NONE: ONLINE-ADS>> Ad Bytes / June 8, 1997 / issue 20
ONLINE-ADS>> Ad Bytes / June 8, 1997 / issue 20
Online Ads (online-ads_at_o-a.com)
Sun, 8 Jun 1997 23:02:53 -0500 (CDT)
Ad Bytes / June 8, 1997 / issue 20
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by Richard Hoy with Cliff Kurtzman
Ad Bytes is a weekly supplement to subscribers of The
Online Advertising Discussion list. It profiles news items
relating to online advertising, PR and promotion. Its purpose
is to two-fold:
1.) to keep subscribers informed about current issues in
the field, and
2.) to help spark new topics of discussion.
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In this issue:
==============
IN THE NEWS
Radio station WNNX goes beyond ads for revenue -- Ad Age
TotalNews, publishers settle suit -- News.com
Prodigy reboots ad sales efforts -- Ad Age
Tracking Users: Alternative To Cookies... -- Web Week
WebRings -- A Clue
Increase Your Web Presence by Clicking on PR -- ClickZ
Focusing on future... -- Ad Age's Net Marketing
COOL PROMO (NOT)
AT&T Commercial: RubberEyes.com
NEW PRODUCTS, SERVICES, & REPORTS
Just Hits!!
IN THE NEWS
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Radio station WNNX goes beyond ads for revenue
Ad Age
http://www.adage.com/interactive/articles/19970602/article5.html
An Atlanta radio station teamed up with a local ISP and
created a synergy that equals about $1 million per year
in revenue from advertising and ancillary services.
==============
TotalNews, publishers settle suit
News.com
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,11272,00.html
It is settled for now, and creates a bit of
a disturbing precedent in the process. TotalNews,
if you recall, is the web site that displayed
content from sites such as CNN and MSNBC
in a frame, then sold ad space around that frame.
In essence, they were making money off of other
site's content. So those sites sued. As part of that
settlement, certain sites granted TotalNews a
"linking license" to link to their content.
==============
Prodigy reboots ad sales efforts
Ad Age
http://www.adage.com/interactive/articles/19970602/article22.html
Prodigy is back and has banners ads as low as $20 CPM.
They have invested in some serious back-end tools and
have already landed Volvo and Amazon.com as clients.
==============
Tracking Users: Alternative To Cookies Offered By Vendors
Web Week
http://www.webweek.com/970602/news/cookies.html
This is an overview of the new Open Profiling
Standard - a way to track users that is not based on
cookies. Essentially, the personal data of a user is
stored on that user's hard disk and he or she gives a
web site access to that data. The proposal has the
backing of several major players, including the staunch
privacy advocate the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
==============
WebRings
A Clue
http://www.ppn.org/clue/97/6-2.html#story3
A technology of the ancients (in web years anyway) lost
amidst the promotional techniques of today, WebRings
have been around since 1995. The idea is simple: sites
about a particular subject are linked together by a
graphic. Clicking on that graphic launches you on a linear
tour of all the web sites in that ring. More that
8,000 exist already.
==============
Increase Your Web Presence by Clicking on PR
ClickZ
http://www.clickz.com/archives/060597.html
Lawrence Peryer, Jr. gives some experience-based
advice on how to turn public relations
into a weapon in the web marketer's arsenal.
Results may not be as immediate as advertising buys,
but the long term effect of a consistent
campaign can have a far greater return on investment.
==============
Focusing on future, Year 2000 site finds success now
Ad Age's Net Marketing
http://www.netb2b.com/cgi-bin/cgi_article/monthly/97/06/01/article.3
Blush... Blush... This one is about us (Tenagra).
A case study on how a very non-traditional
advertising model was used to make a
web site commercially successful, and deliver
value to the web site's sponsors.
COOL PROMO (NOT)
----------------
AT&T Commercial: RubberEyes.com
http://www.rubbereyes.com/
Usually in this spot we showcase online advertising
campaigns that we think are exceptional. Usually that
means "exceptionally good," but this week we are
looking at one online and offline campaign that starts
out exceptional, then falls flat on its face.
We're talking about that AT&T TV commercial with two
the women who, when one accidentally sits on her
sun glasses, come up with the idea for RUBBER sun glasses.
After utterly failing to sell their glasses through regular
channels, they decide to build a rather
spiffy (judging from the screen shots) transactional
web site with the help of AT&T Business Solutions.
The TV ad is fantastic. Most TV ads we have seen for
Internet stuff are not too wonderful, but this one
really was eye catching. They effectively told an
involved story in a short period of time, and made
a real case for the benefits of setting up on the web.
Now any Internet literate individual who sees that
commercial is going to take the next step - visiting
the web address http://www.rubbereyes.com/. So,
being such people, we did. You come to a page with
text written in such an uninspired way that anyone
who has ever been forced to write vague copy to satisfy
a client or executive's lack of creative vision would
appreciate it.
And we quote:
"We have helped many real businesses
meet and exceed their goals, just as
we helped the fictional company
Rubbereyes, created for illustrative
purposes in our TV commercial. For some
real-world examples, visit our compilation
of customer success stories.
To explore some of the ways that we
can help your business succeed, visit
our Web site at www.att.com/business/"
Their "compilation of customer success stories" has no
example of how AT&T set-up web sites. It is a lot of
networking solutions and 1-800 phone service examples.
Now if a savvy Internet marketer had been at the helm,
he or she would have taken $30,000 of the $300,000 budget
it probably took to create this commercial and built a
genuine Rubber Eyes web site. Instead of selling sun glasses,
it could be a tutorial selling how AT&T would build such a
site. A "behind-the-scenes" view, if you will, of starting
such an enterprise. Remember the MCI ad campaign for the
fictitious Gramercy Press a couple of years ago (which had
a nifty web site component)?
Television has reach, tremendous reach. When you have
the money to do national advertising and can do it well,
it can be a significant web site traffic builder. AT&T has
the money and can buy the creative talent, but they fell
way short on the Internet marketing savvy; which is,
ironically, the very thing they are attempting to sell
with this campaign. It takes more than phone lines and
networking services to be successful online.
But whether or not this campaign proves effective for AT&T,
ultimately we think that AT&T is doing us all a great
service by running these ads and promoting a positive
image with the public of the idea of marketing online.
-------
On a side note, we found the idea of advertising for
web development services on a broadcast medium like TV
to be a bit perplexing. Our guess would be you would receive
little qualified response but a ton of inquires from
people that think that $500 is too much to spend on a
web site. We would be interested in feedback from
readers that might have experience in this area.
A second side note, while we are on the subject
of offline advertising for Internet-related products
and services. The series of print ads being run by
VisionTek (a company that sells computer memory -- and
which we have no relationship with) were so engaging
that we shared them around our office. Our favorite
is the full page ad showing a red-faced baby standing
clench fisted and dressed in a business suit. The
caption, which we _know_ our systems administrator can
relate to, is:
"If you think the chairman is difficult now, wait
'till he finds out you broke his WEB SERVER."
If you follow up the ad and go to their web site
(http://www.visiontek.com/) and you find an effective
and consistent presentation of their products and
company culture.
NEW PRODUCTS, SERVICES, & REPORTS
---------------------------------
Just Hits!!
http://www.justhits.com
Receive thousands of visitors to your web site, starting today!
That's it!
richard & cliff
moderators
online advertising discussion list
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