CHICAGO (December 17, 2007) – Online advertisers are in for an exciting 2008 filled with new tools and methods designed to make their work more measurable and effective, according to Performance Communications Group (PCG), a Chicago-based interactive marketing agency and online media expert.
“The advertising 2.0 experimentation of the last few years has evolved into solid long-term solutions for e-marketers,” said Scott Madlener, PCG’s executive vice president of interactive marketing. Madlener offers the following e-marketing observations and predictions for 2008:
1. Intelligent banner ads will fix what ails poor campaign management. Media buyers who demand more control and disclosure on where, when and why their budgets are being spent will look to a new generation of ad banners that incorporate more intelligence, better multimedia and secure data capture. These types of banners pinpoint creative and messaging with such accuracy that the media buy is now becoming the Achilles heal. This means media companies and ad networks will be forced to mature their offerings to provide more value to both the advertiser and user alike.
2. Online advertising evolves into social advertising. Facebook is leading the charge, despite their early stumble, in what could be the next evolution in online advertising. By uniting advertisers with social network members, Facebook is creating a system in which members themselves promote products. Word-of-mouth advertising, traditionally the best form of advertising because it involves personal recommendations, is difficult to predict and scale. However, with access to thousands of network members, scaling no longer may be an issue and instead may prove to be difficult to contain.
3. Single purpose marketing applications become possible. 2008 may be the year of the widget for advertisers. Core operating systems and hardware have matured enabling developers to create single purpose mini applications, such as toolbars, widgets and rich media applications. These mini applications offer marketers branding opportunities, and create customer interactivity and loyalty.
4. Podcasts and other content will become mainstream. The iPhone and other mobile platforms have ushered in a new era of mobile devices. While iPods and other mobile media players have been around for years, 2008 should finally provide the economics for content providers. In addition to ring tones, Podcasts and other “new media” content solutions will become mainstream in 2008.
5. Indirect distribution will dominate video consumption. Video has been a hot topic during 2007, with iTunes and YouTube dominating the direct video distribution market. However, as more companies utilize RSS and video web services, these forms of indirect video distribution will become the dominant means of online video consumption. Examples of indirect video distribution are podcasts, YouTube’s web service for iPhone and AppleTV, and private supply channel video feeds for B2B communications.
About PCG
Performance Communications Group (PCG) brings together technology, strategies and services to support a broad range of online advertising and sales efforts. PCG’s Internet Secured Application Technology (ISAT) is an evolution in online advertising that radically improves the relevance and usefulness of banners for businesses and consumers. Companies such as Whirlpool Corporation and Sysco Corporation have improved their communications and driven meaningful ROI utilizing PCG solutions and strategies. PCG is based in Chicago. Additional information can be found at http://www.epcg.net.
