Big Brands Still Don't Get the Web
Published Friday, June 20, 2008
The Washington Post
It's a story that's been written before, but it's certainly one that bears
repeating-especially when you consider the steady rise of digital amid
traditional media's declining ad market: major brands are still not shifting
their ad dollars to the Web. Indeed, the top spender on the Internet in the
U.S. last year was the University of Phoenix-not exactly a major global brand.
The fact that an American university ranks at the top of Internet sponsors
highlights a stark reality, says the Washington Post: major U.S. advertisers
have (still) not fully embraced the Web.
Case in point: P&G, one of the largest U.S. advertisers, spent less than 2%
of its ad budget on the Web last year. "While spending on Internet
marketing has been growing dramatically over the past decade, the top 50 or 60
brand marketers are very much underrepresented," said Randall Rothenberg,
president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, adding that the
industry has grown mostly "by grabbing the low-hanging fruit"-i.e.
search and other forms of direct response advertising.
Meanwhile, the largest source of revenue for online content providers is
display. These publishers would love to tap into the billions that the likes of
P&G have at their disposal, but these marketers have several issues with
the Web. For one thing, they're more accustomed to creating and presenting
15-second TV spots or magazine ads. For another, some media buyers think it's
more difficult to get precise information about how an ad is performing on the
Web than in traditional media. - Read
the whole story...
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