Integrating Online Media 2.0

So the Web Association lunch on Integrating Online Media was very interesting. While my interests are in all forms on of online media, recently most of time has been dedicated to search. The reminder there are other ways to drive traffic to a site was refreshing.

With panelists from Tacoda, Enlighten and PointRoll the discussion did at times lean a bit sales-y but there were some highlights. Overall I liked how each presenter had a different area of specialty - behavioral profiling, rich media ads and more general online campaigns - keeping each part of the discussion relevant.

What I still find so interesting is the cost versus the return of online banner advertising. One panelist referenced that some clients spend between $500,000 - $1,200,000 for one-day campaigns with strong coverage on Yahoo! I guess I just have a hard time believing or understanding that a one-day campaign could provide the type of returns that would justify the cost.

Towards the end of the event there was an interesting discussion about "conversion attribution" metrics some of the company's are working on developing. Basically it measures the exposure a consumer has to different types of online media before conversion. The general sentiment of the panel was that search gets "too much credit" for conversion, where really all these fabulous banner ads are what got the person to search for the product in the first place.

Personally I'm not sure I subscribe this belief, but I do think the great thing about internet advertising is the metrics. To me it sounds more like banner ad companies struggling to come up with a way to continue to justify the exboritant advertising costs for a medium that generally provides low return.

This may sound like I'm being cynical about banner advertising, and I maybe I am just a bit, but I do think banners have their place in the market. But it has been my experience they are the some of the most-expensive items in an online budget and provide the lowest return.

There is something to be said for banner ads in terms of branding, a more subtle messaging to consumers. And with the ability to use behavioral targeting, combined with rich media, you can really hone in on your target market and use it for lead generation. At the end of the day, I still think most consumers ignore banners. They are the background noise of the internet but they aren't going away, so marketers need to continue to think about how they fit into the mix.