Marketing Communications

E-MARKETING TOOLS 495

Less standard advertising formats are advertorials, content sponsorship and anchor deals.

Th ese three formats are not supported by media sellers and so result from direct negotiations

with each specifi c website owner. Advertorials are informative ads with an editorial approach

but also a clearly identifi ed advertiser. Th ey can be used to communicate product and services

news or attributes, third-party endorsements, research or trends and can include visuals and

links to the site of the advertising company. Th e content of the advertorial should be inform-

ative and engaging. Advertorials improve the opinion about the sponsoring company and

increase awareness, infl uence image and encourage interest.

Content sponsorship consists of placing an advertiser’s message in an area on a website that

stands out from other ads, for instance a fi xed and exclusive presence in a chosen section that

is relevant to the advertiser’s brand. Area and topic sponsorships are the two most common

types. Homepage restyling, an adaptation of the look and feel of a web page using the colours,

corporate style and images of the advertisers, is another popular form. Many consumer prod-

uct companies are moving towards this kind of online alliance strategy aft er being confronted

with the long development timeframes and the high costs involved with building, maintain-

ing and driving traffi c towards an own-brand site.

In March 2011, Johnson & Johnson introduced Listerine Zero (a new mouthwash product) onto the Australian

market. In June, an online-only test campaign (among others, on Facebook and different search engine sites) was

set up for the purpose of evaluating the impact of online advertising on sales and the brand. No media activity or

POS occurred prior to this test, conducted by Nielsen. The test campaign managed to reach a wide audience: 44% of

the target of 25–54 year olds. Exposure to the campaign significantly increased a number of brand equity measures

for Listerine Zero: awareness (from 5% to 11%), consideration (from 3% to 6%), recommendation (from 14% to

35%) and purchase intention (from 13% to 43%). Sales increased by 11% across the market.^30

The IAB UK conducted a study on the effectiveness of the online launch campaign of Starbucks VIA, a new

instant premium coffee brand. For the launch, display ads were shown at portals sites (such as Yahoo!), lifestyle

sites (such as InStyle.co.uk and Marieclaire.co.uk) and social sites (such as Facebook). The online campaign

reached 52% of the online population. Online delivered substantial incremental reach as 65% of those exposed to

online ads did not see the print ad; 55% of those exposed to online ads did not see the outdoor activity. When

compared with other media, online was the biggest driver of reach – and the most cost-effective. The online campaign

was seen to deliver this audience at a fifth of the cost of the press campaign, which illustrates that digital advertising

delivers strong results at a competitive price. A major strength of online is its ability to drive awareness, making it

a strong tool for launching new brands.

Product awareness grew by 19% between the control group and the exposed group. Among heavy Internet users

(usage of over 21 hours per week), product awareness increased by 77%. Meanwhile, ad awareness rose by 41%

between the two groups.

Women’s purchase intent increased sharply across age groups (+40% in women aged between 35–44 and 55+).

Online was found to deliver the increase in product awareness at 80% the cost of press and half the cost of outdoors.^31

BUSINESS INSIGHT

Using the Internet to launch brands

Anchor deals represent the presence of a brand on certain content sites and portals as a

supplier of brand-related content continuously for a long period. In exchange for co-branding

on all Pepsi bottles, in-store displays and so on, Yahoo! handled all the technical assistance for

the Pepsistuff .com website. Th e site became the centrepiece of the most successful campaign

Pepsi ever ran. Consumers logged on to the site by entering a code found under the caps of

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