WEBSEND LAUNCHES ADVANCED ADVERTISING PREFLIGHT AND DELIVERY SOLUTION

Websend, the leading web-based display advertising pre-flight and delivery company has launched Websend version 5, the most feature rich solution in the market which now includes new world-first features and functionality for its users.
Established in 2002 by advertising industry veteran Peter Lamont (pictured), Websend has over 6600 users including retail giant Harvey Norman, Australia’s largest pre-media organisation Well.Com, and Australasia’s largest locally owned marketing communications group Adcorp Australia. Lamont explains the company’s continued rise and success, “Websend 5 is more than a significant improvement, it is a re-invention of the process of validating, correcting and delivering an ad. When we started Websend we recognised a gap in the market for a highly automated web-based display advertising pre-flight and delivery system. Advertisers existing options were limited and many systems dictated terms to users rather than asking how they would best like their ad material managed, quality assured and delivered.”
With a handful of advertising and printing industry experts working alongside him, Lamont’s idea for Websend was born, quickly replacing an older legacy delivery system, and immediately well received by the market. He continued, “People were looking for a real alternative to the ‘desktop-only’ approach. Our first major receiver of ads was Fairfax and then others came in steadily after them. We now have all the newspaper publishers and the majority of magazine publishers throughout Australia and New Zealand including Time Inc., eMap and Fairfax magazines. Our success is based on excellent relationships with advertisers.”
Websend does not need any complex software to be installed and all ad pre-flighting and delivery is handled by the Websend central core server. This allows users to send ads from any web browser and removes the reliance on internal networks. With ad deliveries paid for through a membership arrangement there are no software licences required, allowing an easy multi-user environment and avoiding queues for any one computer in a production department.
“Websend is a service provider.” Explained Lamont, “but perhaps an even more accurate description is that we are in the risk management business. We stand between the publisher and the advertiser to protect newspapers and magazines from incorrect electronic artwork and we protect advertisers from internal errors ensuring their ads print in the way they intended them. Websend charges for the service, not the software.”
Websend version 5 is also faster and more efficient than ever with users now able to create their ads with Websend tools and a publisher’s own specifications then upload the files. If any error is found within the ad Websend offer several options from automatic fixing to personal one-on-one customer support to ensure the ad meets the publisher’s requirements.
Support has been key to Websend’s continued growth, over 50% from 2006, with a dedicated customer service team available by phone and via a unique online chat service which allow users to quickly seek assistance and determine how best to correct display ad format errors. “We will only fix ads if a user requests our assistance, otherwise we provide extensive reporting through listed categories of faults, errors and warnings, to simplify the correction process. Our new automatic fixing capability allows our users even faster repair and approval of their ads for immediate delivery.” said Lamont.
Websend 5 has industry leading file validation, correction, colour conversion and colour management integrated with its proprietary ad delivery system. “We develop technology to allow our users to work with us.” Continued Lamont. “Many users don't equate web-based applications as software thinking of them as just websites. Nothing could be further from the reality. Websend has millions of dollars worth of the world's best software from the leading colour and PDF experts behind it. The Websend software is really "Software as a Service" (SAS) and this is our important difference. As a result we now have several world firsts in this industry. Websend version 5 has automated file correction including ‘size check’. When an ad comes in Websend automatically checks it against the correct ad size using our unique real-time integration with a publisher’s media booking databases. If it is different, we inform the user and they can automatically make the adjustment required. Websend 5 can also automatically correct colour and postscript errors.”
Websend has consistently partnered with other industry leaders in digital media creation, management and delivery to further facilitate the needs of advertising agencies. One of these key partners is the Omnilab Media Group whose Group Business Development Manager Grant Schuetrumpf commented, “dubSat, our media management and delivery division, use Websend as our delivery mechanism as it is a very well established network recommended by the publishing industry and without question the most advanced web-based system we have found.”
Lamont concluded, “Websend 5 is an evolutionary step to automate what was quite a manual process in organising files for delivery, correcting files that had errors and providing user education. Previously the user had to fix their file and re-upload it, or we could do it for them. The latter would obviously require getting permission which always took time. Now it can be entirely automated and making corrections is very fast and accurate.”
It's easy to tell someone their file isn’t correct and why. Where we differ from the competition is that we give both simple and more in-depth explanations of the reasons for error, we tell the user what to do to fix it and finally we offer the user the ability to auto-correct the error at the push of a button.”