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Well, Big Brother is finally here, but it isn't nearly as bad as we were expecting. Turns out he just wants to sell you a truck.
Within the next few years, entertainment will change.
Sitcoms and soaps, movies and the Internet all will be delivered digitally through our televisions. That means advertising will change, too - at least if Mark Schaszberger has anything to say about it.
Schaszberger is president and halfowner, along with partner Trami Tran, of the Bethesda-based software firm Imake.
The firm's products all are geared toward the emerging digital entertainment market: They help content providers like Disney, Bell South and Ameritech deliver, track and manage an array of digital entertainment offerings.
As part of its e.merge suite of backoffice products, Imake offers a nifty little feature called the Marketing Manager. Say a subscriber to a digital entertainment service opts to watch the movie "Toy Story." The software registers that choice and tells the content provider to surround that movie with ads for the Disney Store.
Suppose the same subscriber later surfs over to a Web page to took at new trucks for sale. Wham! Truck-related banner advertising appears.
The software not only follows a subscriber's movement, but also tracks responses, gauging how often a person clicks on an ad to learn more, or pauses a digitally delivered commercial in order to jot down a phone number.
This is not pie-in-the-sky stuff.
Last December, Imake signed as a client Americast, a digital entertainment consortium made up of powerhouse players Disney, GTE, Bell South, Ameritech and Southern New England Telephone. With 105 employees, Imake will gross...