• by Ken Liebeskind , August 21, 2001

It seems Microsoft isn’t the only company to invest lots of time, money and effort into attracting traditional advertisers to the Internet. To promote the advertising available with its syndicated Internet entertainment shows, Mondo Media started with a trade magazine campaign. But the innovative San Francisco company didn't stop there.

The company has developed what might be called an Internet media kit, a small folder carrying a mini CD that showcases the Mondo Side Show, the advertising platform available with its syndicated entertainment.

It seems to be a compact and highly effective way to promote online advertising.

The piece, which fits in a pocket, includes promo copy that supports the advertising ("Unleash a new breed of Internet advertising" is on the cover) with the small CD tucked into an inside slot. Also on the cover, pictures of a giraffe and other characters that appear in Mondo's three minute animated cartoons, which play on sites including Lycos, WB Online and AtomShockwave.

The Mondo Side Show was launched in March. The trade advertising campaign in AdWeek, BrandWeek and MediaWeek began in May and continued for ten weeks, with three ads in each magazine. Mondo poly-bagged the CD in the final issue of MediaWeek that carried the ad, and distributed it to New York subscribers. It was limited to New York in an effort to reach agency executives, according to Robin Harper, Mondo's senior VP. Thousands were sent out, although Harper was unsure of the exact number.

The elaborate CD shows clips from the shows along with a demo ad campaign that shows the Mondo Side Show, a multi-unit advertising package that includes everything from a small 120 x 60 pixel teaser unit to a 15 second live action commercial that plays just after the shows begin. There are a variety of elements in the Side Show and the CD shows them all, giving viewers the opportunity to see samples of the ads and how they run with the shows.

"We did it all in house," Harper says, claiming the company spent less than $100,000 on it. The only expenses were production and advertising in the trades, although the cost of poly bagging the CD was partly paid by a merchandising allowance from the trades, she says.

Besides distributing it via MediaWeek, Mondo's sales staff is giving it out and the company is sending it to anyone who requests it.