Remember browser toolbars? They're back -- and surprisingly powerful.

Conduit President Adam Boyden leads U.S. operations for the toolbar maker. Photo: Jon Fortt.

Adam Boyden's startup just might have the next big idea in online marketing -- and it's got nothing to do with search or banner ads.

Boyden heads U.S. operations at Conduit, a company that is challenging the conventional wisdom about how to get and keep people's attention online. Rather than use Google's column of blue links or Yahoo's image-rich brand advertising, Conduit claims a different piece of real estate: the old browser toolbar.

Using Conduit's platform, content publishers build and distribute their own branded custom toolbars for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari, giving them a way to get in front of users as they surf across the web. Other digital marketing tools bring customers to you once; Conduit aims to keep them coming back regularly. More