About.com Founder Launches Evernote-Like Service for Ads

People love to save stuff for later. For when they have a free moment to get to it. It's why Evernote is so popular. It's why we have Read It Later. Photocopiers. Folders. Clipping services. Basements. Garages. Atticks. You name it, everyone has a place where they keep stuff they think they will need later on.

But advertising? Would anyone ever bother to save an ad to refer to later? Scott Kurnit thinks so and he's launched an entire business around the assumption that if, given a mechanism, many people would love to save ads and refer to them later. Kurnit, founder of About.com, is CEO of AdKeeper, a service that allows advertisers to place a button in online advertising which, when clicked, will place the ad in a person's "Keeper" to be referred to at a later date.

The service is free until July 1, 2011 for any advertiser that uses the service between now and then. The user will not be required to log in and create an account at first, rather their "Keeper" will be saved via cookie. Over time, users will be prompted to create an account.

Ads within a person's Kepper can be sorted into categories or brand, naotes can be added and "Keeps" can be shared on Twitter and Facebook which, interestingly, is likely to further the reach on the shared advertiser.

It's not clear at this point how AdKepper will charge advertisers but Kurnit tells Advertising Age, "Once we start charging we'll get in a discussion - cost per thousand, cost per click, cost per acquisition or some combination. We'll have to see."

With the service advertisers will be able to glean metrics such as which sites or piece of creative earned the best Keeps. Demographic brwakdown of Keeps in not in the cards at this point. It would seem Kurnit is keeping it simple to start, making it very easy for marketers to test the waters and for users to try the service without feeling they need to hand over yet another set of credentials.

Kurnit posits people who do not work in advertising don't look down upon it as harshly as those who do and that, because of this, consumers will see this as a valuable service akin to clipping coupons. Time will tell but humans