This is a limited free preview of this book. Please buy full access.
Preface
The rapid and continuing growth of the internet provides challenges as well as opportunities to advertisers. Early internet marketing began during the mid-1990s with a few portal web sites providing space for online ads as well as companies publishing simple web sites with information about their brands and products. As the number of users grew rapidly and as advertisers understood the power of the medium, the internet has quickly become a major advertising medium.
The distinctive characteristics of the internet also provide challenges to advertisers. Rather than passively receiving messages, the audiences have become the “users” of the medium, and it is the not the message sender but the users who are in control of the communication. Furthermore, as users process information on the internet, they equip themselves with cognitive strategies to effectively manage their limited cognitive resources. While browsing the web, experienced users are able to effectively filter out some of the information that they do not need such as online ads. As a result, internet users tend to avoid banner ads, animated ads, or any information that is contained in a “box”. This tendency obviously