Agency EVP Eri Golembo and Media Director Julie Jeancolas discuss how interactive media puts success—and the ability to tweak media buys—in the hands of marketers.

Acceleration is an Internet marketing services company that specializes in in-depth tracking, reporting and optimization. Executive Vice President Eri Golembo runs the New York office and is responsible for all North American clients. The New York office houses the strategic and client services teams. Media planning/buying, trafficking and campaign management are performed in the company’s South African hub, where Media Director Julie Jeancolas works. We talked with Golembo and Jeancolas recently about their approach to and views of interactive marketing.

iMedia Connection: What has been the biggest change in the online advertising industry over the past year—either a different way you’re approaching the space or a change you’ve encountered that you’ve had to deal with?

Jeancolas: There have been a lot of changes, but the biggest topic that has affected the whole media landscape is the spam issue. Increasingly, you will see clients coming to you with lead-generation objectives to build databases and set up retention programs. This way they secure a unique relationship where the customer is in control at all times. The success of this strategy strongly depends on the sequence, the relevance and the technical accuracy of your messaging.

Another big change is in targeting. In the past, marketers have been using traditional demographic targeting. In order to increase response rates, planners looked at contextual targeting. But I strongly believe that it is behavioral targeting that will make a difference. For example, the Wall Street Journal online and the New York Times are continuously building databases on their users in order to sell a better-targeted audience to media planners. This will grow in importance as companies like Doubleclick, Atlas DMT and TACODA Systems improve their technologies.

Also, another change is the cross-selling of online and offline media. More and more publishers are selling packages that include both media platforms. They’re starting to realize the importance of synergic media schedules offering an effective frequency through various connection points with customers. Integrated campaigns using different channels show greater ROI.

iMedia Connection: How do you evaluate media placements?

Jeancolas: I look at a combination of elements. First I look at the reach of the property. Whether I’m using online or offline media, the bottom line is reach—especially for lead generation programs. Second, I look at site usage. How does the audience interact with the site, how do they use it, how do they perceive advertising, etc. I also look at duplication within the media plan for frequency purposed. Finally, I build a performance forecast trying to evaluate the number of leads or number of sales the media plan could deliver. We’ve got metrics to apply, plus past results and history, to constantly refine the plan.

iMedia Connection: Do you expect clients to make interactive spending more or less of a priority in 2004?

Golembo: One thing I’ve seen is that we’ve got a large number of marketers doing more eMarketing. In the larger companies, the word is coming down to start taking eMarketing more seriously. How that translates we’ll see. But it’s coming from all sides and sectors. People in the eMarketing field are getting larger budgets, gaining more prestige. That’s definitely happening.

Jeancolas: As it’s becoming more measurable, more companies are dedicating a bigger slice of their media budget to online. It’s growing quite fast as new platforms like search marketing emerge. Search has helped people get on the bandwagon: it makes it easy for advertisers to try out the medium with small budgets.

iMedia Connection: What is the most effective component in interactive marketing and have we fully maximized its potential? If not, how can we?

Golembo: Anyone who tries to look at eMarketing as one thing is missing the boat. When the Internet first came upon us, it was looked at as being one thing for advertisers. But eMarketing is now as broad as all marketing. You couldn’t ask that question of regular marketing, so nor can you ask it of eMarketing. It’s very important to divide it out based on your objectives, be they to sell something or to build brands.

Jeancolas: I agree. Some people lump all eMarketing together, but I look at it as something you can use to create your own channel. You can make your campaign what you want it to be. For example, you can create a newsletter specifically for a client, or develop a sponsored microsite off of another site. The power of eMarketing isn’t expressed enough. There is a lot we can learn from the online behavior of our audiences by retaining data and nurturing dialogues with them. Web analytics should be a great help for this matter.

iMedia Connection: What should we be doing as an industry to help move traditional advertisers online?

Golembo: As an industry, we’ve tried really hard with study after study to convince marketers to go online. But it needs to be more organic. If we do good work, obtain good results, communication will take care of itself. People don’t respond to statistics. They have to build trust themselves. To show stats that more people shopped online this Christmas than last Christmas, that’s ridiculous. Show good results.

Jeancolas: It depends on who you speak to. If you take a company used to TV [gross rating points] then you can show them how, by transferring some of their TV budget online, they can increase their reach to younger audiences. That works. But the biggest asset of online is digital technology that offers maximum accountability.

iMedia Connection: What recent campaign really proves the effectiveness of the interactive medium?

Golembo: It wasn’t a campaign. What happened recently with a client was we had a breakthrough. This client was attracting customers in two ways: by paying commissions to companies based on the number of sales they deliver, and by using marketing that drives sales indirectly. Because some of the marketing programs we are now running translate directly to sales, the client has moved costs of these sales to Cost of Sales rather than seeing it as a marketing expense. This frees up marketing dollars.

iMedia Connection: What excites you most about interactive marketing?

Golembo: I was in a traditional ad agency most of my career. In a traditional agency, you run a campaign, and then spend months trying to convince the client it was a success. Now we can tell a client if they can reach their expectation in advance. The numbers then speak for themselves. I’m loving that. I like planning and seeing how it comes out.

Jeancolas: Yes, what’s exciting is that you can always improve upon a campaign online. Every day you can manage impressions, change, tweak. For example, you might re-concentrate your media in the morning or evening to obtain more leads. You can really make a difference—success isn’t out of your hands.