One of the most common questions we get is:  "Why would anyone want to visit a website specifically to look at an ad?"

It's a fair question.  Advertising has become so entrenched in our lives that most of us do what we can to avoid it.  Why then, should we expect to generate any traffic if what we offer is something that few enjoy and even fewer seek out?  Consider context for a moment.  There are number of things that people generally dislike; medical/dental appointments, shopping for a new car, filing taxes, etc.  Yet nearly all of us can likely recall at least one instance in which we couldn't wait to don a hospital gown, negotiate with a car dealer, or fill in a 1040-EZ.

It's not hard to figure out why:  a persistent pain may be remedied by a doctor, a man's boyhood dream of sports car ownership may come true, and a delicious tax return may await a lucky taxpayer.  It is certainly not true that every patient, customer or taxpayer will benefit in the same way, but a prudent business owner should never discount the fair percentage that do.  The long-tail of internet markets can reward the diligent as easily as it can bring industry giants to their knees, and collaborative advertising's context has a very, very long tail.

If you doubt any context that will create demand for a site like ours, go to YouTube and search for 'commercial'; you'll find 164,000 examples.  Furthermore, consider Super Bowl Sunday.  Of the millions of audience members watching the game, a good portion pays attention only during the traditionally funny commercial breaks.  Toss aside the political ax and ask yourself this:  would Fox spend the time, energy and money uploading Super Bowl commercials to MySpace for any reason other than to capitalize on a context in which people will want to see ads?  Rupert Murdoch didn't become mega-wealthy by chasing white stags and tilting at windmills.

If content is king, then context is queen…for content attracts eyeballs only when it fits within a particular context.  You may doubt the existence of people salivating at the thought of communicating directly with advertisers, but you likely would have doubted a $20 billion price tag for a site like Facebook.  After all, why does anyone need social networking in an age when we've all got multiple emails addresses and cell phone numbers? 

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