MEDIA-I: Web yet to prove appeal - media chiefs

HONG KONG: The internet is rapidly showing its potential to build brands but it has some distance to go before it can measure up to television and print as the brand-building medium of choice. For the time being, according to speakers at the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) media forum, the online medium offers a more effective one-to-one marketing opportunity but as part of an overall campaign. Carat Hong Kong managing director, Anna Azilli, said: "It's more of a CRM tool or for product promotion, not for branding." Mike Cooper, OMD Asia chief executive officer, agreed saying that the internet "is not yet a premier, first division medium". The point being that the internet was still experiencing growing pains as marketers get to grips with the digital medium. According to Jimmy Poon, regional director of Tribal DDB, the interactive arm of DDB, the internet has yet to erode the marketing appeal of television and print. "The web cannot compete against television on a brand awareness level. It (the internet) is really about building loyalty, not so much awareness," Poon said. But with proper auditing, websites could offer advertisers the opportunity of cutting wastage. Said Sohu.com senior vice-president of marketing and sales, Edwin Chan: "The internet gives advertisers precision targeting along with interactivity and the wastage is very small. "A television campaign might reach three million people but maybe only half the advertiser's target audience." Tribal DDB's Poon said advertisers' caution in making greater use of the web is largely because the industry was still at an investment phase. Another problem is that websites are finding it difficult to create loyal communities around them in the same way that print titles and television programmes have done so. However, as internet penetration rates show exponential growth, the crucial issue marketers are looking at is when will the digital medium eventually become part of the mainstream media.

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