• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, July 1, 2008

Taking full advantage of its new parent company, HowStuffWorks.com on Monday launched its first-ever multi-platform marketing campaign.

Discovery Communications--which acquired the online information site six months ago for about $250 million--is running the 30-second spots across its network of online and TV assets, including Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel and Planet Green.

"This is actually the first ad campaign we've ever done," said Jeff Arnold, CEO of HowStuffWorks.com. "We never did paid search, never bought a banner ad."

But Arnold said he learned the enormous value of TV marketing with WebMD--the medical and wellness site he helped found. "Television really helped separate us from the pack of other online health sites," Arnold said.

"With HowStuffWorks, we've built a monthly audience of 15 million visitors organically, but television is going to take us over a big hump," he said.

Since the acquisition closed, HowStuffWorks has sought to contextually integrate content from Discovery's assets and launch a new site design, which has already led to a 50% spike in Web traffic.

"For any Web company to really break through, they need three things: Television promotion, integrated sales, and high-quality video and scale," Arnold said. "If you can do it contextually, that's the holy grail."

The new marketing campaign, developed by creative agency Preston Kelly, Inc., is designed to build momentum for the launch of a HowStuffWorks TV show. The 60-minute pilot episode is expected to debut on Discovery in several months.

The "Keep Asking" theme of the new campaign coupled with HowStuffWorks' editorially vetted content are designed to create the ideal environment for advertisers, said Kathy Kayse, EVP of digital media sales at Discovery Communications.

"We are creating vast potential for advertisers," she said.