Translated from: 台灣：Offerme2 要擊碎廣告無用論

You must have heard complaints like “Online ads are useless!”, even if you don’t necessarily agree with. When ads platforms do not deliver results as promised, there seems to be nothing much customers can do. That’s why most emerging marketing systems now charge based on cost per action (CPA). Offerme2 (or Offerme Square), for example, is expanding fast in Taiwan. Its Android app is ranked high recently. I ask co-founder Sam Lee to share their objectives and experiences so far.

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What’s your business model?

Offerme2 is a CPA ads systems, embedding ads in partner websites, mobile apps and our own platforms for attention. Users are given rewards and points for perform tasks advertisers require. Our revenues completely come from advertisers. We only charge them when tasks are completed, and share our profits with partners and users.

How is it different from point systems?

Offerme2 works with gaming and other major websites in Taiwan from the very beginning for a founded user base. Users have a huge variety of reward options, and they can stay in accustomed systems to get rewards.

What’s the expectation you’ve received from customers?

They expect to achieve targets with users in large numbers and high quality.

Do you evaluate tasks customers propose?

Definitely. Contents will follow regulations set by our partners, and they are evaluated beforehand to ensure user experiences.

How do you avoids issues in incentive marketing, such as loyalty?

With our extensive user base since beginning, Offerme2 can find the most suitable target audience via our mechanism and data mining results. We ensure users get rewards by viewing contents that suit their needs.

What’s the response so far?

Over the past two years, our company grows from 3 people to nearly 40, connecting with major gaming and content websites, including Softworld, Wasabii, Wayi and Fashionguide. More than 800 advertisers in Taiwan and Hong Kong receive over 400,000 ads actions each month.

What’s your target this year?

We are officially going mobile in 2014. Besides responding to what mobile advertisers need, our incentives and rewards should be deeply connected to daily lives with more and more mobile devices at hand.

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Although CPA is a trending topic, and incentive (or even cash) systems like Offerme2 are already proven on the market, the efficacy is inherently limited. Users who trade privacy or online reputation for points are not really interested in advertised products or services, but other incentives. Under these circumstances, it’s very difficult to transform users into real or long-term consumers.

Brands should have diverse marketing approaches, so ads, exposure and community reputation can complement each other. As Sam has mentioned, customers can verify their products and marketing methods with mechanisms like Offerme2. It’s not wise, however, only to achieve some illusionary numbers.

Translated from: 台灣：Offerme2 要擊碎廣告無用論