Switching our IP address in order to view IP targeted ads.

All discussions in
Published by: Pete Ark , Kelley Blue Book, us
Published on: May 31, 2012

My company is currently doing zipcode targeting in DFP, where visitors to our website are shown these zipcode targeted ads based on the zipcode they enter when visiting our site.

We are starting to switch over to DMA targeting and we(mainly our sales and support teams) are looking for a way to view these ads on our site by switching our IP (hate to use the word spoofing since that carries such a negative connotation, but that's basically what we are trying to do) temporarily so that we can view these ads, do screen captures, etc.

Anyone else doing this at their company? Ideally, I'm looking for some sort of software (unless there is an easier method) that will allow us to select a DMA and assign us an IP address from that region so we can view these targeted ads. I found one called HMA Pro VPN, which we are considering. However the DMA regions they have access to, while more extensive than any other software applications I've come across, seem limited to only 25 or so major DMA regions.

I'm open to any suggestions anyone might have. Thanks!

Comments

#1 Amnon Siev - June 3, 2012

Dear Pete,
Thanks for raising this topic. Our company, GeoEdge providing the service you are looking for.

We have private IPs in 102 global locations including 28 DMAs that are used by publishers and marketers to view geo-targeted offers. You can switch IPs using our Firefox add-on, Chrome Extension or our Android App.

As a side note we are a Silver Sponsor of the upcoming Publishers Forum in Vienna. If you are planning to attend I will be happy to meet in person.

Best regards,
Amnon
www.geoedge.com

#2 Jessica DuFresne - June 1, 2012

Hi Pete,

The DFP tearsheet tool will allow you to push a creative through to its targeted website while overriding any geo-targeting such as zip codes and DMAs. So if you're not physically located in the DMA of the ad, you can still use the tearsheet to view the ad on the website and take a screenshot without changing your IP address.

The only thing to bear in mind is that if the ad's creative is a 3rd party tag with geo-targeting applied on the tag's backend and not just in DFP, then the workaround with the DFP tearsheet won´t work.

Rocket Fuel