• by Michael Kubin , December 13, 2000

By Michael Kubin, Co-CEO, Leading Web Advertisers

Gino, a friend of mine, was telling me about driving with his wife in the country one fall afternoon when their conversation turned to the subject of relationship. They had been married for several years and while their marriage had its rocky moments, Gino had little reason to anticipate what was about to happen.

In the midst of the conversation his wife turned to him and said, "Gino, I no longer love you and I want to get out of this marriage."

So I asked Gino, "What did you do then?"

"The road turned left, so I steered left. Otherwise I would have driven off the road."

The moral of the story, then, is pretty simple: Under all circumstances, do what you must to survive.

Web advertising has traveled a similar road: A brilliant honeymoon followed by a few years of prosperous growth. But the marriage of seller and buyer began to fray this year as advertisers began to wonder whether their dollars wouldn't be better spent on offline media. The softness in the network television marketplace was the last straw, it caused the equivalent of "Gino, I no longer love you and I want to get out of this marriage." And so Web advertising began to drop.

It's interesting to see the sellers' (i.e., Gino's) reaction in the Web advertising marketplace. When the road turned left, some didn't steer left. And they drove off the road. They're frequently featured in stories in the trade press.

But others have steered left, and modified their tactics to account for the changing marketplace. These are the companies that have the highest chance not only for survival, but for eventual success.

What does it mean to 'steer left' in this environment? Four things:

1. Web advertising must make itself accountable for its success. Sellers must offer buyers metrics will not only justify, but encourage expenditures in this medium.

2. Web advertising works best when combined with other media, especially print. Standalone Web campaigns are the riskiest.

3. Interactive advertising agencies MUST be responsible for producing creative work that shows an understanding for how the medium works best to reach and motivate the target audience. A lot of Web advertising money is wasted to ineffective creative work.

4. The new technologies must be used correctly to promote products on the Web; 'rich' media was given that name because it represents a quiverful of creative options.

The consensus appears to be that Web advertising will remain soft for approximately six months, after which it will rebound and continue to outpace growth in all other media. So the road will straighten eventually.

Keep in mind that the number of Web users continues to grow rapidly, and there is no other medium that is potentially as efficient and effective as the one you're reading this on. Just give it a chance.

And when the road turns left, don't forget to steer left.

- Michael Kubin is co-CEO of Ne