Interactive strategist sees communication channel planning as a boost for online advertising.

Wendi Dunlap began her career in interactive advertising working on the Visa account at Atmosphere Interactive (OMD) at the height of the dot-com boom. While developing media plans to encourage consumer confidence in ecommerce and building brand awareness of Visa as the preferred online currency, she witnessed first hand the successes and failures of online marketing in the late 1990s. 

Following her work at Atmosphere, Dunlap worked in Advertising Sales at RealNetworks, a leader in streaming audio/video. In addition to developing an expertise in using broadband content for marketing, Dunlap was also named RealNetworks’ 2001 Associate Sales Executive of the Year.

Dunlap is currently an Interactive Strategist at Horizon Interactive, where she manages interactive marketing for several entertainment and consumer goods clients while staying abreast of emerging technologies.

iMedia: What has been the biggest change that you have experienced in the online advertising industry over the past year?

Wendi Dunlap: The popularity of communication channel planning as a more effective strategy of reaching a target audience through every media touch-point that they are exposed to has encouraged traditional media planners to consider interactive advertising for new clients and opportunities. That has been a terrific boost to the online advertising industry.

Communication channel planning is a new strategy "outlook" that a lot of agencies have been adopting. It basically involves planning based on a consumer's lifestyle and the media that they come into contact with, as opposed to a more traditional strategy that just involves varying weight levels of television, print, radio, et cetera. It's about reaching a target consumer through all of the media that they come into contact with -- from sun up to sunrise. For instance, if a target consumer is identified as spending a lot of time in bars, utilizing PDAs and driving home, then bar advertising, PDA advertising and billboard advertising are incorporated into the media plan.

iMedia: What do you hope to accomplish or try this year?

Dunlap: In addition to encouraging more traditional media clients to explore the interactive advertising space, I hope to continue to set benchmarks for successful Entertainment/Tune-in initiatives while establishing best practices for the use of video online.

iMedia: How do you evaluate media placements?

Dunlap: Media evaluation first and foremost depends upon the objectives of the client. In general, media placements are evaluated on their reach of the target audience, contextual relevancy, innovation, previous performance (if applicable) and competitive pricing. We also evaluate the overall site based on brand compatibility with the client and site recognition. The importance of each of these evaluation criteria varies as per client objectives.

iMedia: What needs to be done internally as well as in partnership with the clients to better coordinate integrated marketing efforts?

Dunlap: The philosophy of communication channel planning inherently facilitates cross-media integration. Overall, it's significant that both offline and online planners work as a cohesive team in developing strategy and tactics. It is highly ineffective for the two groups to plan in isolation of one another.

iMedia: Behavioral targeting is a hot topic. Are you using it for any of your clients? How and what have the results been like?

Dunlap: I have used behavioral targeting for many of my clients, particularly those that are trying to reach very niche audiences. Most often, I utilize behavioral targeting in combination with contextual placements which yield a great impact and more effective reach of the targeted audience -- no matter how niche.

iMedia: Are any of your clients being affected by any consumer-generated marketing (CGM) -- blogs, user groups, etc.? Are they using any blogs or other social networking tools to market?

Dunlap: I have clients that have created blogs and advertised within them. Creating blogs has been an effective tactic in building a loyal community around a television show or consumer product. This is how and why people are logging on to the internet -- it simply makes sense that this trend in usage is leveraged in online marketing.

iMedia: Are analytics getting any easier? Where do you see this aspect of online marketing going?

Dunlap: A standardized and universally accepted method of managing frequency is still on my wish list, but as the industry matures so has our analytics. Since so much emphasis is placed on analytics in our industry, I don't think we have a choice. There are still many challenges ahead such as measuring the delivery and impact of streaming video ads that are served across multiple broadband content sites. But technology advances through DART Motif and Viewpoint/Unicast are rising to the occasion. We will continue to deliver to clients more information on ROI than any other media.

iMedia: We recently asked Brands what they thought the future of advertising agencies is. Want to weigh in on the topic? What do you think agencies' greatest role will be moving forward?

Dunlap: Consumer usage of technology is changing so quickly that it is going to be the interactive agency's responsibility to stay abreast of these changes so that they are incorporated into marketing strategies. Whether it involves playing mobile games, subscribing to a broadband broadcast of soap operas or calling a phone in Bangkok from your PC, it's the interactive agency's job to understand the current use of technology and where it is going.

iMedia: What are brands still not getting about interactive marketing?

Dunlap: I think that brands are finally getting interactive advertising. I work with brands that never considered interactive advertising before but now understand that interactive media can be a significant touch-point in building brand impact, awareness and generating revenue -- particularly in combination with traditional media. Challenges are still that interactive advertising is held to a higher standard due to its reporting capabilities -- a double-edged sword but one that the industry is now welding masterfully.

iMedia: What marketing or business books do you most recommend?

Dunlap: Bang: Getting Your Message Heard in a Noisy World by Linda Kaplan Thaler