• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, April 16, 2007

ConAgra, one of the largest packaged and frozen food producers with a huge stable of brands from Chef Boyardee to Orville Redenbacher's, will increase its online ad spend by a whopping 400% this year, according to the company's director of interactive marketing Kevin Doohan.

Doohan, who oversees interactive marketing for some 30 brands, noted the marked increase during a Sunday keynote to kick off the Advertising Research Foundation's Re:think convention in New York.

"Our online media spend will be four times what it was last year," said Doohan. "Our overall marketing spend did not increase that much, so the online increase is at the expense of other spending."

"Things have definitely changed from several years ago," said Doohan, when "executives had a lack of confidence in interactive," and were content with "unfocused interactive spending."

"Today, we don't have unlimited budgets, but if I can sell my idea [for an online campaign] I know I can get it funded."

The majority of this year's increase will be devoted to banner advertising, according to Doohan, who said search marketing doesn't make sense for low-cost, low-margin products. "Aside from banner ads, everything else is incremental."

Some of ConAgra's other brands include Slim Jim meat snacks, Swiss Miss powdered cocoa, Peter Pan peanut butter, PAM spray cooking oils, Parkay bread spreads, and Crunch 'n Munch snack food.

Doohan added that sales and ROI are the only metrics driving his decisions online. "Sales are the destination, and everything else is a rest stop along the way."