E-Relevant

If there’s ever been an argument for promotion over advertising, it’s the Internet.

On one hand, promotion on the Web is booming — almost every campaign today has some kind of Internet component, whether it’s used as a teaser, a closer, or the main thrust of the campaign. “As the Internet has started to define its place in society, it’s becoming clear that it’s a promotionally focused medium,” says Rose Polidoro, senior vp- promotional marketing at America Online, Vienna, VA.

“Our clients are much more enthusiastic about the Internet today than they were at this time last year,” adds Steve Rotterdam, chief creative officer at New York City-based EastWest Creative. ‘It’s no longer just, ‘What can we do on the Internet?” it’s ‘How does the Internet fit in with everything else?’”

On the other hand, standalone Internet advertising is on the skids and “traditional” online advertising tools such as pop-ups seem to be dying out, even as the number of viewers on the Internet has eclipsed 200 million. Internet ad spending free-fell a whopping 20.8 percent to $2.98 billion in the first six months of 2002, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, New York City. While that drop can be blamed in part on the overall economic slump (as well as bandwidth not yet catching up with the advertising potential), it’s clear that many of the old guard Internet strategies just don’t cut it any more. Banner clickthroughs have bottomed out for an average that ranges between just 0.4 percent and 0.8 percent. AOL and Microsoft’s MSN are promoting the launches of their latest versions by touting the fact that they’ve eliminated pop-up ads from their service (in AOL’s case, abandoning a revenue stream that it claims would have generated $30 million in 2003). Microsoft is creating a content destination by teaming with The Walt Disney Co. to offer a co-branded Internet service dubbed Disney on MSN that features age-appropriate startup pages for children and adults. The service is promoted by Disney Online, The Disney Store, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, and Buena Vista Home Entertainment.

Rival ISP Earthlink recently introduced software designed to automatically block pop-ups. “You’re not going to be able to run any pop-ups with us,” says Earthlink spokesperson Arley Baker. “You’re going to have to do something creative.” Earthlink is currently in the process of testing “advertorials” for outside brands on its service, something that may become a standard marketing option later next year.

And while pop-up ads seem prolific, fewer than 10 percent of marketers online today are actually using pop-ups, according to New York City-based Nielsen/NetRatings. “We’ll still use banners because we want the coverage,” says Rotterdam. “But it’s no longer the focus of the campaign.”

Just being on the Web is no longer enough. “Marketers are moving away from ad hoc promotions,” says Dadi Akhavan, president-coo of Bethesda, MD-based E-centives, a specialist in interactive direct-marketing technologies. “It’s not just about people going to Web sites, it’s about why they’re going. Really, why are people going to your site? The ‘build it and they will come’ philosophy just doesn’t cut it any more.”

Take BMWFilms.com, which recently launched the second season of The Hire — its online series of short films featuring BMW vehicles that was named Best Campaign of 2001 by the Promotion Marketing Association. The effort features a series of shorts directed by high-profile film directors that can be downloaded for free at bmwfilms.com.

“Millions of people are coming to our site because they want to,” says Jim McDowell, vp-marketing for BMW of America, Woodcliff Lake, NJ. “And they’re recommending it to family and friends.” Last year’s effort drew more than 2.1 million visitors (including an average 15,000 per day after BMW stopped promoting the site) and 14 million film views. Users were asked to provide an e-mail address, and whether they would agree to BMW emailing them about future films.

“We got a huge number of people to give us their e-mail addresses, so getting the word out will be a lot easier this time around,” adds McDowell.

Now that it’s established as a franchise, The Hire is boosting other promotions, including BMW’s Ultimate Driving Experience, a test-drive course that raises money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Last month, BMW raffled off a car signed by Madonna (featured in one of the films in the first season) to people contributing to the cause.

Still, brands don’t need the pomp and circumstance of BMWFilms to draw an audience on the Web — the key is to fit their lifestyle. It’s unlikely many consumers have actually considered seeking out information from Lysol on the Web, yet parent company Reckitt Benckiser is going gangbusters with its Lysol-sponsored HomeSolutions News e-mail newsletter, which offers homecare tips, coupons, sweepstakes, and samples. The newsletter recently offered the Play the Dream Come True Sweepstakes, which dangled a grand prize of $25,000 for a home improvement project. E-centives handles distribution of the newsletter.

Likewise, Glaxo SmithKline’s Oxy acne-fighting brand might not sound like a popular Web destination, but the company connected with teens online by making the site a lifestyle destination. “We needed something that would be bigger than the actual physical experience teens would have with the product,” says Jeff Godish, senior manager-emarketing at Glaxo SmithKline. “We’re combining teen interest and relevance with utility. The promotion had to be carried beyond the product’s use as a dermatological medicine.” To integrate different points of contact, the company developed cartoon “spokes-characters” dubbed Chip and Angela to be featured across all promotional vehicles and drive traffic to oxyoxygen.com/facetime. Consumers who purchased an Oxy product typed in the UPC code found on the package to participate in the Oxy Face Time instant-win game. Prizes included a Dell Computer with Webcam, Polaroid I-Zone Camera, and Oxy backpacks (although we’re not sure how many teens would want to be seen traipsing around with one of those). Players who didn’t win got coupons.

The key to the promotion was a partnership with Yahoo to establish the Yahoo! IMVironment, which let users chat with each other using instant messenger. The Web site drew more than 700,000 unique visitors and the game drew 52,713 unique registrations.

Polaroid Corp., Cambridge, MA, this fall launched its Click Instantly promotion, which will run through December 2004 in both the U.S. and Canada.

“Just a few years ago, the scope of the audience on the Internet was limited. It didn’t make sense for a lot of brands to do Web promotions,” says Polaroid marketing director Rich Armstrong. “Now even Wal-Mart will tell you that 70 percent of their shoppers are online.” The promotion will be featured on packages of Polaroid 600 Instant and I-Zone Sticker film.

When a customer loads a pack of specially marked Click Instantly film, the camera ejects a “dark slide” that acts as a game piece, featuring code numbers that can be used to enter an instant-win sweepstakes at polaroid.com/clickinstantly. The code identifies film as either Polaroid 600 or I-Zone film and sends consumers to the appropriate page to find out if they are winners. Two grand-prize winners can choose a Ford Mustang or Explorer Sport, while 2,500 first place winners will receive $100 gift certificates online.

Participants can also download five 3-D interactive games — one targeting the older Polaroid 600 audience, one targeting younger I-Zone users, and three general-audience games. The games — Picture This, Stick to the Clues, Clown Bounce, Pond Hopper, and Vortex Blaster — will be updated in the future. In the first few weeks of the promotion, the site generated a 45-percent download rate for game plays and a 55-percent download rate for unique game players (not bad considering the average download rate for anything on the Internet is just 16 percent). DVC Interactive, Morristown, NJ, is handling the Web site, while DVC BrandGames, New York City, developed the games.

Many brands are giving visitors a reason to stay on their Web sites besides a sweepstakes or coupon offer by creating intriguing content. To back the launch of the 2003 4Runner, Toyota is sponsoring a Destinations section on its site that will feature 50 off-road adventures. Every month, a well-known adventurer will take a 4Runner to the featured location and provide readers with tips on planning their own adventure.

Of course, the key is to make the content engaging and not overly complicated. This summer, Morningstar Foods broke a campaign dubbed Peel Off to Sea for its new Jakada chilled coffee latte. Consumers who bought a single-serve bottle of Jakada could pull the tab and get a code. Then they went to jakada.com to enter the code and gain access to a game awarding a seven-day cruise through the Caribbean. The game asked visitors to virtually navigate a ship from Miami to the Caribbean by plugging in direction, speed, and wind — a labor-intensive process for a Web promotion.

Cha-Ching

Need a reason to beef up your Internet marketing budget? According to Nielsen/NetRatings, New York City, affluent Americans are the fastest-growing income group online. Households with incomes between $100,000 and $150,000 are the fastest-growing group this year, up 20 percent from 2001 to 15 million Web users, or 12 percent of the entire Internet population. Households earning $150,000 or higher were the second fastest-growing group, up 14 percent. The study attributes much of the growth to upper-level executives getting Internet access in their offices for the first time, then subscribing at home.

On the other hand, households with income of $25,000 to $50,000 grew five percent, while households under $25,000 grew just two percent. According to the U.S. Census, average household income in the U.S. is $55,000.