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CHAPTER 15
THE INTERNET AND INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Chapter Overview
Perhaps the most intriguing of all media—at least to students—is the Internet and Interactive media. Since
the inception of the World Wide Web, the Internet has created quite a stir in Marketing. Likewise, in the
advertising and promotions area, the Internet has been hyped as the “be all and end all” for
communications, the end of traditional media as a means of communications and even as a replacement
for all brick and mortar stores. While there has been astronomical growth in advertising on the Internet,
the predictions of the demise of traditional stores, etc. has not come to pass. We see the Internet as an
extremely valuable tool for marketers and an important part of the IMC program. There are advantages
and disadvantages of the Internet just as there are for other media, and the astute marketer will know
when to employ this medium.
Learning Objectives
2. To understand the use of Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 platforms in the IMC process.
4. To know the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet and Interactive media.
5. To examine the role of additional online media.
Chapter and Lecture Outline
I. DEFINING AND UNDERSTANDING THE INTERNET
The growth and relevance of social media begins the chapter. In addition, insight into the rapid adoption
of the Internet is presented.
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II. WEB OBJECTIVES
Objectives sought in using the Internet include communications and sales objectives, as well as the
development and maintenance of the website.
B. Communications Objectives—the Internet can be used in an attempt to attain a number of
communications objectives. These include:
2. Creating awareness
4. Creating an image
6. Creating a strong brand image
8. Gain consideration
C. e-Commerce—the transaction of sales over the Internet has been given the designation of e–
commerce. This sales objective is applicable to both the consumer and business to business
markets.
III. THE INTERNET AND INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
The role of the Internet in the IMC program is discussed. The Internet both supports and is supported by
an IMC program. A distinction between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 is introduced.
A. Advertising—a variety of forms of advertising on the Internet are available
1. Banner ads—the most common form of advertising
3. Pop-ups/pop-unders—small message boxes that appear on ones screen
5. Links—connections to other sites
7. Behavioral Targeting—targeting consumers with ads based on their website surfing
behaviors.
8. Contextual ads—ads placed to take advantage of the surrounding content of the site
9. Rich Media—a broad range of interactive digital media that exhibit dynamic motion
and employing features such as video, audio, and animation.
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B. Web 2.0 –strategies that take advantage of the interactive capabilities of the internet include:
1. Social Networks—sites that allow the user to share information with others within
their network.
3. Podcasting—a medium that uses the Internet to distribute radio-like files for
downloading onto iPod or MP3 players.
5. Blog—a web-based publication consisting of articles, writings, opinions, etc. of an
individual or organization to be distributed to others.
6. Others—widgets, virtual reality, etc. are introduced, but not discussed.
C. Sales Promotions— sweepstakes, contests and other forms of sales promotions are commonly
used on the Internet. In addition, a number of companies are now offering online coupons.
D. Personal Selling—the Internet has a number of ways of being combined with personal
E. Public Relations—as discussed in this chapter and chapter 17, the Internet has become a very
valuable tool for disseminating public relations information, and achieving pr objectives.
F. Direct Marketing—many consider the Internet to be a direct marketing medium. The chapter
takes a broader perspective, and notes that a number of direct media are employed with and
for the Internet.
2. Infomercials
4. Home Shopping Channels
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IV. MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INTERNET
The Internet has used its own methods for measuring effectiveness as well as some traditional methods.
In an attempt to respond to criticisms and to adopt a standard basis for measurement, the Internet
Advertising Bureau (IAB) created voluntary guidelines for Internet metrics. More traditional methods of
measurement are now being adopted including recall and retention measures, surveys, tracking and sales
measures.
A. Audience Measures and Measures of Effectiveness
• Internet Specific Measures—Figure 15-7 shows some of the more commonly
employed Internet specific measures employed.
• Surveys—conducted through traditional methods as well as online, these surveys
track attitudes toward the site, responses to e-mails, etc.
B. Sources of Measurement Data—a number of sources of measurement data are discussed in
the chapter. As the reader will note, some of these are providers of traditional information as
well.
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V. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE INTERNET
Advantages of the Internet include:
a. Target marketing
b. Message tailoring
c. Interactive capabilities
Disadvantages of the Internet include:
a. Measurement problems
b. Clutter
VI. ADDITIONAL INTERACTIVE MEDIA
A number of other interactive media are discussed, however, most of the attention is focused on
interactive TV, and its potential for a role in the IMC program. To this date, this medium has still
Professor’s Notes
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Teaching Suggestions
This chapter may be one of the most interesting in the text for students. At the same time, it may be one of
the more difficult for instructors to teach. Much of the difficulty will come from the fact that the Internet
world is changing so rapidly, that by the time something is committed to print, it has changed. Many of
the companies we discuss in this chapter may no longer be in existence by the time the text comes out.
Others will have merged or changed their names. Another factor that makes the chapter difficult to teach
is the high level of knowledge and interest of the students. Many of them will know more about the
working of the Internet than we do.
Answers to Discussion Questions
1. The growth of Facebook has had a major impact on the way advertisers attempt to reach their
customers. Discuss how Facebook has changed the media environment, citing examples. (LO2)
The social networking site has changed , and continues to change the media environment. With
over 500,000 members, the mere size of the members provides a significant audience. However,
2. Discuss why mobile has become an attractive medium for advertisers. Provide examples of how
companies have used mobile.(LO2)
One of the fastest growing of the of the new digital media is mobile—though estimates are that
we are still years behind some foreign companies. The fact that over 80% of Americans now have
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An attractive aspect of mobile is its target marketing capabilities. Advertisers can tell by the apps
used what the owner’s interests are, and target them directly. (For example, travel apps and sports
3. There are indications that the popularity of blogs may have already reached the maturity stage.
Take a position as to whether this is true or not, providing examples to support your opinion.
(L)1)
In 2009 there were an estimated 126 million blogs on the Internet. These blogs range from
providing information about news, politics, and products, amid a myriad of other topics. There
are beer blogs, cupcake blogs, car blogs—just about anything that you can imagine someone
having an interest in.
4. A trend among advertisers is to make more use of consumer generated commercials to be placed
on You-Tube and similar sites. Discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of employing
this strategy.(LO4)
One hundred and eighty three million viewers viewed over 14.6 billion videos on YouTube in
2010. That is a lot of reach, and an attractive audience for consumer product companies—which
Chapter 15 – The Internet and Interactive Media
Marketers have become quite enamored with having consumers create videos for them. They run
contests and sweepstakes to developers, offering to place their ads in such extremely popular
5. Some marketers have argued that the strength of the Internet in an IMC program is at the mid
stage of the consumer funnel (knowledge, consideration, etc.) Discuss whether you agree or
disagree with this position, and support your position with examples. (LO1)
As more and more research on the Internet surfaces, it seems to indicate that the Internet is a
viable communications tool in an IMC program, but is not the be all and end all some expected.
As Internet popularity continues to grow as an advertising medium, so too does evidence of its
limited capabilities. Much of the growth of the net as an advertising medium is in search, with the
impact of banner ads and other advertising forms still minimal.
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6. The Internet has changed the advertising environment forever. Discuss the impact the Internet has
had on advertising and discuss what this has meant for traditional media.(LO1)
There is no element of the promotional mix that has not been affected by the advent of the
Internet. As noted in the chapter, the Internet has evolved as a major medium for advertising and
promotions. The direct marketing organizations have found it to be a major boon to that industry,
7. One of the fastest growing mediums in regard to advertising expenditures is mobile. Explain why
mobile has become so attractive to advertisers. (LO5)
All you have to do is look around to understand why mobile is so attractive to advertisers.
Whether you are on campus, driving in your car, or just about anywhere, people are glued to their
wireless devices— particularly the younger generation. The need to be in constant touch is a
8. The chapter notes that while the Internet has some distinct advantages over other media, some
traditional media have characteristics that make them more useful for achieving communications
objectives. Provide examples and discuss. (LO1)
While the Internet certainly has its advantages over other media, it also has some disadvantage
relatively speaking. Consider, for example TV. At this point, there is perhaps no better medium
for reaching audiences and creating interest than television. Recent research has shown that as
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9. Explain how the Internet has changed the practice of public relations. Pick a Web site as an
example of this change.(LO1)
Traditional tools for public relations include press conferences, exclusives, press releases, etc. In
addition, other media are employed in times of crises, for example, disasters, product recalls, etc.
While these activities still are employed, given the Internet, they have taken on more or less
importance, or have changed in respect to formatting.
10. Exhibit 15-1 demonstrates the factors that are essential to an effective website. Discuss each of
these factors, and provide examples of websites that demonstrate them in practice. (LO3)
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The factors that lead to an effective website include:
• Context—the layout, look and feel of the site
Additional Discussion Questions (not in text)
11. Many advertisers use a strategy in which the commercials attempt to drive viewers to their Web
sites. Discuss this strategy using communications objectives as the basis for your discussion.
(LO1)
The use of IMC media to drive consumers to the Internet has become a very common strategy
employed by both business-to-business and consumer marketers. Almost every commercial on
the 2009 Super Bowl provided information about the website, or attempted to drive the viewer
there.
12. Discuss the various objectives that may be sought when using the Internet in an IMC strategy.
Provide examples of companies that are pursuing each of these objectives. (LO2)
A number of communications objectives as well as sales objectives may be sought through the
use of the Internet, as noted in the chapter. These include:
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• Disseminate Information—perhaps the major advantage of the Internet over other media is the
ability to provide a lot of information, and keep it current. Government agencies, nonprofit
organizations and most for-profit companies provide much information on their sites for
consumers to use.
• Create an Image—visit the sites of clothing companies, Nike or woman’s accessories companies
and you will immediately understand the use of the web to create an image.
13. The chapter discusses a variety of new Internet advertising forms including Podcasting, RSS and
blogs. Explain what each of these are. What are some of the potential advantages and
disadvantages associated with the use of each? (LO1)
The chapter provides a number of new advertising forms that have recently appeared on the
Internet. Without listing all of these here, it is possible to discuss their advantages and
disadvantages, as they are pretty consistent across all. Given their novelty, there will no doubt be
more to add to these lists over time.
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All of these forms also provide information and insights that may not be available through traditional
media. For example, blogs may carry information not known to some media, or provide very different
perspectives on a subject. RSS allows access to a variety of sources addressing the same subject or
material, at the click of a mouse.
There is also concern about the monitoring of blogs for research purposes by large companies. While
blogs are supposedly free speech, companies can learn a lot about what people think about them and
their products, plant writers on the blogs, and denigrate the competition. To date, these new
advertising forms have shown great promise. The number of people participating in the use of
Podcasts, blogs, etc. is still relatively small, but surely on the increase.
14. One of the most difficult objectives to achieve on the Internet is that of creating a strong brand
image. Discuss the factors that contribute to the development of a strong brand image. What factors
make it difficult to achieve this objective? Cite examples of companies that have effectively achieved
this objective. (LO4)
Creating a brand on the Internet is a difficult process for a number of reasons cited in the chapter. For
example, the net has not been around for that long of a time, and many of the companies that initially
were on the net are now gone. Others, like Amazon, have seen the development of an image take a
very long time.
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Limitations of the Internet (some being overcome through rich media) have also limited its
capabilities to develop a strong brand image. Production aspects, among other factors have slowed
down the branding process. As note, as the Internet involves to be more like TV, many of these
factors will disappear.
15. One of the problems slowing the rate of adoption of the Internet as an advertising medium is the fact
that this medium has been slow to adopt traditional advertising metrics. Discuss why this has been the
case, and what must be done to overcome the problem. (LO3)
When the Internet was in its boom era, many of those involved in the medium felt that it was a
completely unique and novel way of conducting business. Since most of them were “techies”, they
adopted their own methodologies and terminologies—most of which were technical in nature.
16. What is meant by wireless or mobile? Provide examples of companies that currently are employing
this communications medium. For what type of companies might wireless/mobile best be
suited?(LO1)
PDA’s and cell phones rely on wireless communications. Just as you receive calls through your
phone, technology now allows for receiving advertising messages, coupons, and direct response
offers through the same medium or PDA’s. By combining this technology with global positioning
satellite (GPS) technologies, a number of opportunities have opened up to marketers.
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The medium affords opportunities to a variety of companies, depending upon their objectives.
17. The IAB has provided guidelines for metrics for use by those in the Internet industry. Explain what
these guidelines entailed and why they are important. (LO3)
The text discusses the IAB guidelines established. It is believed that these guidelines will add
credibility to the industry metrics employed. In an attempt to respond to criticism of the metrics used
in the Internet industry, the IAB in conjunction with web publishers and technology firms
18. The Internet is growing at an extremely rapid pace. At the same time there are indications that this
growth will slow. Discuss some of the factors that may lead to decreased growth of the use of this
medium. (LO1)
As indicated in the chapter, the adoption of the Internet has occurred more rapidly than any other
medium. While this adoption is continuing, it is doing so at a slower pace. A number of reasons why
this rate of adoption may slow are:
Chapter 15 – The Internet and Interactive Media
IMC Exercise
Have students visit the web sites of both a consumer product company and a business–to-business
marketer. They should identify a site in each sector and discuss how the marketer has integrated it into its
integrated marketing communications program. They should discuss how the various components of the
web site are used as part of the firms IMC program.
AdForum Exercise: “Internet Advertising”
(See Advertising and Promotion Playlist, Chapter 15)
Many large companies have increased their advertising expenditures on the Internet and Interactive
media. At the same time, Internet service providers have also employed traditional media in their
marketing efforts. Visit the AdForum playlist and answer the following questions:
1. What is the nature of the business of the advertiser?