AdKeeper, which acts as an interactive ad clipping service for users who want to bookmark ads for later retrieval. Users don’t have to know about AdKeeper to save an ad. But they do have to notice the small “K” that serves as the “Keep Button” that is embedded in the ad. There aren’t any software, browser extensions, plug-ins or pre-registration—just a “keeper” for “kept” ads that users can later go to AdKeeper once they start building a list of saved ads. The company is still in private beta and plans a full consumer rollout in the middle of Q1.
The company has received an $8 million first round funding from True Ventures, DCM and Spark Capital and has recently raised $35 million second round funding.
Considering the dismal click-through rate for display ads – an average 0.1 percent for 2009, according to DoubleClick – some people may be skeptical that consumers are eager for more ways to interact with Web ads. But Scott Kurnit, founder and former CEO of About.com has said that the problem with Web advertising “isn’t that people don’t want ads,” he said. “They just don’t like the way we do it on the Web. We screwed up the medium” by making ads too invasive and too unpredictable.
