Return to Enterprise Table of Contents THE EVOLUTION OF ONLINE PROMOTIONS Like television and radio before it, the story of the World Wide Web's evolution is a collaborative one. Computer scientists, "futurists," pornographers, and profiteers -- among many others -- have helped build what has become an entirely new medium. Not to be forgotten in this new medium, of course, are the pitchmen. They helped transform the fervently anticommercial Internet environment -- populated almost exclusively by academics, scientists, and the military -- into an electronic bazaar, rife with banner ads, "link exchanges," and electronic coupons. How did the Web go from commercial-free to full-of-commercials? And what does this transition say about the Web's day-to-day evolution? Yoyodyne Inc. provides one case study. The three examples below show how the company altered its pitches in reaction to the maturing tastes of both advertisers and consumers in cyberspace.

January, 1996 In early 1996, online promotions were in their infancy. That, of course, simply reflected the general state of the Web, where users were still considered "early adopters," and where slow modem speeds and crude Web-production tools made for flat, generic-looking page design. Working within these limits, Yoyodyne based its Dilbert comic-strip promotion on E-mail, which requires little bandwidth. Competing for Dilbert-related prizes and $1,000 Dilbert shopping spree, users answered a weekly set of Dilbert questions, with correct entries placed in weekly, quarterly, and yearend prize drawings. Though the contest attracted over 200,000 participants, Yoyodyne creators don't consider this promotion a huge success. At the time, say the Yoyodyne officials, advertisers were still hungry for glitzier Web advertising, whizzy pages full of complex -- and not always functioning -- design that could prove a company's commitment to the cutting-edge. "At that stage of interactive development," says Yoyodyne Marketing Directorr Jerry Shereshewsky, "advertisers were not buying efficacy, they were buying sex-appeal."

January, 1997 By this time, the medium had begun to earn the genuine respect of advertisers, particularly from those who now offered online-only products themselves. Their online promotional campaigns also grew more advanced, targeting a specific marketing objective rather than general Web awareness. In this campaign for Ziff Davis' ZDnet, users gathered contest entries (grand prize: a $5,000 computer shopping spree) by clicking on prize icons located on various pages throughout the site. While encouraging visitors to sample the breadth of ZDNet's offerings, it also helped the company collect consumer information -- particularly E-mail addresses -- for doing customer research and direct marketing.

October, 1997 While electronic commerce has been a topic for decades, it has really begun to take off only in the past year. Seizing on consumers' new-found comfort in making purchases online -- as well as retailers' strong efforts to sell to them, Yoyodyne helped American Express create EZSpree, which awards visitors sweepstakes entries (top prize: $100,000) for making purchases at specially designated cyber-retailers. Here, at last, is the final goal of all marketers: Consumers spending money. Yoyodyne won't say how many sales EZSpree has generated, and it's unlikely any retailers are socking away huge returns just yet. The site itself, however, represents an incredible progression: Less than two years ago, online marketers were happy if consumers simply knew they existed. Now they're banking on sites to generate fresh profit growth.

By Dennis Berman in New York Return to main story

Updated Jan. 29, 1998 by bwwebmaster
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