Message from discussion
ADVERTISE ON CYBER MALL - THE REAL THING
From: cyber...@mindspring.com (Richard Diegel)
Subject: ADVERTISE ON CYBER MALL - THE REAL THING
Date: 1995/06/21
Message-ID: <cyberdsn.233.00476ABA@mindspring.com>
X-Deja-AN: 104926295
organization: MindSpring Enterprises, Inc.
newsgroups: biz.marketplace.international
If you are wondering whether advertising on the WWW is
a good idea or not, please read this -
If it gets to long, skip to the end.
By Lawrence Aragon
Copyright 1995 Ziff Davis Publishing Company L.P. All
Rights Reserved. This material may not be reproduced
in any form without permission.
Where's the beef? Tastes great, less filling. Please
don't squeeze the Charmin. You remember them -- some
of the most memorable slogans of America's always-so-pop
culture. Now Get ready for one more: Catch the Web.
The World-Wide Web, that is. And this is one catchphrase
you'd better start singing over and over in your head.
The Web is emerging as the next major venue, not just
for advertising but for virtually every way to reach
customers. "Advertising, marketing, and distribution
will morph over time," says Gene DeRose, president of
New York new- media research firm Jupiter Communications.
Adds Scott Donaton, executive editor of interactive and
new media for Advertising Age: "Eventually, it will create
a direct dialogue between buyer and seller that really
hasn't been there before."
Information technology companies such as AT&T, CompuServe,
Gateway, IBM, Oracle, and Sun are rushing to test the
boundaries of this new medium. And they are beginning to
redefine marketing and advertising as we know them. Consider this:
Rather than using the content of a magazine as a gateway to
an ad, IBM plans to use print ads to tease customers to its Web
site and volumes of company-generated information. The Web is
transforming advertisers into content providers in their own
right.
Nobody is predicting that the Web will lure as many marketing
dollars as newspapers ($32 billion), television ($31 billion), or
direct mail ($27 billion) just yet. But even if a mere 1 percent
of the $138 billion in total U.S. ad spending flows onto the Web,
that's still plenty of green to begin the great commercialization
of the Internet. And just look at the lure: Some 6 million users,
with higher incomes and education levels than most Americans, surf
about 21,000 Web servers today. "By the year 2000, there will probably
be 50 million users and maybe 250,000 servers," predicts Marc Benioff,
vice president of client/server systems for Oracle Systems. "It's the
largest and fastest-growing opportunity in the world today."
The race to capitalize on that opportunity is in full swing.
Along with the hardware and software producers now taking
advantage of high foot traffic on their own Web sites, content
publishers, including Wired magazine, Time, CMP, newspapers
such as the San Jose Mercury News, and Ziff-Davis Publishing
(which produces PC Week) are selling space on their home
pages. Just as fast as these venues come on-line, companies
are jumping onto them. HotWired, the on-line sister of Wired
magazine, has landed 15 "spons ors," including AT&T, IBM, and
Stolichnaya Vodka. Meanwhile, Gateway 2000, Insight, NetScape,
and Oracle have glommed onto Ziff-Davis' web site, ZDNet, which
began accepting ads this month.
In the near term, technology companies have the most to gain,
says Mark Kvamme, president of CKS Group, a Cupertino,
Calif., advertising and new-media agency. The reason is
obvious. Net surfers must be technologically savvy as a
prerequisite. In the long term, however, the user base will
broaden. That means companies that ignore the Web could
disenfranchise themselves from the mass market, as children
of the PC generation start spending as much time surfing the
Web as they do vegging out in front of the TV.
A number models are emerging for using the Net to reach, sell,
and distribute. The first, and most obvious, is derivative of
traditional advertising. Web site owners are selling spots, or
"sponsorships," for electronic display ads. The cost? At the low
end, the San Jose Mercury News' charges $100 per day for a minimum
of one month on its home page. On the high end is HotWired, which
charges $30,000 for a two-month run. In all cases, sponsors get a
button that floats around, with hyperlinks to their own home page.
A Big Hit But don't think sponsorship is relegated to traditional
content providers. You can also buy space on directories or
query services. Stanford grad students Jerry Yang and David
Filo plan to offer space as a way to commercialize "Yahoo,"
which attracts some 2 million hits a day with its compendium
of hot Web sites. In addition, Yang and Filo, who just got venture
capital funding in April, could conceivably sell space to companies
that want to be the first "hit" that comes up on a directory search,
Yang says.
What's more, hardware and software vendors aren't letting publishers
scoop up all the ad revenue. IT vendors "are clearly going to
copy the publishing model," says Rosalind Resnick, president
of on-line consulting firm Interactive Communications.
NetScape, a Web browser developer with a site that attracts
5 million hits a day, is landing the likes of AT&T, MasterCard,
and Sun Microsystems, all willing to shell out $40,000 for a
three-month spot. The month-old effort is already breaking even,
says Hugh Hemp el, director of electronic marketing for NetScape.
But the company isn't really in it for the revenue. Hempel
claims its home page is really a showcase. "It would be pretty
stupid for us to take our stuff to other people and say, 'You can
do business on the Web,' and we're not doing it ourselves."
Anything Goes Sponsorships aren't the only way to go.
Oracle plans to open the Oracle Store on its home page
within six months, and will likely allow third-party
vendors to display their wares -- for a price, says
Oracle's Benioff. One possibility is for the company
to charge a royalty on third-party software objects
sold through the store. IBM is also considering creating
some sort of cybermall where it and other companies can
show their wares and advertise, says Carolyn Chin, general manager
of IBM's ele ctronic commerce service.
Big Blue is also using the Web to get more bang from
its ad buck. This month it will post content-rich versions
of its "Solutions for a Small Planet" print ads on its
home page. IBM will soon tease the site in magazine
advertisements. "The idea is to extend the reach we're
getting through the print medium by providing more depth
and content," says Lauren Flaherty, director of IBM
brand advertising. Think of it: A user notes a URL in
an ad, jumps onto the Web site, and pulls down gobs of
information abouI BM products.
Other new forms of reaching out to customers are popping
up, too. One comes from Spry, recently purchased by H&R Block,
owner of CompuServe. It's relying on the cachet of more
than 30 big name Web site operators, such as USA Today, ESPN,
and General Electric. Spry splashes their logos onto the
installation screen for its Mosaic in a Box browser and
sets its home pages as the browser's default. It's a
win-win deal. The companies give away the product as a
promotion, and Spry entices customers to CompuServe' s
new Internet service. David Pool, executive vice president
of Spry's CompuServe Internet Division, is gushing over
the results. Spry gets at least triple the response it
receives from direct mail, he says.
What's next? Anything goes. With the proliferation of
low-cost ISDN and other high-bandwidth technologies, you'll
certainly see popular television ad concepts migrate to the
Web, such as infomercials. Also expect the advent of glitzy
virtual-reality-type spots.
Of course, the question remains: Does advertising on the
Web work? Benioff is ecstatic about the early results from Oracle's
posting on ZDNet. More than 20,000 people have downloaded the
company's Workgroup 2000 software for a 90-day free
trial, he says. "We're betting the Workgroup 2000 strategy
on the success of the Internet," he says. Even when the users aren't
buying, Oracle gets valuable exposure. "If you have 100,000 people
looking at your home page, that's 100,000 impressions a
day," he says. "What' s that worth to us? It's not even
quantifiable."
Others, such as 3Com, are just as happy with early results.
3Com is advertising on CMP's TechWeb and GolfWeb. It wants
to increase its exposure, deliver more information to current
and potential customers, and generate sales leads, says Bridget
McNiel, 3Com's director of marketing programs. McNiel says
she believes Web ads will be an important part of her
company's future. Right now, they account for less than
5 percent of 3Com's ad budget, but she says she could envision that
growing to 20 percent.
Content providers also point to promising results. ZDNet
has found users are spending between 3 to 7 minutes on some on-line
ads, says Celia Canfield, executive director of ZD Interactive.
Although many users may be lingering just out of curiosity,
Canfield contends Web users are an "information-hungry group."
That means to keep them coming back, advertisers must post
compelling content. "Any marketer that goes up there has to put
up information that is valuable in its own right," asserts
Ad Age's Donaton. "They almost have to be content providers." And
they must also be subtle. "The conventional wisdom in
advertising is that intrusive is good -- make it annoying, like Mr.
Whipple," says Robert Broadwater, managing director of digital
media for investment banker Veronis Suhler & Associates.
"But if you make it annoying, I won't stay around to hear
the second word. I'm gone."
Maybe the best sign that Web advertising works is that HotWired
raised its rates in January -- from $30,000 for three months
to $30,000 for two. And the hike isn't turning prospects off.
It expects five more sponsors, for 20, by year's end, says Rick
Boyce, HotWired's ad director.
If HotWired is raising its rates, others are sure to follow.
And they'll likely get away with it. After all, they're the only ones
offering a solution for how to make money from something that's
been given away for years. Nearly everybody is betting on the
commercialization of the Net. For that to happen, they're going
to need a keystone such as advertising -- just like print, radio,
and television. Advertising on the Web. It's the real thing.
--------------------------------------------------------------
If you are ready to start advertising via the WWW check this out -
THE FOLLOWING IS AN INFORMATION PACKAGE
FROM CYBER DESIGN. IT INCLUDES WWW PAGE
DESIGN AND MAINTENANCE ON YOUR SERVER,
OR HOW YOU CAN BECOME A PART OF CYBER MALL.
1) CYBER DESIGN
Welcome,
Our goal at Cyber Design is to provide people
and companies with a way to become an active
part of the Internet. The Internet is having
an enormous impact on our lives.
Our focus at Cyber Design is to provide people
and companies with an economical way to join
the world on the Internet. In 1995 millions of
people and companies will join the Internet.
Our goals are to provide easy design, developement
and advertising access for those who want to advertise
and have a presense on the Internet via the WWW.
Sincerely,
Richard S. Diegel
President Cyber Design
CYBER DESIGN'S
PRICE LIST
Cyber Design can provide you with a total package
allowing your company to conduct business on the
Internet. Our services range from design and
developement to Internet connections and maintenance.
PAGE RATES
$35.OO per page (text)
$15.00 per graphic (already saved to format)
HOURLY RATES
Graphic design - $75.00/hr.
HTML maintenance - $75.00/hr.
SPACE RENTAL
$25.00/mo. up to 1/2meg.
$35.00/mo. 1/2meg. -3megs.
$65.00/mo 3-10megs.
Over 10 megs by quote
Note* All package deals include hyperlinks if necessary.
INTERNATIONAL TRANSLATIONS
We have the capability to translate your Web Page into foriegn languages. This
is priced as a per job basis depending on the type of ad you are translating.
2) CYBER MALL
CYBER MALL - AD RATES
Our rates are -MUCH LOWER THAN PRINT ADVERTISING RATES!
And ten times more effective!
Be smart, be among the first to join the information revolution.
Advertise on the Cyber Mall. As of March 1, 1995, our rates
are as follows:
Full Page $75/mo Size of a legal sheet of paper
Half Page $40/mo Size of a standard sheet of paper
Set up $35/one time
We also create, consult with you and help you design your Home Pages.
All you need to do is send us some adcopy by EMAIL and we'll take it
from there!
INFORMATION FROM CYBER MALL CONCERNING WWW PAGE AD
Steps -
1) Email your Adcopy using the format below.
(includes (1) header graphic or logo if
desired)
2) After it is reviewed you will be billed via
Email.
3) Once we recieve your payment we will upload
your ad.
Your information would be uploaded to my space on the
server I use at Mindspring.
Just send me the information you want to put on your
page and I will add the proper HTML and upload it.
For contact info. I will set up an Email link, plus
your phone number and address.
My WWW page URL is -
Cyber Mall-
http://www.mindspring.com/~cyberdsn/cybermall/CMALL.HTML
Here is a good format to use for your Adcopy -
Company name:_________________________________
Description of company:
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Description of company services, products and prices:
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Contact information:
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
I will advertise on a regular basis to the appropriate
newsgroups, and link to the appropriate WWW directories.
However, feel free to advertise your individual page
in whatever fashion you like, because I will be advertising
on a collective basis. (I have all kinds of useful info to
use for this).
We reserve the right to use our moral discretion about
the products, and or services being offered. And the right
to refuse service to anyone.
I look forward to hearing back from you!
Richard Diegel
Email cyber...@mindspring.com
Phone (404)242-2042
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