Leader: Does online advertising need to blow its own trumpet?

11 June 2009 | By Justin Pearse

Safe. Familiar. Comforting. And, proponents of TV as an advertising medium would have you believe, effective. This week TV marketing body Thinkbox launched its first TV campaign. As a man on a therapist’s couch sings some of the more famous jingles of recent decades, the message hits home that the 30-second spot is where ‘brands get their breaks’. Such nostalgia is becoming the lingua franca of advertising. As our columnist Richard Huntington points out this week, this is being driven by a desire to reassure increasingly cynical consumers.

The problem with online advertising is it has less heritage to draw on or, arguably, concrete proof of branding effectiveness. For big-brand advertisers looking for a safe harbour, TV is certainly attractive, particularly as TV ad rates are at their lowest rates since the 1980s, according to a Billetts report this week.

Nielsen data did seem to offer some hope to the online ad industry, finding the number of campaigns up 21% in the first four months of the year. This is all very well, but while there may be more campaigns, it’s well known that prices and margins are falling. In its report, Billetts goes on to predict online ad rates will be 5-10% down year on year in 2009.

Even online advertising’s brightest star, video, is struggling to prove its worth. Our feature finds concern over how successful online video advertising has been in driving consumer engagement. While the success or otherwise of joint IPTV venture Canvas (and its future is looking far from clear, as our report finds) has no direct impact on the take-up of video advertising, the uncertainty can only knock big brands’ confidence in online as a safe, mature medium.

So is there an argument for the online industry to run its own ad campaign? IAB CEO Guy Philipson says the trade body does invest a lot of time in demystifying the world of online advertising. Perhaps, though, it would be interesting to see the industry invest in an ‘internet advertising works’ campaign on its own medium. While online can’t yet argue to be safe, familiar or comforting, it certainly ought to win the effectiveness argument.