AnchorFree Blog

Bayfair Mall Goes Wireless
By Amy Sylvestri, The San Leandro Times

Just in time for the busy holiday shopping season, Bayfair Mall is launching free wireless broadband internet access to all its customers.

Beginning this week, shoppers can access the internet for free from anywhere in the mall, which Bayfair hopes will entice customers to spend more time in the shopping center and bring in more foot traffic.

Bayfair was given free wireless routers from Sunnyvalebased internet provider Anchor Free and the receptors were installed on the roof of the mall earlier this month. The routers enable shoppers to use their laptops, PDAs, iPhones, and other internet devices in the mall. The service is paid for by companies that place an advertising bar at the top of web pages.

Similar advertising-based free networks are up and running in San Francisco, but the launch at Bayfair marks the first such large-scale wireless hotspot in the East Bay. Bay Street shopping center in Emeryville is opening their wireless network simultaneously with Bayfair.

“What we are hoping to do with projects like this is democratize the internet,” said AnchorFree director of business development Jimmy Chavez. “We want to make it available for everyone.”

Chavez said that the project has been in the works for months and his company got involved when Bayfair came to them looking to do something more interactive with its customers.

“People already come to our centers with their laptops in tow, so providing free internet access seemed like a logical addition to enhance our shoppers experience,” said Whitney Tresidder, director of marketing for Madison Marquette, the company that owns both Bayfair and Bay Street.

Though the official launch happened this week, the wireless service has actually been up for most of the month and Chavez said that they have already had over 1,000 users that have randomly searched for and found a network while visiting the mall. Chavez expects that number to triple as the holiday shopping season picks up and more Bayfair customers become aware of the service.

Shoppers at Bayfair were open to the idea. “It might be good for my boyfriend,” said shopper Marica Gonsalves. “He can play on his phone while I shop.”

Bay Street Emeryville and Bayfair Center leverage AnchorFree’s advertising network to offer completely free, non-intrusive Internet access to patrons

Bay Area, Calif. - November 28, 2007 - Madison Marquette and AnchorFree today announced the deployment of free wireless hotspots at both Bay Street in Emeryville, CA and Bayfair Center in San Leandro. The partnerships utilize AnchorFree’s network to offer free Internet access to patrons, while at the same time providing advertising partners a means of interacting in a highly targeted way with consumers while they enjoy the properties’ retail, food and entertainment offerings at both of these large retail and entertainment centers.

“People already come to our centers with their laptops in tow, so providing free Internet access seemed like a logical addition to enhance our shoppers’ experience,” said Whitney Tresidder, director of marketing for Madison Marquette at Bay Street Emeryville and Bayfair Center. “Both San Leandro and Emeryville have a day time employment population that exceeds 50,000 people, many of whom visit our properties on their lunch hour and breaks, so offering free Internet access really made sense in completing the atmosphere for those shoppers who want to stay connected.”

The AnchorFree broadband advertising network allows marketers to reach and interact with out-of-home laptop users and wireless device users throughout their entire online experience. With AnchorFree, hotspot locations—from cafes and restaurants, to hotels, airports, shopping centers and other leisure and travel locations—are able to offer patrons free broadband access that is subsidized via relevant, interactive and unobtrusive advertisements. AnchorFree has already signed multi-year, exclusive advertising agreements with wireless operators that represent thousands of hotspots, which together generate hundreds of millions of page views and several million user sessions per month.

AnchorFree provides a new media opportunity for local, brand and direct marketers to create a captive, persistent, branded experience with consumers. This broadband advertising network offers all of the attributes of successful direct marketing channels including a direct, 1-to-1 connection with consumers, strong targeting and measurability, enabling marketers to reach a captive and attentive consumer in an uncluttered environment. The consumer then has the ability to interact with and respond directly to the advertiser. AnchorFree is able to target consumers with 100% precision based on their exact location. By leveraging partnerships with thousands of hotspot locations, AnchorFree provides non-intrusive, ongoing advertising exposure to mobile laptop users throughout the duration of their online session.

“Together with venues like Bay Street Emeryville and Bayfair Center, we are pioneering a new advertising medium uniquely positioned at the intersection of out-of-home and interactive advertising. Never before have advertisers been able to target affluent mobile Internet users precisely at the point of consumption based on their exact location,” said Mark Smith, EVP of marketing and strategy for AnchorFree. “In working with large, high traffic centers such as these, we are able to not only facilitate greater accessibility to broadband services for thousands of daily on-the-go consumers, but at the same time offer a completely new channel for marketers to reach these consumers in a highly targeted way.”

About Bay Street
Bay Street is located in Emeryville, California ideally situated at the foot of San Francisco’s highly traversed Bay Bridge. Encompassing two city blocks, Bay Street is home to more than 65 shops, 10 restaurants, a 16-screen AMC theatre and over 1,000 residents who live in the 400 residential units. Its retail line-up includes Apple, Sephora, Pottery Barn and H&M and will be joined by bebe this October. These fashionable retailers combined with delicious restaurants, weekend concerts and street performers create an active nightlife and popular downtown alternative. For more information visit www.baystreetemeryville.com

About Bayfair
Bayfair Center features over 816,000 sq. ft. of retail space including Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Old Navy and a 16-screen state of the art Century Theatre. This full service shopping destination highlights local retailers and events supporting the community, culture and tradition of San Leandro, including a weekly farmers market on Saturdays and weekly events in the centers common areas. The Bayfair Center is the East Bay’s destination for distinctive shopping and is conveniently located next to the San Leandro Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station. For more information visit www.shopbayfair.com

About AnchorFree
AnchorFree, the largest Hotspot media network, is working toward enabling 10,000 Hotspot locations, with advertising contracts to generate more than 400 million page views through five million user sessions per month. AnchorFree’s presence-based messaging medium is a new marketing channel for brand and direct response marketers to deliver interactive, timely and targeted advertisements to laptop users when they are away from the home or office. The AnchorFree network connects advertisers with millions of consumers in a captive, persistent manner that is highly measurable and geo-targeted to the user’s exact location. Any business, from coffee shops and restaurants to travel spots and retail locations, can leverage the AnchorFree network to offer free Internet access to its patrons while generating new revenues with no financial investment required. AnchorFree is also the first advertising network to provide consumers with full control and choice regarding their privacy and security through the company’s free HotSpot Shield, available for download at www.anchorfree.com. AnchorFree is a privately held company based in Sunnyvale, California.

Would You Use WiFi with Commercials?
GeekSugar.com

I’ve always been a free WiFi hunter, but having an iPhone has definitely heightened my hunting instincts. I am constantly seeking signals in cafes, restaurants, and stores and get a sick thrill out of finding one and getting online in unexpected places. Apparently, I’m not alone.

A California company called AnchorFree has launched a service that lets stores of any size (as in small restaurants or major chains) offer free, advertising-supported Wi-Fi to customers on store property.

According to the New York Times, people who are shopping or eating in an AnchorFree location will have to sit through onscreen banner ads or short video spots or both before they can get online and roam the web. So far, companies such as American Express, Circuit City, Clorox, Ford, Kaiser Permanente, McDonald’s, Toyota, and Major League Baseball have all signed up. While I hate commercials, I figure a short video is a small price to pay for being able to get online and check movie listings or Google maps. What do you think?

Wifi companies now offering free service for businesses
Clark Howard, November 28, 2007

Do you get frustrated when you have to pay an outrageous price for Internet access on the road? Some spots like Panera Bread and Starbucks adopted free wifi early on, and now you’ll see salespeople working there in the mornings. The initial cost of setting up free wifi may have been expensive, but now the stores are able to sell a lot more coffee, bagels and pastries to recoup their investment. But what if you’re a small business and can’t afford the costs of free wifi? Companies like AnchorFree.com (Editor’s note: This link was down at last check) now offer ad-supported free wifi to businesses for nothing. Owners that can afford to pay up front have the option of doing so. They can then share in the Internet ad revenue down the road. Those that can’t afford to pay up front still get to offer their customers free wifi as an amenity. They just don’t get any share of the ad revenue. Talk about a truly free lunch! AnchorFree users see ads at the top of every page when they surf. You actually have to scroll down to get to the content. Advertisers can target people by knowing whether they’re serving ads at a Panera vs. a McDonald’s or a high-end hotel vs. an econobox motel. Meanwhile, Clark has hooked up his FON service, which allows travelers to tap into his Internet for free. In return, he gets to use other FON customers’ Internet for nada when he travels abroad. The idea of having to pay to surf as you travel will start going away.

Free wifi
It matters to J Dwivedi

Traveling with a laptop is no longer a matter of choice; it is a necessity. And not always for business reasons. A notebook computer allows you to do a lot of personal things as well, like, staying in touch with family or being able to download your vacation photos and publish them online right away.

The way hotels mint money if you touch their in-room phone or mini-bar, Internet access in the hotel has been a big moneymaker for them even though once the network is setup for their employees, the incremental cost of adding more surfers is minimal.

Thanks to AnchorFree, even mom-and-pop stores can now not only provide free wi-fi access on their property but also make money off it. The company will also provide you with hardware if you do not have your own already installed. The connection is free to the users but one has to tolerate some advertising at the top of the browser (I am hoping that it is not a major nuisance considering our laptop screens are already quite large and more than 90% of web pages carry some advertising). Plus, advertising is expected to be targeted. I wouldn’t mind seeing an ad for a restaurant close to my hotel that offers a free drink to anyone who sees the ad.

WiFi for Customers
NYS SBDC Research Network, 11/27/2007

When it comes to businesses promoting their location as having free WiFi access, I think primarily of bookstores, coffeehouses, and hotels.

However, WiFi access is something that any small business can promote. In today’s New York Times, there’s an article called “In-Store Wi-Fi Is Free, but Not Commercial-Free”. It features a company called AnchorFree, which “has introduced a service that lets merchants of any size — from a large bookstore chain to a mom-and-pop restaurant — offer free advertising-supported Wi-Fi to customers on the store premises. People who are shopping or eating in an AnchorFree location will see banner ads on their screens or short video spots or both before their browsing session.”

The article also mentions JiWire as a company that “has a similar system, though a different technological approach.”

If you have a client whose customer base includes the techno-literate, this is a service that they might want to consider.

Media Buyer Planner
Reaching Consumers On-the-Go via Free Wi-Fi Provider

A two-and-a-half year-old company in Sunnyvale, Calif., is offering a service that lets merchants offer free, advertising-supported Wi-Fi to customers; people using AnchorFree Wi-Fi will see banner ads or short video spots before reaching their browsing destinations and advertisers can target their ads by a variety of demos.

Advertisers include American Express, Circuit City, Clorox, Ford, Kaiser Permanente, McDonald’s, Toyota and Major League Baseball, writes The New York Times.

Adveritsers can target their ads to specific locations, so that an ad for a luxury product might be shown to people staying at a four-star hotel and not to guests at an airport motel. The AnchorFree website pinpoints a variety of locations at which advertisers can reach different demos, including doctors’ offices, coffee shops, hotel chains, car dealerships, airports and marinas.

Mark Smith, executive vp for marketing and strategy, calls the Wi-Fi network an “untapped market of virtual billboards.”

AnchorFree is one of a handful of companies that offers Wi-Fi for no fee to both users and retailers. San Francisco-based JiWire is another.

Analysts in the wireless industry believe this sector will evolve along with the growth of wireless internet use. Berge Ayvazian, chief strategy officer with the Yankee Group, says the key will be whether advertisers will embrace the model and drive online advertising revenue toward Wi-Fi hotspots.

AnchorFree launches ad network for free access
Wi-Fi Networking News, 11/27/2007

AnchorFree joins the gang of providers of free-via-ads Wi-Fi service. MetroFi is the best known of these players, although they shows ads from multiple sources (as I understand it) including JiWire, a company that I’ve worked for and provided advice for in the past. The size of the ad-supported Wi-Fi market is rather murky: are millions or tens of millions being spent per year? AnchorFree is focusing on hotspots; MetroFi on cities, although the news that came out of Portland a few weeks ago indicate MetroFi is still sorting out how to raise capital or produce revenue for its continuing network development in that city.

In-Store Wi-Fi is Free, but Not Commercial-Free
Cnet/News.com (New York Times syndication)

New York Times: Anchofree’s Innovative Hotspot Ad Network
By Lia Miller, New York Times

PEOPLE who like to use their laptops, iPhones and other devices in public are always so delighted when they stumble on a wireless hot spot in an unexpected place. Will they be pleased enough to look at ads before getting their broadband fix?

AnchorFree, a company in Sunnyvale, Calif., that is two and a half years old, has introduced a service that lets merchants of any size — from a large bookstore chain to a mom-and-pop restaurant — offer free advertising-supported Wi-Fi to customers on the store premises. People who are shopping or eating in an AnchorFree location will see banner ads on their screens or short video spots or both before their browsing session.

Among the major companies that have signed up to advertise are American Express, Circuit City, Clorox, Ford, Kaiser Permanente, McDonald’s, Toyota and Major League Baseball.

Mark Smith, executive vice president for marketing and strategy at AnchorFree, said that advertisers could tailor their ads to reach people at specific locations in the network. For example, an ad for a Lexus might be shown to customers staying at a four-star hotel, but not to guests at an airport motel. “Advertisers could target airport travelers versus vehicle travelers, for instance,” he said.

Considering the growing number of hand-held devices that offer Web browsing, Mr. Smith said he viewed the Wi-Fi network as an untapped market of virtual billboards. Controlling this valuable bit of real estate, he said, gives companies “the ability for them to have their own branded relationship” with people “while they are their point of consumption.”

Until recently, the two most widespread options people had for using wireless broadband at public hot spots have been either paying a subscription fee to their cellphone carrier or paying a daily or hourly rate to the retailer that is host of the site. AnchorFree is one of a handful of companies offering an alternative business model, one in which the advertiser pays but the retailer and the Web surfer do not.

Businesses that traditionally offer Wi-Fi to customers — hotels, for example — can sign up with AnchorFree at no cost and collect a share of up to 50 percent of the advertising revenue. For small businesses, which might not be able to afford Wi-Fi service, AnchorFree will supply the necessary router and other technology at no cost.

The retailer can then promote its free wireless service, which could prove to be a competitive advantage. Some hotels, for instance, charge guests $10 to $15 a night for Wi-Fi access.

Mr. Smith said that AnchorFree’s technology created a “persistent messaging frame” by pushing down the Web page on a device’s screen and inserting a space for a banner ad. The space is independent of the Web pages being viewed and does not change based on where the user is surfing.

AnchorFree offers several options to retailers and advertisers. With the open network option, a retailer agrees to run any ad from the AnchorFree rotation, and in the closed network option a company with multiple locations (like a bookstore chain or hotel) can run its own advertising or other messages within that network.

Brad Agens, senior vice president for advertising sales at Gorilla Nation, a company that connects online advertisers to more than 500 Web sites, said that AnchorFree was the first network it was representing. He said that companies seeking to buy ad space online were “looking beyond the portals and the large, branded destinations, the ESPNs, the MTVs.”

AnchorFree is not the only company to offer an advertising network for mobile broadband. JiWire, based in San Francisco, has a similar system, though a different technological approach.

Analysts in the wireless industry say they expect that this sector will evolve and mature along with the growth of wireless Internet use.

“The real key is whether advertisers will embrace this model and drive online advertising revenue toward Wi-Fi hot spots,” said Berge Ayvazian, chief strategy officer with the Yankee Group, a technology research and consulting group.

He said it was too early to evaluate whether wireless advertising would emerge as a distinct and robust market, separate from the more established realm of online advertising.

“New economic models around advertising are disruptive,” Mr. Ayvazian said. “If companies like AnchorFree can add a new layer of innovation around free broadband access, they can be disruptive again and take market share.”