AdKeeper, a new advertising startup that is the brainchild of About.com founder Scott Kurnit, has a fresh take on how to engage with web visitors. AdKeeper allows consumers to ‘Keep’ or mark online ads for future use, without leaving their current page or interrupting their online experience. Advertisers embed AdKeeper’s technology, giving consumers the ability to click on a small “K” symbol to place ads of their choice into their personal “Keepers,” where they can return to them at a more convenient time or place.

Kurnit says the thought behind AdKeeper is that current forms of online advertising don’t work because it disrupts the user experience of reading or interacting with a website. Why not allow consumers to save these ads for later, when they can actually interact with them without distraction?

Today, AdKeeper is announcing that it will give advertisers more data on how their AdKeeper ads are performing, in addition to metrics on impressions and clisks. AdKeeper will inform advertisers of the number of times an individual ad was Kept, the number of online users who Kept them and what websites those consumers were visiting when they Kept the ad.

AdKeeper, which has since been operating in private beta since October, is planning to roll out its service more broadly in early 2011.

It’s unclear how well the fledgling ad startup is performing with its adds but AdKeeper, which has raised $8 million in funding, is definitely catching the interest of high-profile brands and advertisers, including AT&T, Best Buy, CBS, Ford, Gap, General Mills, InterContinental Hotels Group, JetBlue, Kia Motors, Kmart, Kraft Foods, Macy’s, McDonald’s, Nextag, Pepsi, Sara Lee, Sears, Showtime, The Home Depot, Unilever, and Warner Bros.

Crunchbase

• ADKEEPER

Company: AdKeeper

Website: adkeeper.com

Launch Date: 2010

Funding: $43M

AdKeeper gives users a new way to control their online experience. A KeepButton on online advertisements allows users to continue doing what they’re doing and simply save ads for later. Users then interact with their “kept ads” whenever they like, as it will be sent to their email inbox for use later, at their convenience. AdKeeper is “on my time” advertising that creates a unique channel for ongoing engagement between advertisers and consumers.

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