Internet Marketing

Internet marketing started as simple billboards on the information superhighway and in only a few years has evolved into something more profound and, some say, effective. Recent survey’s show that PC sales are way up over 1996 figures. As the number of average consumers populating the Web increases, so will the number of advertisers desiring to be there. Polls of teenage boys, according to Levi’s, show that they’d sooner give up their televisions than their PowerBooks. Look for some of cable’s ad dollars shifting in the direction of the Internet. 

Nineteen ninety six boasted $301 million dollars in advertising revenue generated by the Internet. According to New York-based market research firm, Jupiter Communications already in the first quarter of 1997 $133 million was spent advertising on the ’Net.

The challenge to jeans companies, and the rest of the fashion community, is how to dynamically capture the Web surfer. So far the main focus has been building individual Web sites, most of which are glorified “advertorial” concepts. Rarely do the Web sites developed by these companies offer services or on-line shopping opportunities for consumers or retailers. Namely, real  attractions.

The opportunities for advertising on the ’Net have grown in the last year, largely the result of criticism of the most common form of Web advertising, Banner Ads. 

New vehicles: 

Pop-up Windows, a new window appears in front of the main browser window showing an ad. A few seconds after it pops up it automatically closes.

Roadblocks, a controversial ad scheme that forces the user to “pass through” a screen featuring an ad before continuing on their desired path.

Tickers, simply a banner ad that scrolls by on a stream of news headlines.

Incentives, a Web developer puts a logo banner on a Web site. Payment is only received based on the number of users which are driven to the brand’s site by clicking on the logo. If the end site sells a product, the bannered site would receive a percentage of any sale made to a customer driven via said banner.