More News!!
****************
June 15, 1999 11:53
Addressable Advertising Coalition Joins
Forces With Association for Interactive
Media
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 15, 1999--
Convergence of Two Interactive Associations Raises Profile of
Addressable Advertising & Marketing Solutions
The Addressable Advertising Coalition (AAC) has joined forces with
the Association for Interactive Media (AIM)
(http://www.interactivehq.org), to create a powerful marketing-oriented
group designed to foster growth in the emerging interactive media
environment, it was announced today. The AAC will operate as a
co-organization within AIM, which is headed by Ben Isaacson, acting
executive director of AIM. Art Cohen, one of the ad industry's most
experienced and respected proponents of interactive and
addressable advertising, will serve as chairman of the AAC.
Isaacson explained that the entire media industry is poised for
explosive growth in the coming years because of emerging
technologies and delivery infrastructures, such as digital cable and
broadband. "With the added insight that comes from the AAC and its
members, AIM becomes not only the largest Internet and interactive
media industry trade organization, it becomes the one with the largest
and highest quality base of research into audience preferences,
tastes and habits," said Isaacson.
AIM members include America Online (http://www.aol.com),
Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com), IBM (http://www.ibm.com),
MTV Networks (http://www.mtv.com), The Weather Channel
(http://www.weather.com), Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com), Media
Metrix (http://www.mediametrix.com) and Internet Shopping Network
(http://www.isn.com) and more than 350 others.
"The joining of forces of like-capabilities and perspectives gives
mainstream advertisers, and those who focus on direct marketing, a
new window into interactive technologies that will drive the industry,"
he continued. "AIM is the only organization with exposure to program
standards, direct and interactive advertising, research, broadband
and the computing environment that allow highly effective,
target-marketing programs to be implemented."
Under the leadership of Art Cohen, its current president, the AAC has
become a leading proponent for quality and standards in research
and use of professional measurement techniques for interactive
media. The AAC will work closely with advertising agencies and other
marketers currently within AIM. AAC members have included many of
the major ad agencies, as well as top media and Fortune 500
advertisers.
Cohen, currently senior vice president of advertising and e-commerce
for ACTV, Inc. (NASDAQ:IATV), a Governing Member of AIM, noted:
"The Internet and other interactive technology-based media are finally
at a place where wide-scale deployment is economically feasible.
AAC can now offer its membership access to a wider range of direct
advertising technology and market research -- the core strengths of
AIM -- while providing AIM with a greater perspective on the power of
addressable advertising and new opportunities made possible by
TV-Internet convergence."
Cohen, who first led the AAC while at Your Choice TV, is a vocal
advocate of establishing means by which audience measurement
methods can be tested and validated when advertisers use television,
the Internet or other interactive media. The AAC has published
documents outlining policies for interactive technologies and the use
of research programs to guide advertisers and broadcasters.
"Digital television and TV-Internet convergence are about to take off in
a very big way", Cohen continued. "It is crucial that the entire direct
marketing and advertising communities be prepared for it."
The importance of interactive television and its impact is underscored
by Isaacson, who points out that advertisers, marketing firms,
consumer product companies and advertising agencies alike can
now offer complete and targeted campaigns integrating every
medium from traditional print, broadcast, direct mail and digital
media. "In addition to being better coordinated, they are also more
cost-effective because they reach the right people at the right time.
This is the true benefit behind integration and research," the AIM
executive said.
Bill Samuels, chairman and chief executive officer of ACTV, Inc.
(NASDAQ:IATV), and a founding member of the AAC, added: "The
evolution of television, particularly the emergence of digital cable and
broadband, offers both serious challenges and great opportunities for
the marketing community. We believe addressable advertising will be
a prominent revenue driver for those of us in the industry. It gives
marketers an unprecedented amount of information around which to
plan campaigns intelligently, and a more effective way of reaching the
right consumers in the new television landscape." Detailed
information about ACTV can be found at actv.com.
The resultant organization of the new AAC/AIM alliance, under AIM's
auspices, becomes the largest of its kind in the world.
Formed in 1993, the Association for Interactive Media (AIM), an
independent subsidiary of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA),
partners with its members to defend the Internet and interactive media
industry in Washington, to promote consumer confidence, and to
provide successful business-to-business networking opportunities. By
supporting AIM, the industry ensures that there remains a healthy
marketplace for products and services in the new digital economy.
For more information, see the AIM Web site at
interactivehq.org.
newsalert.com |
