IA Scoop: vivid Readies Web Network Plan

by John Evan Frook

In a licensing bid aimed at providing Web design tools and expertise to entrepreneurs worldwide, vivid studios is preparing to introduce the Vivid Travel Network at this spring's Internet World exhibition in San Jose.

vivid, which expects to launch a full version of VTN before the end of the year, has just completed a European swing of discussions with more than 30 potential affiliates. About a dozen companies are already finalizing business plans to join the VTN network.

Tomorrow, the company will formally unveil VTN to other potential participants at a Web site translated in Italian, French, German, Spanish and Japanese, accessed via http://travel.vivid.com.

"This set of open-standard tools will allow affiliates to quickly build sophisticated, user-engaging, next-generation web sites for any scale and scope of information," said vivid studios chief executive and president Henri Poole, who confirmed VTN plans.

Under the VTN program, digital media designers, telephone companies and local broadcasters in such regions as Asia, Europe and South America pay affiliate fees tentatively ranging between $50,000 and $250,000 for vivid-developed technology, on-going programming expertise, outlines of how to best shape Web content and sales and marketing presentations to help sell businesses worldwide on the value of a corporate Web presence.

Significantly, the program's strategic thrust is to eventually grow a network of regional Web sites for travelers, whereby local Web programmers will produce local content linked to VTN. Under a model similar to global broadcast television, local programmers will retain all local sponsorships and Web advertising revenues, while VTN will get limited "pixel space" where the network can sell advertising and place certain types of content in areas representing affiliate locales.

VTN is a blockbuster development in the Web design world. It signals a move by one of the Web's top design firms to branch out from its client-service roots into the realms of technology licensing and network broadcast. Other companies such as Digital Planet Corp. have announced entertainment programming initiatives, but few companies have yet moved to license technology and expertise developed in-house on a global basis.

The broadcast advertising model takes the equation a step further, opening up the potential for lucrative revenue streams to emerge for local affiliates and vivid alike.

"Our goal is to let local affiliates push audiences to other sites," said Poole. "We're the facilitator, not the big daddy. We're providing an opportunity for people to share their audience with each other. If you are a developer in Belgium, you can develop relationships with local (travel bureaus), hotels, restaurants and bars. When it comes down to Belgium, people are going to look for your site on the Network. The beauty of this business model is that it is based on the distributed nature of the 'Net itself'."

Based in San Francisco, vivid is known for such Web feats as technical support of the Windows '95 launch Web site, advent of the 'Net scavenger hunt for such clients as Sony Interactive and CompuServe, a directory for Bell Atlantic and a distributed global publishing Web site linking J. Walter Thompson's 200 advertising agencies worldwide. vivid sees the Alliance program as a way to open significant new markets for digital Web design using the engineering, gaming, directory and distributed publishing technologies learned in those endeavors.

vivid retained some rights to core technology used in client designs, which provided the infrastructure for VTN.

Included in VTN affiliate technology package will be advertising management systems, including components for delivering guaranteed and rotating impressions, tools for games, language translation applications, currency converters and real-time psycho graphic and demographic filtering of visitors applications.

vivid Java Group acting director Mark Scott Johnson is spearheading efforts to add other technologies to the package. All of the design components will be wrapped in vivid's flexible API layer, enabling Web affiliates to efficiently produce advanced sites.

"We plan to build the biggest distributed network of affiliates in the world," said Poole. "Part of this is re-using existing technology, but more importantly its a commitment by our company to provide technology on an on-going basis. And it's not just technology, but know-how in multimedia development. We're taking the majority of our staff and ability here, and turning them toward a particular vertical market."

Poole said travel was a natural choice for VTN. Existing and emerging travel programming on the Web, including Microsoft Corp.'s Cityscape program, the just-launched Travelocity site or travel-industry stalwart Fodor's corporate Web presence, will only serve to complement VTN, Poole said.

"Travel is the largest industry in the world," said Poole. "It is distributed, fragmented and already has lots of content that no one quite knows where to find. It is also something international developers can sustain right now. If I were a developer in Paris, I would have a hard time making content that I could make money at, but travel is something that developers can do to make money (right away). There's also a strong (correlation between Internet users and travelers). Coupled with the potential to offer business-to-business services, travel is a natural fit."

Pricing for the VTN affiliates are based on a region's current travel industry revenues and dial-up Internet access penetration. London, for example, generates lots of tourist dollars and has a significant Internet access-installed base so the license there would be priced on the upper echelon of the scale. Meanwhile, an affiliate relationship in England's less-traveled and less-wired West Country would check in at one-fifth the cost. vivid plans to sell affiliate licenses in the North America as well, rather than retaining exclusive North American rights.

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