NONE: ONLINE-ADS>> WEB-AD'98 COVERAGE: 2/9/98 - Report from the floor, #3
ONLINE-ADS>> WEB-AD'98 COVERAGE: 2/9/98 - Report from the floor, #3
richard_at_tenagra.com
Mon, 9 Feb 1998 15:53:38 -0600 (CST)
Web Advertising '98 Email Coverage
Report from the floor, #3
February 9, 1998
This is the third in a series of 10 reports from Richard Hoy, who
is covering the Web Advertising '98 conference in New York this week.
You will receive these reports in addition to your normal Online Ads
posts/digests.
This coverage is archived at:
http://www.o-a.com/webad98/webad98-archive.html
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This conference coverage is generously underwritten by:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Looking for the Web's most active hardware and software buyers? Wired
Digital's Webmonkey Network delivers IT/IS Decision Makers! Get
advertising info at http://www.hotwired.com/info/sponsor/ or
email rick_at_wired.com.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sponsored by:
Wired Digital's Webmonkey Network - http://www.webmonkey.com
Looking for the Web's most active hardware and software buyers? Wired
Digital's Webmonkey Network delivers IT/IS Decision Makers:
60% are involved in software adoption decisions, 70% recommend or
buy hardware, 31% have purchased hardware online. For advertising
information, go to http://www.hotwired.com/info/sponsor/ or email Rick
Boyce at rick_at_wired.com.
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GETTING LOCAL
In the afternoon of Day 2, Melinda Gipson of the Newspaper Association of
America discussed how local advertising has taken shape online. She said we
have more choices today than we've ever had in the history of the Internet.
However, Melinda offered some points to consider. First, most city
directories (citysearch, sidewalk, etc.) seem to be aimed at non-locals
coming into the city rather than locals themselves. Second, the only way to
assure you're reaching the locals is to target based on registration
information (address/zip code) and very few sites do this.
Ironically, the some of the sites that might allow you to do local
targeting the most accurately, she said, have nothing to do with local
content. They are, in fact, auction sites. The reason they are so accurate
is that people must give their address. And people are truthful about it
because they want their stuff to show up at the right place.
Melinda said local directories are online ad vehicles that often don't
employ CPM's in their price calculations. She recommends not to discount
them, and suggests that they will become the "chevy" version of the
microsite - a cheap online ad vehicle for small businesses.
So why target locally? Well, people surfing local content have some
desirable characteristics. For one thing, they are online more. 65% of them
are on the Internet 5 hours per week or more. Also, studies suggest they
are twice as likely to buy online.
PROMOTING FOR FREE
Day two wrapped up with Eric Ward, who taught us all the finer points of
search engine and directory registration.
Eric's entire presentation, including links to the resources he describes,
is online at:
http://www.netpost.com/speaking/wa98/
An interesting side note about search engine optimization services. Eric
pointed out that such services are only a stop-gap solution to the problem
of coming out on top of the search engines. Sooner or later, someone will
beat you. It is not a game you can ultimately win. He proved his point by
doing a search in Altavista for search engine optimization services. The
first page to appear was one he built specifically for this presentation.
DISSECTING THE "EXPERTS"
In a kick-off to the final day of the conference, Andy Bourland, founder of
the popular industry e-zine ClickZ, dissected the brand studies that came
out of Forrester, MB Interactive, Berkeley Systems, and Pointcast.
First up on the chopping block was Forrester, who surprisingly only looked
at consumer brands. As many of us who live and breath this Internet stuff
know, the online consumer market is not that mature yet. So it is not
surprising that Forrester found the Web is not effective for branding. Had
they looked at business to business branding, I think they would have been
able to better qualify this statement.
Next up was MB Interactive's IAB study. Unlike Forrester, which seemed to
do their data collection in a manner similar to that of high school
sophomore with an assignment due the next day, MB Interactive actually
measured user behavior across 12 major publishing sites. They found banners
can impact branding. The average increase in brand awareness was a modest
5%. But there was a reason for this, and it was probably the most unusual
finding of the study. Of the 12 brands tested, 9 had positive results and 3
had very negative results. This at least seemingly shows that when you
create a brand advertisement that people don't like, they REALLY don't like
it. (More on this in this session's synopsis, coming this week.)
After the IAB study, Andy took a critical look at Berkeley Systems, who
commissioned MB Interactive to study the effectiveness of interstitial ads
on "You Don't Know Jack." MB Interactive surveyed 7810 people as they
played the game. They found a 56% increase in brand recall and a 14%
increase of interest in purchasing the product.
The final study Andy discussed was one conducted on the Pointcast Network
for the direct PC manufacturer Micron. Pointcast conducted an email survey
that yielded about 500 respondents. Awareness of the Micron brand did
increase. They moved from 5th to 3rd most recognized on a list of direct PC
marketers.
Any wrapped up his session by contrasting David Yoder's argument that the
Web IS NOT cost effective from branding with Rick Boyce, VP of Advertising
at Wired Digital, who offers evidence that it IS cost effective.
Look for a detailed summary of this session this week.
This ends the third report from Web Advertising 98. Stay tuned for more
floor reports and detailed session synopses.
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======================================================================
This conference coverage is generously underwritten by:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Looking for the Web's most active hardware and software buyers? Wired
Digital's Webmonkey Network delivers IT/IS Decision Makers! Get
advertising info at http://www.hotwired.com/info/sponsor/ or
email rick_at_wired.com.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sponsored by:
Wired Digital's Webmonkey Network - http://www.webmonkey.com
Looking for the Web's most active hardware and software buyers? Wired
Digital's Webmonkey Network delivers IT/IS Decision Makers:
60% are involved in software adoption decisions, 70% recommend or
buy hardware, 31% have purchased hardware online. For advertising
information, go to http://www.hotwired.com/info/sponsor/ or email Rick
Boyce at rick_at_wired.com.
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