MyPageo Thinks It Will Know You Better

Written by R. Scott Raynovich - Light Reading

Wednesday, May 20. 2009 at 06:05 PM EDT Post a comment

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Atigeo, a 50-person Bellevue, Wash., company backed by a number of ex-Microsoft execs, will tomorrow launch a media and advertising personalization widget in conjunction with production company Endemol's Deal or No Deal show, which is run by NBC.

The widget -- called "MyPageo" -- will load on the side of a Web page. Atigeo's proprietary personalization algorithms, known as xpattern, will then follow your content affinities as you surf the Internet. Then, of course, you'll get stuff back -- including promotions and advertising.

You've probably heard the term "intelligent algorithm" before, but Atigeo claims to have something different. Unlike keyword-based algorithms that simply map keywords to content, the Atigeo engine claims to match activity with a database of hundreds of content surfing patterns -- which is constantly being updated by using data on the Internet.

On the Deal or No Deal page, MyPageo will launch as a "widget sidebar" on the side of the browser, utilizing the "gutter space" that is typically empty when Web pages load on most computer monitors. The MyPageo widget gradually learns your surfing behavior, and then serves you personalized content and ads.

The tool aims to deliver one of the first live production implementations of what many in media have talked about for years -- with little concrete success. The vision is for hyper-targeted content and advertising that is specifically tailored to your taste. In other words, content and ads will find you, rather than you having to go find the right content.

"Some of the information about that Web page is sent into the system, along with the content from the database, and explicit preferences that you input," says Mark Kapczynski, Atigeo's VP of advertising. "New links are sent back to the consumer. It is constantly learning about explicit preferences, it's updating its knowledge base, and it's getting content feeds from partners. It's using context from the Web page."

The advantage for Endemol -- or any media company that might use Atigeo -- is that it can use the Atigeo technology to learn more about its customer, and then use that knowledge to present special offers, events, content, and advertisements. This could be used to add value in sponsorship or marketing packages.

Kapczynski says the business model for Atigeo comes in three flavors: A media company can buy the technology as part of a software and service package, it can adopt MyPageo as part of an advertising revenue split, or the widget itself can be sponsored by a brand.

Atigeo was founded by a core of experienced technology veterans, many based in Seattle and formerly affiliated with Microsoft. It's currently being run by CEO Michael Sandoval, a former Microsoft executive.

Last year it drafted more big names to its board, including Michael Allen, president of Providence Energy Corp.; Nathaniel "Buster" Brown, former vice president and CFO of Vulcan Inc.; John Rindlaub, CEO of Wells Fargo's Pacific Northwest Region; and Joe Abrams, co-founder of Intermix, which launched and developed MySpace.

The company has raised over $27 million solely from its founders and individual investors (no VC or private equity money). Part of that money became subject to a bizarre court case involving former Yellowstone Club owner Edra Blixseth, who alleged that Sandoval borrowed some of the company's money to buy real estate. The lawsuit was later dismissed.