Published 2016-04-12

Create your own ad

“We saw a big un-tapped market in small and medium businesses and looked to provide a premium, simple to use, self-serve display ads product,” says Rob McCann in Schibsted Products & Technology.

Towards the end of 2015 Schibsted Products & Technology, in close cooperation with Leboncoin, launched Self-Serve Advertising – the first advertising product that allows our companies’ clients to create their own ads.

As more and more businesses are considering digital advertising as an important channel for their businesses, an opportunity has arisen. Specifically small and medium businesses don’t have the time or the resources for expensive advertising campaigns. SSA is a simple, yet powerful product for these advertisers to create text ads in order to target users based on location and interests.

We have interviewed Rob McCann, senior engineering manager for SSA.

Why this product?

“We saw a big un-tapped market in small and medium businesses and looked to provide a premium, simple to use, self-serve display ads product which allows advertisers to promote their products, services and brands to customers.”

Is Leboncoin the first Schibsted company to offer the product?

“We soft-launched with Leboncoin in November under the name L’atelier Business and have seen a steady increase in the number of ads being booked. Launching at Leboncoin first gives us the opportunity to work with established advertisers in a market where Schibsted is strong and to develop the product at an accelerated rate.”

“In February, we made a full technical release of post-pay; previously, during the beta, customers were asked to pay upfront for their ad. Now we only charge customers once we have delivered their clicks and impressions. Consequently, we fulfilled part of Schibsted’s global strategy to link our product with the global Schibsted Payment Platform (SPID).”

How did the beta version go and is this product now available to all of Leboncoin’s customers?

“Our beta launch in November was a great success for us. With experimentation and user feedback our primary focus, we were able to make both qualitative and quantitive decisions to refine SSA into a launch-able, viable product. It doesn’t end there though, we’re still meeting with advertisers and users alike to get feedback on how we can make SSA the ad platform that gives the best bang-for-buck whilst keeping it super easy to use.”

The feedback so far and the road ahead?

“Throughout the process, we have been engaging with advertisers and responding to feedback we’ve received. The overwhelming majority of our advertisers are pleased with the simplicity of our platform and are eager to see it expand and offer more features in the future. From increased reporting and advanced performance statistics to expanded placements and native mobile support; we’ve got plenty of work ahead of us!”

Moving forward, Schibsted Products & Technology will be launching the platform at Finn in Q2 with the aim to continue making SSA available in more markets in the coming year.