Internet to takeover advertising blah, blah, blah

News flash -- in case you haven't heard it, "Internet advertising" is hot. Real hot. It's going to take over newspaper, radio, outdoor, and TV. In the not too distant future, it will create its own giant monster and take over the world.

A couple of years ago, articles like the one in Biz report titled "Internet set to become U.S. leading ad medium" would get me all tingly. Of course when you actually read the article, you realize that they are only talking about Internet advertising overtaking newspaper print ads. Um, does anyone under 50 actually get a newspaper anymore.

I'm tired of hearing about the might of Internet advertising or really advertising in general. What's more interesting to me are stories where industries understand their customers media habits and use them in combination.

This article from eMarketer showcases a good example. The insurance industry is pumping more and more money into online advertising.

  "Spending on Internet advertising for insurance companies and products will continue to grow to $2.31 billion in 2011. Online ad spending in 2007 by insurance companies will reach $980 million, up 36% over 2006."

At first glance, one might assume that this is coming at the expense of traditional media. That's where you'd be wrong:

"Unlike spending in other industries such as automotive, insurers continue to put more money into television, year after year"

Why do this? Because the insurance industry understands that these two mediums work best in combination. Television exposes people to the company or, in other words, gets them to think about insurance. Once exposed, these people go online to learn more about the company:

"comScore data show that 59% of respondents would go online first after seeing a TV ad for an auto insurance company, either to visit the Web site specified in the ad, to visit the company's corporate site or to use a search engine to find a site for the company."

What's sad is that many companies or brands feel like they have to "choose a medium". Either you're all online with a little bit of traditional, or you're all TV with a little bit of online. Not many people think about understanding how the customer interacts with the media and then devising a solution that gets them from exposure to investigation to purchase. - Paul Herring