Banner ads are just the first step of Web brand building says Microsoft network exec

Business Wire, Jan 20, 1997

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 1997--

Web advertising and programming to be discussed at UCLA Internet

Conference

Today's Web ad banners are just scraping the top of the iceberg for building brand value, says Marty Levin, director of sponsored programming for The Microsoft Network.

Levin is a keynote speaker at "The Internet, What's Fact, What's Fancy", scheduled for Feb. 7. During the day-long session co-hosted by the Software Council of Southern California and UCLA's Center for Entrepreneurial Studies in its Anderson Graduate School, he and several other speakers will examine current and near-term realities for the Internet as a marketing tool and place to transact business.

Levin, based at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash., is a former senior vice president and group creative director for the international advertising firm, J. Walter Thompson. He joined Microsoft in 1994 and is responsible for creating the next generation of Web entertainment concepts that blend advertising and content. He is also involved in the design and creation of a wide range of sponsored programming and advertising for Microsoft's interactive platforms.

In a recent interview, Levin noted that, "The current banner-to-site metaphor for attracting consumers doesn't work for all advertisers. For many advertisers, brand building must take place where the eyeballs already are -- at the media site."

Other speakers and panelists will produce demographic profiles of who is on the Net, a discourse on electronic commerce, and business models that work and do not work.

"The Internet: What's Fact, What's Fancy", this year's conference on New Media business topics, will be held the first Friday in February at the UCLA Sunset Villages from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Other speakers include senior management from Disney Interactive, The Los Angeles Times, Western International Media, Netcount, InfoTouch, SAIC, Sony Computer Entertainment, Bandai Digital Entertainment, Ziff Davis, Travelocity, AudioNet, Pacific Bell Internet Services and Ogilvy Adams & Rinehart.

Sponsors for the conference are The Walt Disney Co.; Times Mirror; Troop, Meisinger Pasich & Steuber; Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison; and Silicon Valley Bank.

Registration is $125 per person in advance or $145 at the door. The fee includes parking, continental breakfast, lunch and attendance at a cocktail reception immediately following the last session. A Digital Fare/Fair will feature demonstrations of the latest products by leading suppliers of software and related Internet services. It will run throughout the day.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Editorial admittance is by reservation only, in advance, through Jerry Kalman, Ogilvy Adams & Rinehart, 11766 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 900, Los Angeles, CA 90025. Telephone: 310/996-0545. E-mail: jlkalman@worldnet.att.net .

CONTACT: Ogilvy Adams & Rinehart, Los Angeles

Jerry L. Kalman, 310/996-0545

jlkalman@worldnet.att.net

http://newmedia.netouch.com