DoubleClick and Macromedia answer the call

DoubleClick and Macromedia answer the call of advertisers in need of simplified rich media technology

DART Motif(SM) saves time at every step in the rich media process, increasing efficiency and effectiveness, reducing errors and increasing ROI

AUCKLAND New Zealand, 1 March 2004 - DoubleClick Inc. (Nasdaq: DCLK), the leading provider of tools for advertisers, web publishers and direct marketers, and Macromedia (Nasdaq: MACR) launched DART Motif, a joint rich media solution that simplifies the rich media advertising process and speeds up the delivery time of rich media ads.

Although rich media usage grew in Q4 2003 to nearly 40 per cent of ads served through the DoubleClick network and continues to produce strong conversion rates and post-impression activities, including sales; rich media has presented creation, trafficking and campaign reporting challenges. DART Motif meets these challenges, letting advertisers focus more on creative than the technical aspects of rich media execution. The integration of Macromedia Flash MX 2004 with DoubleClick’s ad management solutions lets advertisers develop highly visual interactive content that delivers impactful experiences with increased ROI.

Rich media advertising continues to grow within Australia thanks in part to increasing broadband usage. eMarketer reports that in 2004, Australian broadband usage should reach more than 13 per cent of total households. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission reported in October 2003 that the demand for broadband among residential customers continued to surpass business customers through Q1 and Q2 2003.

“The growth of broadband penetration coupled with the ongoing challenge of developing truly impactful advertising requires smarter solutions both technically and creatively”, said Kevin Walsh, media director of Australia’s premier interactive agency, NetX. “Motif provides that solution by removing the hitherto restrictive files size limitations while providing a cost-effective, fully integrated system that dovetails seamlessly with our existing DoubleClick products.”

"DART Motif addresses the fundamental challenges of rich media execution," said Stephen Dolan, managing director – Australia, DoubleClick. "With DART Motif, it is easier to create, deploy and report on almost all types of rich media, reducing the associated time and cost of getting these highly responsive advertisements active across multiple sites."

Through the use of the Macromedia Motif Ad Kit, DART Motif enables complex creative authoring using integrated tools. DART Motif also provides templates for common ad formats.

"DART Motif will streamline the process of creating and delivering rich media ads for our joint customers," said Peter O’Connor, vice president, Asia-Pacific, Macromedia. "Macromedia Flash is already the proven, most effective way to communicate advertising information online. Integrating our authoring tool with DoubleClick DART infrastructure, provides a more efficient and productive solution for advertisers, agencies and publishers."

Ad Creation Through the Flash Ad Kit, a simple add-on to Macromedia Flash, designers can leverage the flexibility of the Flash authoring environment to create sophisticated online ads rich with sound, video and interactivity and then package them into standard rich media ad formats for easy delivery in DART Motif. Both the ad designer and trafficker can preview the ad in context on the target page, making on-the-fly changes before trafficking the ad to the site.

Trafficking DART Motif reduces steps and resources in each stage of the trafficking process. The product converts the designer's calls into code that works with the ad serving platform, eliminating the need to know complex click tracking commands and scripting language. In addition, non-DART publishers can easily serve DART Motif ads on their site with the ability to pick up tags at a dedicated portal.

Reporting DART Motif reports includes impressions and clicks, post-click and post-impression activities, unique users and more. The centralised reporting function lets advertisers view, side-by-side, the results of rich media and non-rich media campaigns.

About DoubleClick Inc. DoubleClick is the leading provider of solutions for advertisers, direct marketers and web publishers to plan, execute and analyse their marketing programs. DoubleClick's online advertising, email marketing and database marketing solutions help clients yield the highest return on their marketing dollar. In addition, the company's marketing analytics tools help clients measure performance within and across channels. DoubleClick Inc. has global headquarters in New York City and maintains 19 offices around the world.

About Macromedia

Experience matters. Macromedia is motivated by the belief that great experiences build great businesses. Our software empowers millions of business users, developers and designers to create and deliver effective, compelling and memorable experiences-on the Internet, on fixed media, on wireless and on digital devices. www.macromedia.com/ap

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Copyright 2004 Macromedia, Inc. All rights reserved. Macromedia, the Macromedia logo, Macromedia Flash, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Macromedia, Inc., which may be registered in the United States and internationally. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners

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