FMCG advertisers are missing a trick in ignoring online advertising

With broadband penetration at a record high and young people spending more time online that with traditional media, why don't FMCG brands recognise the power of internet advertising, asks Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

We can all guess that telecoms is a big online advertiser, like finance and travel. But future growth is set to come from FMCG and retail advertisers. These guys are currently conspicuous by their absence. Such marketing directors tell me that their customers would never go online for products.

I think these advertisers are missing a trick because the entire audience for, say, youth products has migrated almost entirely online.

FMCG advertisers would kill for an opportunity to engage with a young person -- traditionally 30 seconds on TV, why not three minutes or more online?

Smart advertisers are waking up to sophisticated on-demand video ads in the same way that the music and movie business has been streaming film trailers and pop videos at us for the past couple of years.

I'm not talking about viral ads -- those quirky chopping the head off a cat clips that may come our way -- I'm talking about big audience, TV-like spots delivered to your desktop. Web-streamed ads are effective at building brands and hit the jackpot when a user clicks through to a website to download a promotional e-voucher, which in turn helps build loyalty.

EIAA study finds Internet advertising builds FMCG brands (AME Info): The European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) recently revealed consolidated study findings proving that not only do Internet ad campaigns build FMCG brands across all major brand metrics but that the FMCG category strongly outperformed European Internet brand effectiveness averages.

Target youth Online !!