All marketing ears perked up recently when Greg Stuart told his AdClub luncheon audience at Mayfair Farms that studies indicate that more than 70% of adults in New Jersey were regular Internet users. Better still, the president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau explained this includes the most educated and most affluent segment of the population.

Stuart reported on a recent survey of 13,000 women on what the Internet delivers from both a sales and a branding perspective. The findings showed that up to 14% of the respondents had made an online purchase. Moreover, unaided brand awareness for the group was 7%, while brand imaging was 33%. Additional research revealed that corporate executives are reachable through the Internet.

He said interactive advertising is fast becoming an essential element in the media mix. “On a cost basis, magazine and television advertising costs are higher than online ads,” Stuart noted. “Online advertising is cheaper to begin with and gets even cheaper with increased frequency over time.”

He also cited Unilever’s reliance on the Internet advertising to energize its Dove Nutrium bar campaign. “Sales rose to $150 million over a six-week period,” Stuart explained. “McDonald’s posted a 13% sales gain in their online campaign.”
Statistics, however, need to be looked at carefully. For example, the number of impressions per audience member of television, print and online ads would suggest that online is not exactly the pick of the litter, with each achieving 6.0%, 2.6%, and 1.7% respectively. But, says Stuart, another study uncovered that 75% of those polled said the best part of a television commercial was it allowed them to leave the room to make a sandwich or do something else.

In tune with corporate demands
The president and CEO of Tacoda Systems, Inc., Dave Morgan, pointed out that the Internet now accounts for 12% of all media consumption by Americans. He said the ability to target online audiences and measure results is enabling online advertisers to determine how well they are doing in reaching the consumer. “This is especially a plus in this down economic cycle when financial officers demand Return On Investment numbers to justify all corporate expenditures,” Morgan said.

A leader in the emerging field of online data mining, user profiling and automation of Internet advertising, Morgan cited the American steel industry as the poster boy for not defending the future of its business. “Retailers such as KMart, Sears, J.C. Penney didn’t pay attention to customer data, leading to a fall off in sales and worse,” he added. “WalMart, on the other hand, did and is now the retail leader.”

So next time a company’s sales flatten out, the one media left to optimize results may just be online. For one company sales rose 15%, when online advertising was added to the mix.

One thing hasn’t changed in advertising — media dollars should never be spent thoughtlessly. Good old-fashioned research is still critical, and Stuart reminded his audience to never develop a strategy without a focus group, and never run ads without copy testing first.

Sponsors of the event were New Jersey Broadcasters Association; RPI, Inc.; nj.com; Princeton Partners; Paramax and JK Design. Chair and moderator of the event was Fred Tuccillo of nj.com.