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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Advertisers Fall In Love With World Wide Web Consumer Products Learn How To Surf Internet For Dollars

A funny thing happened shortly after Ragu pasta Sauces introduced the fictional character of Mama in its pioneering World Wide Web site.

Mama started getting e-mail about a suitor named Pappy.

“The whole idea behind Mama was putting a face on the product and a face on the Internet,” said Alicia Rockmore, associate brand manager for Ragu, a division of Trumbull, Conn.-based Van der Bergh Foods, a division of Unilever. “I’m not sure what we expected, but I didn’t expect we would get the response we did.”

Some net surfers to Ragu’s site (http://www.eat.com) wrote asking about travel to Italy. One group began sending mail about “Pappy,” urging Mama to date her fictitious cyberbeau. At one point, someone even put a sound clip from Pappy on a Web page, Rockmore said.

Ragu had Mama write back, gently rejecting Pappy’s advances. But the episode shows just how compelling interactive advertising can be, which is why Madison Avenue is embracing the World Wide Web - and why cyberspace will never look the same.

“Two years ago, we didn’t even know what the Internet was. Two years ago here couldn’t be any advertising on the Web,” said Debra Aho Williamson, interactive media and marketing editor for the trade magazine Advertising Age.

“Obviously that’s changed. … Everybody is going on the Web. Whether everybody is appropriate for the Web is another story.”

While telecommunications and computer-related businesses would seem like naturals for the Web, more and more general consumer products like Ragu are migrating there as well. Some Web enthusiasts believe the Internet can work for everybody.

“Having a presence on the Web means you’re part of it, that you’re a leader, that you’re not going to be left behind,” said Joy Schwarz, a Los Feliz marketing consultant and author of ” Multimedia: Gateway to the Next Millennium.”

For advertisers, the rush is on to establish a presence in the most revolutionary communications medium since television. For content providers, it’s a scramble for dollars.

How many dollars? A poll commissioned by InterAd magazine, a publication of the New York marketing and research company WebTrack, found that in the first half of 1995, 200 major corporate advertisers had spent between $40 million and $50 million on Web-related advertising.

Not surprisingly, sites are eager to collect advertising dollars.

“Four or five months ago, only a handful of properties were selling advertising on the Internet,” said Bob Allen, managing partner of Modem Media LP, a Westport, Conn., agency that works only with interactive media. “Now, our media department sees 40 to 45 people a week.”

Some of those sites are beginning to charge dearly for that privilege. “Most of the properties that I would consider viable probably charge $5,000 to $35,000 a month,” said Allen, whose clients include companies such as Coors and AT&T.

ESPNet/Sportwave, part of the Starwave on-line empire, recently made headlines by announcing agreements worth over $1 million with eight advertisers that are paying $100,000 a quarter.

“They are delivering a very specific audience to advertisers, and if you look at the advertisers, they’re seeking out the same audience in other media,” said Jonathan Strum, who consults with companies seeking to establish an Internet presence.