Tribune-Owned Hyperlocal News Source, TribLocal, Debuts New Online Ad Platform Across Suburban Chicago Communities

CHICAGO, April 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- TribLocal (www.triblocal.com), suburban Chicago's go-to source for real-time relevant news, has introduced an innovative new interactive ad platform called Flyerboard (www.flyerboard.com) to enable small, local businesses to advertise online. Owned by the Chicago Tribune Media group, TribLocal is implementing Flyerboard into a majority of their 88 hyperlocal websites that provide comprehensive coverage of the individual communities in the Chicago suburbs.

The platform, developed by San Francisco based, local/hyperlocal-focused ad tech firm PaperG (www.paperg.com), takes the popular concept of the cork bulletin board and repurposes it for the Web. It gives small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) an easy, inexpensive and social media-enabled vehicle to promote themselves in their local communities. For many, Flyerboard will mark their first foray into online advertising.

"We've noticed the success of Flyerboard in other markets and are looking forward to using it here in Chicago," noted Bill Adee, Vice-President/Digital for the Chicago Tribune. "We expect utilization of this innovative platform to grow rapidly as more and more local Chicago merchants learn about it."  

Victor Wong, CEO of PaperG, added, "I am looking forward to working with the TribLocal team to help monetize their rich local content."

The influential technology website TechCrunch recently reported on Flyerboard's success in building new ad revenue streams for online publishers at the nation's leading newspaper companies.  (http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/23/papergs-flyerboard-latimes-media-loca/).

About TribLocal

A product of Chicago Tribune Media Group, TribLocal is the go-to source of real-time relevant news and happenings in over 100 suburban Chicagoland communities that help readers make informed decisions.  TribLocal's websites and newspapers are a compilation of suburban stories, photos and events written by staff reporters, community producers and citizen contributors, along with news gathered from other media outlets, to offer the most comprehensive information in one spot.  Launched in 2007, TribLocal provides a unique mix of professional and user-generated content online along with a weekly digest of local news printed in a Thursday newspaper.

For more information, visit www.triblocal.com.

About PaperG

PaperG Inc. (http://www.paperg.com) was founded in 2007 when Yale University students teamed with Harvard University students to reinvent the relationship between local online publishers and the small and medium businesses they serve.  CEO Victor Wong, a former economics major at Yale, was joined by Chief Operating Officer Roger Lee, an applied mathematics major at Harvard and former publisher of the Harvard Crimson, Chief Technology Officer Victor Cheng, a computer science major at Yale, Chief Financial Officer Ka Mo Lau, a former economics major from Yale, and VP Publishers Tyler Bosmeny, an applied mathematics major at Harvard.

PaperG recently closed funding totaling over $1MM. Its advisory board includes John Kannapell (former head of AOL Search, Local & Maps), Stephen Taylor (former publisher of Boston.com), Mark Potts (founder of GrowthSpur, WashingtonPost Digital), Scott Symonds (Executive Media Director at AKQA), among others.

PaperG recently moved to new headquarters at 117 South Park in the SoMa District of San Francisco.  

About Chicago Tribune Media Group

Chicago Tribune Media Group is a media and business services company that publishes the Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Tribune.  CTMG also produces related print and interactive media serving Chicagoland like RedEye, Hoy, Chicago Magazine, TribLocal.com, TheMash, chicagotribune.com, chicagonow.com and metromix.com.  Reaching 4.8 million adults each week in the greater Chicago area, CTMG is the leading news and information destination in Chicagoland.

SOURCE Chicago Tribune