ValueClick, Inc.

[pontifex]

So I have a phone interview with this company and I was checking them out through google.

Some of the stuff I saw doesn't look good. They're an advertising company, only about 10 or 11 years old, saw some articles on a class action lawsuit about securities fraud plus a few other court cases. I saw an article on a blog that said they aren't doing well either, and the author thought they might end up being bought out within the next year.


Sounds like I better stay away.

Anyone know anything else about them?

 

[BeauJangles]

They're a huge player in the online marketing world. I believe they run the software / hardware that drives several of the big media property companies. They also own Commission Junction, which is a fairly large, but crappy, affiliate network.

Lawsuits are fairly commonplace in the online marketing world. These guys are big-time legit players. I wouldn't worry too much about the lawsuit end. What would concern me is if they're really struggling right now.

edit: I just looked at wikipedia and saw this:

"In March 2008, ValueClick paid $2.9m to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers with offers of prizes such as laptops and iPods to complete surveys, by means of tempting invitations such as ?Free PS3 for survey?."

Yeah, advertisers get slammed for things like this all the time, especially in the online world where people seem to forget that there are laws that say what you can and can't do.

Currently Harpo LLC and a bunch of Attorney Generals rained lawsuits down on 500 affiliates and 10 - 15 merchant companies for deceptive advertising and trademark infringement over acai berries and the fake blogs used to promote them. Those lawsuits haven't completely played out and I have no idea if ValueClick is involved, but they weren't named in the original lawsuit.

Basically, advertisers and merchants push the envelope as far as they can and often they overstep and get sued. It's basically a regular part of the business IMO.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Weren't they bought out?

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Lothar
Weren't they bought out?

i didn't see anything that said they were.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Lothar
Weren't they bought out?

i didn't see anything that said they were.

Oops.
That was DoubleClick.

 

[Train]

I advertise for them, they were my #1 ad agency back in 2003 or so, but have since fell to last in my lineup of about 5 ad networks, some months I make nothing or close to nothing because my top networks take up all my ad inventory. They are pretty much a backup now.

They used to be one of the companies behind the REALLY annoying ads (flashing obnoxiously, "you have won" type crap) but have gotten slightly better over the years. But as far as overall quality, they are bottom of the barrel. Cheap junk ads, rarely a name brand or high quality campaign

 

[Train]

Originally posted by: Lothar
Weren't they bought out?

Value Click bought out/merged with what was formerly "FastClick"

 

[JS80]

I'm in the online ad industry. ValueClick is known to be a shady company not only in terms of business practices but also in terms of how they treat their employees.

What position are you applying for?

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: JS80
I'm in the online ad industry. ValueClick is known to be a shady company not only in terms of business practices but also in terms of how they treat their employees.

What position are you applying for?

tech support

 

[pontifex]

Phone interview must have gone well. They want me to interview in person on Tuesday.

The job sounds like what I want to do but I'm worried about the company's reputation and if I'll get shafted if I take the job.

 

[pontifex]

so some people say they are scumbags and some say that what I see is normal for that type of business...

any more input?


I don't know. My current job is just pissing me off more and more and they just keep doing stuff that makes it harder to do our jobs. Not only is it hurting us, it's hurting our customers too.

I may just take this job if they offer it to me just to get out of here.

 

[pontifex]

well, had the face to face interview today. I don't think I did so well. I was more nervous this time than I was at some of my previous interviews. I don't know if its because I want out of my current job so badly or what. Seems like a decent place to work. I felt like I didn't answer the questions as well as I could. THey asked me some technical questions and I knew the answers, but i had trouble answering them, like I didn't explain it smoothly. I didn't sound confident at all.

One question they asked I wasn't sure how to answer. I wasn't sure what they were looking for. The question was "if 3 people come up to you with issues, in what order would you address them. High level manager who can't print, sales person who can't email and says its very important to send the email, and account manager who has a laptop with a BSOD."

I said sales person 1st because it might affect a sale or doing business, account manager 2nd since he can't do anything, and then high level manager 3rd because he just can't print. I probably should have put the account manager 1st, then the sales person, then the manager. that would be the order of importance to me in a technical standpoint, but I wasn't sure what they were looking for and I was thinking of a business (making money) standpoint since they are an advertising
agency.

I just hate being nervous because it totally fucks me up and makes me sound dumb.

So I'm going to send a thank you email, should I mention that I was nervous and apologize or should I just act like everything was ok and just thank them?

 

[FelixDeCat]

Originally posted by: BeauJangles

"In March 2008, ValueClick paid $2.9m to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers with offers of prizes such as laptops and iPods to complete surveys, by means of tempting invitations such as ?Free PS3 for survey?."

Free iPods?! Im in!