• by Ken Liebeskind , September 5, 2002

If the advertising doesn't work, the advertiser won't pay. That's the guarantee Forbes.com made yesterday to advertisers who spend at least $100,000 over a two-month period. The company will run Dynamic Logic brand metric studies to determine whether the advertising achieves results.

"In trying times, people are looking for ROI on everything they're doing," says James Spanfeller, Forbes.com president/CEO.

"It's a bold, gutsy move to kick start the online market," says Jim Nail, a Forrester Research analyst. Bill McCloskey, CEO of Emerging Interest, says, "Agencies and clients feel it's an unproven medium, unlike TV, and often more expensive on a CPM basis. They need to guarantee a return to give them a sense of comfort."

McCloskey says the deal is a good way to move unsold inventory and a way to bring in advertisers who might not buy online.

He wonders whether Forbes will profit even if they return the money by earning interest on it first, but Spanfeller says most advertising is paid for after it runs, so the client won't pay if it doesn't work.

The offer is possible because online advertising is "more trackable and much more efficient," Spanfeller says. "I'm not sure how you'd do it efficiently in offline media." He also says, "This may in fact be a first for any medium -- offline or on."

The guarantee is that the advertising will boost at least one of four brand metrics: awareness, message association, purchasing intent and brand favorability. These are the metrics used in typical Dynamic Logic studies. The company is "the most accepted third party research firm," Spanfeller says, so clients will respect the findings.

The offer is only being made to advertisers willing to spend $100,000, because these are advertisers who purchase enough impressions to measure, Spanfeller says.

Advertiser campaigns will run for two months before the tests are conducted to determine whether the advertising has worked.

Spanfeller says he'll sign a few clients for the offer soon, but hadn't signed any as of yesterday, when the offer was announced.