The General Manager explains why the agency’s client Ameriquest Mortgage is so happy with the Internet, and why other companies are still reluctant to come on board.

As General Manager of the Los Angeles Office of Tribal DDB, Johar is responsible for overseeing all of the Los Angeles operations and management, which includes overseeing all Internet strategy and online digital branding initiatives. Johar brings to Tribal DDB many years of Internet consulting and marketing/advertising and entertainment experience from such leading companies as iXL, Poppe Tyson, Bates USA, Saatchi and Saatchi and BBDO Worldwide. Johar’s published work, “Choosing an Interactive Agency” and “Managing M & A”, have been featured in such publications as Digitrends and NewMedia.com. We talked with Johar recently to get his views on the interactive industry.

iMedia Connection: What’s one of the most successful campaigns your company has executed recently, and what made it successful?

Johar: The ongoing direct marketing-oriented campaign for Ameriquest Mortgage, which consists of various online elements such as banners, buttons, pop-ups, e-mail etc. It’s successful because of the revenue it generates for the client, and because of the scale that we’ve achieved.

iMedia Connection: Can your company point to evidence that suggests online advertising and marketing are contributing positively to branding metrics?

Johar: The best evidence we have for online advertising contributing to branding is the view-though data and the latency effect on our conversions. We are currently in the process of developing a formal test with Dynamic Logic which will give us more detailed information.

iMedia Connection: In this post click-through era, what kinds of new metrics are emerging as the new measurement standards?

Johar: The metrics have not changed that drastically. Although each client evaluates their online campaigns differently, such as cost-per-revenue dollar, time spent, repeat visits, session time, etc., we still look primarily at conversion and the effective CPM – and how to optimize against those metrics.

iMedia Connection: How does the issue of relationship marketing tie into the future of online marketing?

Johar: It’s very important, especially as you begin to evaluate the lifetime value of customers. More and more we are trying to develop relationships with non-customers to convert them in the long term.

iMedia Connection: Have you piloted any early Reach & Frequency planning on behalf of your clients?

Johar: Not yet. Most of our online efforts are very direct-marketing-oriented, though next year’s goals include reach and frequency optimization.

iMedia Connection: Will day-parting become known as one of the Internet’s best practices, or is this perhaps more hype, than hope?

Johar: It’s certainly an important component to online marketing, but right now I think it’s over hyped.

iMedia Connection: If the industry chooses to regulate itself, who should be responsible and what sort of guidelines should be implemented?

Johar: I think that’s a big if – IF the industry chooses to regulate itself. Past attempts have only been moderately successful because of the breadth of the Internet. But if the industry does so choose, guidelines should include: creative production standards, tracking standards, success guidelines, and best business practices.

iMedia Connection: Are you recommending Gator and its technology to your clients, or is there a certain amount of angst?

Johar: We’re not using Gator specifically because its pricing doesn’t work for us. We are working with a number of its competitors. There’s no angst.

iMedia Connection: Are your clients increasing their interactive spend over time? What does 2003 look like relative to 2002?

Johar: They’re increasing their spending significantly.

iMedia Connection: What remains the industry’s biggest stumbling block?

Johar: Bad press about the Internet, making clients leery to allocate money to it. Also, offline advertising account people who are afraid to take risks with their clients and still do not understand the medium.

iMedia Connection: How do we counteract this?

Johar: By increasingly integrating, and changing the way they look at the marketing mix, media mix.

iMedia Connection: What knowledge can you share to bridge the gap on how to better serve marketers’ needs in the online world?

Johar: Show your clients how they can directly increase sales or save money via online and they’ll increase their budgets.