CREATION: Young urges industry not to write-off the Internet just yet

<p>In retrospect, 2000 was a complete roller coaster ride. At the </p><p>outset there was the inflated hype, corporate valuations and </p><p>carelessness in a race to compete. This gave way to deflation of </p><p>expectations and investor patience. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Clearly, this year, we will continue to experience bad news due to </p><p>dotcom failures, layoffs and market consolidation. But it isn't all </p><p>bleak times ahead, and for marketers, no reason to write-off the </p><p>Internet. Far from it, many of us are optimistic. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The predominant trend over 2000 was how consumer behaviour changed as a </p><p>result of the Internet. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>I-Sights, a series of focus group studies undertaken by AdXplorer in </p><p>five major Asian cities late last year, revealed that regular surfers </p><p>now prefer to email or "chat" instead of converse in person or on the </p><p>phone with friends or family. They also prefer to surf for product </p><p>information online than deal with shop assistants. What's more, </p><p>consumers online see the 'Net as invaluable in helping them gain a </p><p>competitive career edge. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>We have over 105 million Asian online consumers who are, according to </p><p>Nielsen Net Ratings, twice as active as our US counterparts. In China, </p><p>Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan specifically, the group of influential </p><p>25-34 is bigger than the 18-24 group, and growing still. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>A quick survey conducted in Hong Kong found that 90 per cent of </p><p>university students considered themselves active Web users, further </p><p>evidence of the 'Net as a viable tool to reach affluent consumers. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>For an industry which is supposedly on the rocks, we estimate 2000 </p><p>online advertising spend in Greater China tripled versus the previous </p><p>year. And ecommerce has yet to get started. In fact, the lion's share of </p><p>online cash budgets came from traditional advertisers, and I have a </p><p>strong hunch that marketers are only beginning to scratch the surface of </p><p>considering online as complementary to existing marketing </p><p>activities. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In Asia, we're cruising towards leapfrogging the US in emarketing. For </p><p>the last six years, the Americans focused on the Internet solely as a </p><p>response-driven mechanism, i.e., chasing the "click through". Closer to </p><p>home, however, clients are adopting a more mature approach to the </p><p>Internet as a basis for building their brand equity and relationship </p><p>with customers and prospects. They are also rapidly deploying numerous </p><p>alternatives to the traditional banner like email marketing, ePR, </p><p>interactive sponsorships and loyalty programmes. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>This year, for sure the Nasdaq is going to experience yet another four </p><p>quarters of roller coaster rides, but contrary to common belief, the </p><p>Internet is not no-man's land for profit. Indeed, the smart money made </p><p>in 2001 will be by those investing more actively to reach and </p><p>interactively market to consumers online. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>