COMMENT: More life left in the web as usage still on upward curve

Some hard interactive lessons have been learnt over the past two years. For a few agencies, the big takeaway has been that interactive isn't worth much of their time. But while it's true that the internet hasn't lived up to the early hype, the story is far from over. So before people deem digital to be a marginal issue, it is worth considering a few points that suggest interactive will indeed play a very important part in the future of our industry. More users: During the dotcom heyday, the press provided an endless stream of glowing accounts about the net's poster children. Today, it's a trail of doom. During this time, what happened to the internet penetration in Asia? No surprise - usage steadily increased, as it is still doing today, making the internet a part of many people's daily routine. Add to this the growth of the wireless internet in Japan through i-mode and you have an incredible growth story that is still continuing in most of the region. Beyond banners: The internet has moved well beyond banners. Too much attention has focused on click-through rates as the main barometer of web success. Banners are the equivalent of direct response advertising in the offline world. They are only one tactic for driving traffic to a site. Online sponsorships, affiliate programmes and offline drive efforts too are viable options. More importantly, the quality of the client-consumer interaction on the site itself is the key determinant of success. Unlike traditional communications channels that work in finite units, interactive material can have open-ended user sessions that last minutes or hours, if the content is compelling enough. Wireless messaging is adding a pervasive angle to this consumer interaction. This provides tantalising options for brand builders. An integrated channel: It's now clear that the net can be used as an important tool for promoting customer relationships and prompting activation. As more agencies get familiar with the creative palette of the internet, this relationship building is happening in more creative forms. Therefore, the internet is increasingly seen as a marketing channel that should work in sync with offline channels. Companies are using the web to complement other marketing activities, not supplant them. Expect interactive to become a mainstay of most companies' marketing mix, helping to build customer retention and loyalty. Measurable returns: The future of one-to-one marketing is increasingly focusing on addressable media, namely PCs, network appliances, PDAs, cell phones, etc. All of these share the common characteristic of having a return address. This enables marketers to measure, analyse, and optimise communications, based upon specific response data from specific consumers. This is an exciting prospect for clients demanding a measurable return on all their communications investments. Don't write off interactive just yet. There are many more miles ahead of us still.

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