25 ways Online Advertising can make things happen

26/02/2003

We were laughing the other day about a guy in the office who gave his wife a wheelbarrow for their wedding anniversary. We figured he’d have to buy a shovel to dig himself out of that one.\t\t\t\t\t

But it got me thinking about the approaching 10th anniversary of the first Web browser — the tool we all use to dig up information online. I thought about how far we’ve come as an industry in 10 years. And the challenging work still ahead for those of us committed to driving online’s success as a marketing powerhouse.

Toward that end we’ve spent a lot of time at MSN the last six months talking to marketers and agencies about the value-add you want to see when you incorporate online campaigns into your marketing mix. We didn’t notice anything surprising in the results, because what you told us you want plays to online’s greatest strengths:\t\t

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• Targeting audience\t\t\t
• Driving offline sales\t\t\t
• Consumer interaction with your brand\t\t

But our goal is to take this exercise beyond talking points to proof points. We want to validate online’s ability to deliver on marketing objectives — and specifically those objectives you told us you care most about. I’m pleased to tell you we’ve done that. We’ve worked with industry leaders to develop the industry-wide Best Practices initiative showcasing highly successful campaigns that clearly demonstrate online has a role and value across every stage of the consumer adoption process — from brand awareness to purchase intent to loyalty. (segue)