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Brands build widget ads; Will consumers come

March 25, 2008 | Internet Marketing

Call them widgets, gadgets, or wadgets, but businesses such as Kraft Foods, Nissan, and American Express are building brand identity using these software applications that can be embedded in a Web page or downloaded to a computer desktop.

While popular gadgets feature games and entertainment (Bejeweled, Tetris) or utilities (personal finance calculators, world clocks), advertisers are starting to build and promote their own applications.

A look at Google’s gadget gallery shows eight ad gadgets, including Hewlett-Packard, Intel, New Balance, and Pepsi’s Sierra Mist Lemon Squeeze. At Yahoo Widgets, there are nearly 4,700 widgets, including 86 widgets tagged “shopping” such as a Sears.com product search widget and an application that tracks deals on Amazon.com

Sure, you can build a widget, but will people download it or pass it along—key metrics in determining whether the application is a success. “Good luck getting someone to notice your gadget,” said Christian Oestlien, a Google business product manager.

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