• by December 14, 2000

Fun as it is to argue with industry pundits about their pessimistic views (as in yesterday's Just an Online Minute), today I'd like to agree with someone for a change.

The online advertising industry has come under some serious fire lately and very few have stuck their neck out to defend it - even the IAB is staying characteristically quiet. The problem is, whenever the question of online ad effectiveness arises, skeptics rightly say, "prove it." The proof is there, but unfortunately for us, defenders of web ads, it is too scattered and disorganized.

In today's edition of ClickZ, Tom Hespos wrote, "We can scream "Online advertising works!" until we're blue in the face, but the reality of the situation is that we're not going to attract big-name, big-budget advertisers to Internet advertising until we show success in terms they can clearly understand."

And what are those terms? Case studies. Hespos is asking for a central depository of success stories and a team effort to get those stories out into the world.

He writes, "I'd like to appeal to the online agency community in general. Work with your existing clients to tell your story about how online advertising has worked for them. Start the PR ball rolling and start pitching the Ad Ages, BrandWeeks, and vertical industry trade publications of the world on case-study-based story ideas. If we don't start counteracting the negative publicity now, it's going to be a longer, tougher climb upward next year."

I couldn't agree more. So let's get the ball rolling - email me your online ad campaign case studies and success stories so that we can build that much needed library of proof.