So, you have $20.5 million in funding from some of the biggest VCs on the planet. What do you do next? Roll out a great new product? Expand internationally? Hire a new fire-cracker CEO? No, you re-brand… for the sixth time. London-based OpenAds, the commercial open-source online ad server firm has changed its name yet again to OpenX. Apparently this is part of a “plan to move with our publishers beyond our core open source ad serving software” hence the “X” replacing “Ads”. So let’s just count those name changes from their first incarnation: phpAds, phpAdsNew, phpPgAds, Max Media Manager, OpenAds, and finally OpenX. Does anyone else think all this re-branding is creating a bit of an issue for the brand? I’ve contacted the company to ask them and will update this post when I get a response [see update below]
OpenA… I mean OpenX has around $20.5 million in funding from Accel Partners, Index Ventures, First Round Capital, Mangrove Capital Partners and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures. So I’m sure they’ll be delighted at the comments on the company’s blog which are universally condemning. Some choice quotes for you:
This is a REMARKABLY stupid-looking upgrade that has more resemblance to a clown-party than a professional banner implementation/reporting tool
I must say I am also completely baffled by the change and agree with the previous poster the site looks like a kid’s site.
This was a stupid decision. Sounds more like a porn site now! “Come see Jenna Jameson and Mr. Marcus in OpenX”!! Good job there guys…NOT!!
Update: OpenX responds to questions here.