• by Masha Geller , March 5, 2003

As the second-day keynote of DoubleClick’s Insight conference yesterday, WashingtonPost.Newsweek.Interactive publisher and CEO Chris Schroeder issued a serious summons to advertisers: he asked for more money.

“Two years ago, I would not have dared to tell an advertiser that they should put 10-15% of their marketing budget into interactive advertising,” he said. “Today, I am calling for that—advertisers should commit 15% of their budgets to interactive. This may be a bold request, but it is a bold request based in hard research, smart technology, and the maturity of our medium.”

To support his case, Schroeder used his own experiences at WPNI as well as industry research. He said that one of the most important projects his company undertook in 2002 was to build a collection of about 30 advertising case studies that have allowed WPNI to “prove for advertisers that the Web delivers real, concrete results for nearly any goal they are trying to achieve.”

That, he said, would not have been possible if the actual execution of online ads had not evolved so dramatically in the last two years. “In 2002, we worked with advertisers more closely than ever before to develop campaigns that seize the unique abilities of the Web, and reach consumers in ways that no other medium can offer,” Schroeder said. “In a year when marketing dollars were scarce, advertisers began to realize that these targeting capabilities allow the Web to deliver results more cost effectively than other media.”

The fact remains, however, that online still represents a very small portion of most companies’ overall advertising spend, despite several cross-media research studies that show how increasing an advertiser’s online spend expands reach and delivers better results.

To that end, Schroeder said, “Breaking down the walls between traditional and interactive channels will be rewarded because it makes sense based on the habits of the people we are trying to reach.” Also, he said, interactive channels, while not cheap, are far more cost efficient than any other form of advertising. Notably, Schroeder said that a truly balanced bundled media buy should cost more – not less – but he did not press the point.

Schroeder’s conclusion? “The real story here is not that online works. We know it does … And with that, I can guarantee you that breaking down the walls between interactive and traditional marketing is a decision that will be rewarded for nearly any advertiser.”