches a Free and Independent Ocean Container Schedule Search Engine
Press Release
Innovative, Powerful Tool Reveals Optimum Container Shipping Schedules Using Advanced Features and Industry’s Broadest Database.
Burlingame, CA – May 4, 2009 - Linescape announced today the launch of its free, independent search engine for finding and comparing routes and schedules for shipping ocean containers. Linescape brings to users the only comprehensive and impartial overview of the routes and schedules of the world's carriers, of all sizes, thus giving shippers and forwarders the freedom and ease to find the carrier with the lowest cost or the best schedule for any particular shipment. Linescape’s powerful search engine leverages Web 2.0 technology to simplify sorting through 6 million voyages to 3,000 ports on over 100 shipping lines, and with more added each week. In today’s economic climate, optimized logistics and supply chain functionality is critical for success. It is crucial that shippers and forwarders know all of the options they have in order to get the best price and delivery times for shipping goods to their customers. Equally, shipping lines need a place to bring their offerings to the attention of shippers and forwarders. Linescape provides the perfect market place for buyers and sellers to meet: www.linescape.com.
“We studied the container shipping market and discovered that freight rates can vary by 50% and transit times by 75% on the same route. Choosing the wrong carrier will waste time or waste money or both,” said co-founder Dimitrios Sogas. “The biggest problem has always been the difficulty in finding which carriers sail on which routes; many shippers and forwarders do not even know whom to call. They usually contact only familiar carriers for quotations and therefore often miss out on better options that they do not even know exist, because they can’t find them”.
“Linescape is the answer to the fundamental question, ‘Whom should I call for a quotation?’” according to co-founder David Tarizzo. “Linescape finds you alternatives and saves you time, like an Expedia for the container shipping industry, which in the end will save time and money for shippers and forwarders everywhere.”
Linescape has introduced several advanced features unique to its search engine, including an innovative “Route Planner” that presents users with a matrix of all the possible port combinations between two geographical areas and which carriers serve those routes. This very powerful and easy to use feature will simplify one of the most difficult tasks of a user – trying to choose the best possible origin and destination ports. A unique aspect of the website is the visibility of the number of transhipments in a journey, allowing a user to balance journey times with numbers of tranships to keep risks of delay to a minimum. Another advanced feature is the innovative “Multiple Lines” feature, whereby users are able to automatically build routes via transhipments, even between two unrelated shipping lines.
For more information: www.linescape.com/about/about