Jacqueline O'Sullivan, category marketing manager at Microsoft Advertising offers insight into creativity online
Recent research from Group M revealed that UK advertisers are expected to spend around £3.6bn on the internet in 2009. If these predictions become true, digital ad spend will overtake TV for the first time.
As internet advertising matures and becomes mainstream, there's an explosion of creativity online as brands seek new, innovative ways to create dialogues with their audience. Technological innovations such as mobile devices, IPTV and RSS feeds mean consumers can choose which content they want to engage with. Online advertisers must move from a push to a pull relationship as the consumer chooses to block out messages.
This shift has been most apparent and successful in the entertainment sector. In the last year, films such as Cloverfield and The Dark Knight used online in groundbreaking ways to build buzz more than a year before product release, creating intrigue and anticipation among their target audience.
The combination of creativity and a wide range of digital tools from online PR, word of mouth, Street Teams, blogging and social networking enabled them to successfully merge the boundaries between on and offline -establishing them as real trailblazers for online creativity.
Today, advertisers have the opportunity to create campaigns that consumers actively want to engage with. Watch this space for other sectors to follow the entertainment sector's lead and break down consumers' personal firewalls with highly compelling campaigns.