Rob Norman, CEO of WPP’s GroupM Interaction, Joins WildTangent’s Board of Directors
WildTangent, Inc., the world’s fastest growing
online gaming network, today announced that Rob Norman, CEO of The WPP
Group’s GroupM Interaction, has joined the company’s Board of Directors.
GroupM is the parent company of WPP’s media investment management
businesses and represents nearly $50 billion in global advertising spending
across media buying agencies MindShare, Mediaedge:cia, Maxus and MediaCom.
Norman is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the rapidly
growing world of online and interactive advertising. The announcement comes
a year after WPP made a strategic investment in WildTangent to stake a
claim on the burgeoning in-game advertising market.
“WildTangent is a leader in pioneering new business models and technology
innovation in the online games space,” Norman said. “They have invented an
industry-leading platform that yields remarkable results for marketers
looking to build a dialogue with gamers, while enhancing and adding value
to the overall gaming experience. What piqued my interest were the
impressive results that our agencies have seen with WildTangent’s unique
Sponsored Session offering. Our clients demand the very type of creativity
and measurable results WildTangent offers.”
WildTangent, founded in 1998 by Alex St. John, a creator of Microsoft’s
DirectX video game architecture, offers consumers more than 400 games in
its network, ranging from casual card games to Massively Multiplayer Online
(MMO) games focused on the enthusiast gamer. The company’s extensive patent
portfolio and early investment in in-game advertising and Sponsored Session
technologies, have resulted in the largest in-game advertising network in
the world. In 2007 WildTangent became the fastest growing and largest
privately owned online game network according to Comscore MediaMetrix,
trailing only Yahoo Games, MSN, AOL Games, EA.com and Viacom.
“As a pioneer in the development and publishing of online games, we have a
deep understanding of gamers and have made a tremendous investment in
creating new ways for advertisers to enable consumers to play top premium
games for free,” said Alex St. John, CEO of WildTangent, Inc. “I expect
that within a few years advertising sponsorship of free play will become
the dominant business model for all games.”
In October, WildTangent expects to run more than 100 distinct advertising
campaigns from leading national brands across all the major categories
including Automotive, Consumer Packaged Goods, Pharmaceutical, Finance,
Film, TV and Video Games. While the in-game advertising business is
predicted by IDC to grow at a 34 percent compound annual growth rate,
WildTangent is experiencing 350 percent annual growth, due to the scale and
maturity of its advertising model.
About WildTangent
Founded in 1998, WildTangent is the fastest growing online game property in
the world with 11.5 million unique monthly gamers (comScore – July 2007)
offering hundreds of the most popular online and downloadable games from
the world’s top developers and publishers including its own WildStudios
which publishes Polar Bowler, Penguins, Fate and many more.
The WildTangent Games Console ships directly on the desktops of leading PC
manufacturers including Dell, HP, Gateway and Toshiba, representing more
than 25 million new consumer PCs annually in North America. Gamers of all
ages and demographics play more than 250 million game sessions a month
across the WildTangent game network.
For more information visit www.wildtangent.com
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