A Two-World Strategy
The biggest brands on the Internet craft distinct images in both the real and virtual worlds. For many, real-world ads are a softer, more emotional sell. Online, the consumer gets individual attention.
AMERICA ONLINE
SNAIL MAIL. AOL is famous for its nonvirtual marketing, such as mass-mailing sample disks of its service with computer magazines and using TV and print to lure more subscribers. It also does some online marketing, linking to popular search engines.
SATURN
LIKE ORDERING PIZZA. GM's revamped Saturn Web site is all business. It helps serious car buyers with projects such as selecting a model, calculating payments, and finding a dealer online. Offline, the Web site is the star of Saturn's humorous TV commercial showing a college student ordering up a car over the Internet. The successful television commercial has tripled visitors to the Saturn Web site.
COCA-COLA
JUST PASSING THROUGH. Coca-Cola still pours most of its advertising effort into televison and print. It uses its Internet site to tout promotions and to appeal to niche groups such as collectors of vintage Coke products. Early experiments linking Coca-Cola.com to Internet entertainment sites sent consumers away too quickly. Revised Web marketing is designed to let Net surfers linger.
TOYS 'R' US
MAKING A LIST. The toymaker fired up an online shopping site in time for this year's holiday rush. The effort was not just aggressive marketing but also a preemptive tactic aimed at staving off cyber-ambushes by small Internet upstarts. The site offers services such as online gift registry and E-mail reminders. Offline, marketing messages in stores and on TV emphasize wide selection and low prices.
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