It’s important for integrated marketers to understand the environment in which they are launching a campaign. To differentiate, we need foundational understanding of competitive creative. To impact, we need to understand our competitor’s strategies. Here is a handy list of tools help uncover what the competition is doing online.

Spy on banner ads at Moat.com

Do you want to know what kind of banner ads your competition is running? Or do you have a new client you want some historical media information on? Moat.com is a great free resource for finding almost any banner ad whether animated or static. Simply go to the website and type in a product or company name.

Moat will display the ads. Clicking on one will show you the animated version and tell you the last time it ran. There are other tools such as WhatRunsWhere.com and AdBeat.com They may offer more services such as ad spend, but the services cost money. I love that Moat.com is quick and free.

Spy on Pay-Per-Click ads at SpyFu.com

SpyFu.com has been my go-to resource for checking on Google Adwords keyword bidding, ad spends and organic ranking for the competition. The service offers a limited view for free, and enhanced options if you subscribe. Even with the free service, you can get a nice sense of what the competition is doing. Type in a domain name or keyword to see how much money is being spent, and the ad creative that is running on a timeline.