Major marketers are stepping up their efforts to attract consumer to their own Web sites with flashy new programming and slick promotions. The move is seen as a threat to sites like Google and
Yahoo!, which rely on companies for advertising dollars. "Everyone has the same nut to crack," says Ted Page, CCO of the online ad agency Captains of Industry. "How do you keep people entertained in
the age of the Internet and TiVO?" The list of marketers joining the trend includes Dunkin' Donuts, Anheuser-Busch, McDonald's and Pepsi-Cola. Dunkin' Donuts has a feature on its site that allows
users to send humorous video cards, while McDonald's is running a contest to pick models to appear on its cups and bags, Pepsi, meanwhile, has as a video game where users can pretend they are
stealing bases in a baseball game. "More traditional companies are continuing to invest more aggressively online," says Scott Kessler, an analyst with Standard & Poor's who follows online companies.
"The reason this is happening is that they want to reach folks that may be difficult to reach."
advertisement
advertisement
Read the whole story at The Street.com »
