"Interactive is the Active Ingredient in the Marketing Mix" Themes IAB Industry Branding Campaign; Year-Long Multi-Media Ad Campaign For The Interactive Advertising Industry To Launch in June

Business Wire, June 24, 2002

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 24, 2002

Stein Rogan Partners Creates Campaign for Interactive Media

Category; Industry In Unprecedented Move Donates All Services Pro

Bono For Campaign Targeting Agencies, Marketers

In an unprecedented show of support from the interactive advertising industry, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the leading voice of the interactive advertising and marketing industry, has announced an extensive multi-media, multi-million dollar ad campaign for the Interactive category in which all services, from research to media buying and strategy to creative and ad inventory is being donated pro bono to the campaign by industry players both large and small.

Under the theme "Interactive Is The Active Ingredient In the Marketing Mix", the year-long campaign, targeted to the decision makers in the marketing and agency realm will be based on multiple interactive case studies done by major marketers.

In addition to online ad units, which will reach the target audience of agency and marketer decision makers, via content-relevant sites and domain targeting, streaming, superstitial(R) ads, search, eNewsletters, opt-in email, traditional direct mail, print and online/offline promotion will be among the venues utilized. Throughout, the campaign will also showcase best-of-breed formats.

Companies who have contributed their media and other assets to the campaign include, 24/7 Real Media, About.com, Ad4Ever, Adweek, AOL/Time Warner, Atlas DMT, B2B Works, Boston.com, Cleveland.com, CNET Networks, Collabrys, CondeNet, DoubleClick, Dynamic Logic, eBay, The Excite Network, Eyeblaster, Forbes.com, IGN, Insight Express, iVillage, Kaon Interactive, Lightningcast, Media News Group, MSN, NAA-Newspaper Association of America, New York Times Digital, Real Networks, Sportsline.com, Stein Rogan Partners, Underscore Marketing, Unicast, Viewpoint, The Wall Street Journal Online, The Walt Disney Internet Group, Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive and Yahoo! Atlas DMT will provide the Atlas Digital Marketing Suite 3.0, a third party ad serving and campaign management system.

The Unique Selling Proposition (USP) for the campaign was developed by Stein Rogan Partners based on extensive qualitative and quantitative research conducted among senior level executives representing the brand and agency communities. The research study was designed to determine attitudes and projections for use of interactive media going forward. Brand categories represented in the survey included Auto, B2B/Technology, Consumer Package Goods, Health/Beauty, Beverages/Liquors, Electronics, Entertainment, Finance and Travel as well as top-level interactive and traditional agencies.

The results of the extensive qualitative and quantitative research and copy testing were derived from hundreds of in-person interviews and by utilizing the Stein Rogan Brand Process Mapping methodology. As a result of the data collected, Stein Rogan Partners in conjunction with the IAB's Chief Marketing Officer Council, has developed the first brand positioning and marketing campaign for the interactive advertising and marketing industry. Stein Rogan also is creating all online and offline creative for the campaign.

"As we continue to mature as a medium, we need to treat Interactive as a BRAND and the manner in which we position ourselves as an industry is critical to driving the success and adoption of interactive advertising and marketing in the years ahead. We have to speak with the same voice so that we clearly communicate our unique value to all parties," said IAB President & CEO Greg Stuart. "We will use the work that Stein Rogan Partners has done here to develop messaging and advertising that does what all good marketing does - makes an impact in the market and boost revenues, or in our case, increase advertising spending behind interactive media. I believe that the IAB is actively driving what would have taken five to ten years to happen naturally."

Among the findings from the research, that was fielded by Insight Express, are;

- Nearly 80 per cent of the major brand marketers and advertising agency
executives surveyed feel that interactive media and marketing must now be
considered a mainstream medium

- 69 per cent of these individuals state that their opinions regarding the
effectiveness and importance of interactive media has shifted positively over
the past 12 months

- More than 60 per cent of these respondents indicate that their organizations
and/or clients are less resistant to interactive media and marketing.

"In my view, the survey data, when coupled with other extensive, in-depth qualitative research that we conducted among online publishers, agency executives and brand marketers, suggest that the "opinion" pendulum regarding interactive is swinging from negative or neutral to increasingly positive," said Tom Stein, President & CEO, Stein Rogan Partners. "Their increased experience with the medium and the fact that they are seeing better results from their interactive efforts account for this. Additionally, respondents have cited the use of Interactive Marketing Units (IMUs), larger Flash-based units, DHTML and other innovative formats as fueling their enthusiasm for and usage of interactive. Also, a growing body of research is proving the effectiveness of interactive - particularly pertaining to its ability to drive brand metrics. Clearly we have moved from the 'early-adopter' phase of the medium to the `early mainstream' phase, and this has profound implications for the industry."