INTERVIEW Adriel pitches for 'easy' digital advertising through AI

Seoul-based startup helps anyone place ads on Facebook, Instagram, Google

By Jun Ji-hye

Small business owners and the self-employed sometimes experience difficulties in marketing their products or services as they lack the technical expertise to execute ads on their own, while it costs too much for them to contract the work out to ad agents.

Eom Soo-won experienced the same difficulties several years ago while operating Solidware, a startup offering financial data analysis.

This gave her the idea of creating services to help the owners of startups and small businesses run ads efficiently for less money.

In 2017, Eom found a startup called Adriel after successfully selling Solidware to Dayli Financial Group. And in January this year, Adriel released an artificial intelligence (AI) powered digital advertising platform that allows users to run digital ads on Facebook, Instagram, Google and other social media at a minimum price of $5.

Eom Soo-won, founder and CEO of Adriel / Courtesy of Adriel

“I decided to set up Adriel to resolve problems I experienced while operating Solidware,” Eom said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. “Startups do not have sufficient budgets with which they can fund services from professional ad agents. Most startups do not have the professional knowledge to implement ads on their own, either.”

She said owners of startups and small businesses rarely know which images are efficient in advertising their products or services, who they should target or how to analyze the results of ads.

“It is also difficult for startups to recruit a professional marketer as they operate their companies with a minimum number of staff and little money to cover operational costs,” she said. “For those reasons, a number of startups are forced to give up their businesses before their products and services are known to the public.”

Eom said Adriel's services are distinguished as they allow users to run ads on multiple platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Google at the same time as Adriel's AI engine automatically creates content that meets the standard requirements of each platform.

Clients can see their ads run through digital platforms five minutes after they input basic information such as service type, region and the age of their target customers.

“We utilized AI and machine learning technology to develop systems that design ads and execute them strategically,” she said. “This helps significantly reduce the manpower and costs required for running ads and analyzing the effectiveness of advertising.”

She said prices of Adriel's services start from $5, and users can run ads as much as they want. This breaks down the barrier for advertisers at beginner levels to produce digital ads.

“Adriel's AI and machine learning technologies are capable of providing both features ― creating ad content and analyzing the results of ads,” she said. “By using our services, clients can enjoy easy and convenient services ranging from content creation to result derivation.”

Adriel's AI-powered services offering digital advertising / Courtesy of Adriel

Eom said her company has received a lot of positive feedback from clients who said their marketing costs have been considerably reduced, while the advertising impact has significantly improved.

The number of Adriel users has reached about 4,000 since its launch, she said.

Innovative services from Adriel have attracted the attention of investors as well. The Seoul-based startup received an investment from the nation's largest portal operator Naver just three months after its launch.

In September last year, Adriel was selected as one of six beneficiaries of Facebook's Namsan Lab Korea, a facility run by the social media giant to help startups in their early stages advance their businesses more effectively and make inroads into global markets.

Korea was the second country in Asia in which Facebook opened the incubator program for startups, after India. Facebook currently operates such facilities in 15 countries including France, the United Kingdom and Brazil.

Eom said her company has received a lot of help from the Namsan Lab Korea program in terms of developing technologies and business models, and enhancing human networks.

“While participating in the Namsan Lab Korea program for six months, I received mentoring from professional developers specializing in the marketing application program interface, AI specialists and Facebook's marketing partners. They suggested the optimal method of developing the product that I wanted to create,” she said. “I managed to complete the development of the product two months ahead of schedule.”

She said managers at each startup incubating hub run by Facebook globally are closely connected to each other, introducing startups to one another.

“Adriel has been introduced to hubs in other countries including Europe, the United States and South America,” Eom said. “Companies in Indonesia and India have actively asked us to host online marketing workshops together.”

She noted she could build human networks when participating in the Startup Summit that took place at Facebook's head office on April 29 as she met with more than 200 developers from around the world.

“This helps us explore overseas business opportunities substantially,” she said.

During Facebook's Startup Summit, Eom delivered a speech, telling the audience of her experiences in operating a successful startup.

Overseas business

Eom said Adriel's services were launched both in Korean and English as she sought to make inroads into global markets from the beginning.

In January, Adriel opened subsidiaries in London and Silicon Valley in a bid to enter the European and U.S. markets.

“As of April, our services have been used in 21 countries,” she said. “Of the total, overseas users account for 25 percent.”

Eom said her company is now considering forming partnerships with companies in Japan and India.

“In July, we plan to do business in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia,” she said. “We also plan to carry out a market analysis in Latin America.”

She noted service in Japanese is already ready, saying her firm will launch it once other aspects such as customer services are prepared.

Eom added that Adriel, which has 14 employees, has posted 100 percent growth per month on average.

Born in 1987, Eom studied at the chemistry and business administration departments of Seoul National University. She then earned her Master's degree in finance from HEC Paris.

She previously worked at Oliver Wyman, an international management consulting firm, and the Korean branch of AXA.