ADS: ADVERTISING ON THE INTERNET

ADS: ADVERTISING ON THE INTERNET

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Advertisers are rolling up their sleeves. There’s a lot of hype about a medium that has yet to prove itself as an effective marketing tool. The internet has come a long way. Not so long ago, Web site operators were wringing their hands over disappointing ad sales. But today industry experts predict that annual advertising revenues on the Internet could reach over 10 billion.
Why is advertising on the net starting to click with corporations? What has actually changed? The sheer number of people on the internet (60 million today) is becoming too large for companies/industries to ignore. Some expect that number to put the Web on a fast track to coveted mass-media status. In the past decade, the internet has gone from a haven for nerds and academics to a hangout for teenagers, professionals, and grandfathers alike. This rich demographic shift, coupled with technology that promises to make the internet ads almost as much of a “must see” as those on television, have finally turned the Web into a hip place to pitch.
What are the advantages of Web ads? The buzz about the Net’s technology makes it possible to target specific customers is becoming reality. Unlike a TV ad on say, (House, ER), which is aimed broadly at the cool, thirty something audience, a cyber promo can zero in on people who live in a specific part of town, are females, and have shown an interest in certain topics or products. How? Much of this is done through a technology called “cookies,” which are like electronic footprints that chronicle your movements on a particular internet site – what ads you saw or what you clicked on for more information. Just keep in mind that the information is stored in a cookie file in your browser, and the next time you drop by the same Web site, the server picks up your footprint and gathers more information that can then be shared with advertisers. Note that privacy advocates fret about cookies, web site operators insist they’re not a problem because surfers can disable them.
This is ancient history, according to Parker Brothers- whose banner campaign brought over 100,000 visitors during its infant stage to its Trivial Pursuit game on the Internet – Ad/Web advertising is a complete success. So while advertisers figure out how to make advertising work on the Web, the true winners – those who will gain a competitive edge through Web advertising – will be those who can apply new technology to advertising in a creative and innovative way.