From January through February, Honda, Warner Brothers, AT&T Pepsi and Vonage ran full length television style commercial on such web sites as about.com. ESPN.com and others. A follow up survey of 1,700 Internet users found only 28 percent deemed these commercials annoying, far less than was originally expected and less that the 38 percent who find actual television commercials annoying.
Carat Interactive Online Campaign Manager Judy Gern who managed the Vonage campaign said, “I was astounded by the results. There’s absolutely no question we’ll be doing this again.”
Therein lies the problem. These ad units are new. They are novel. People are curious about them. Tread lightly, marketers, or webmercials will go the way of the dreaded pop up.
