Daily Mail create dedicated channel for Paddy Power using Grapeshot

One feature of digital media, compared to linear, analogue media is the ability to create new channels within existing content.  You no longer need to advertise on a specific page or placement - the technology can find content for your campaign independent of editorial boundaries.

A friend at Grapeshot, the contextual targeting company, recently showed me this great example for Paddy Power.

Paddy Power signed up Imogen Thomas, the former Big Brother contestant linked to Ryan Giggs, for a recent campaign.

They wanted the ads to appear in The Daily Mail only in content that was relevant to the story - so pages that mentioned Imogen herself, Giggs, MP John Hemmings, Paddy Power, and Giggs' wife Stacey.

(Imogen's association with Ryan Giggs was revealed by Hemmings, but the legal injunction still stands, so she cannot talk about him directly)

Grapeshot gave the Mail the ability to automatically create an advertising channel consisting entirely of this content - and allowing Paddy Power to be the only advertiser.

Very clever, and a good example of how new targeting capabilities.