Advertising on the Internet has not taken off as fast as it should have in SA, due to the conservatism of the advertising industry, rather than the medium, says Acceleration Media MD Jacques van Niekerk.
Van Niekerk agrees with the commonly held view that about 0.3% to 0.5% of total advertising spend in SA goes to the Internet, with the vast majority still going to traditional print, radio and TV, even though the measured impact of such campaigns is still difficult to quantify.
"The acceptance of the Internet as a valid means of advertising and marketing has been slow to take off in this country, which is usually an early adopter of technology, for a number of reasons. Firstly, our domestic market is small relative to the US and Europe."
Van Niekerk says the local branches of international advertising agencies generally adapt a local plan from what their overseas head offices have devised for their client. "They then shape these plans so they can stick to their core competencies, which usually means they adopt the plans to traditional media."
Another inhibitor has been the lack of tools to measure page impressions objectively so that potential and actual advertisers can accurately gauge the impact of their campaigns and determine the return on investment for the spend. Van Niekerk says the purchase of the RedSheriff monitoring software by the Online Publishers` Association will help to bring more credibility to the medium.
Finally, the advertising revenue models must also change to fit with what can be achieved by using the Internet. Van Niekerk says traditional advertisers are averse to assuming some of the risk of their clients` business and that should change as the Internet offers them the opportunity to do so.
Acceleration Media has entered into a contract with one of its US clients, a car hire company, whereby it receives a commission whenever one of the banner ads developed for the campaign are used to hire a car. "Even if the banner ad was not directly used to hire a car, we can still determine if it was instrumental in influencing the consumer`s choice. And so we can tell just how effective the campaign is."
Van Niekerk says the Internet offers advertising agencies the opportunity to integrate with their clients` bottom line.
Other tools that can enhance the Internet advertising campaign include the use of keywords in search engines, monitoring of consumers` spending habits and tracking of advertising.
"The Internet allows one to put aside the old advertising problem of 'I know that only 50% of my advertising works. I just don`t know which 50%," Van Niekerk says.
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