To: rdmsqito who wrote (138 ) 10/1/1999 10:16:00 AM From: PartyTime Respond to of 513
Zulu-tek, one of the greatest market flops to date, made a lot of hoopla when it bought Softbank Interactive Marketing ('96-'97 market leader to Doubleclick) and combined it with echoMEDIA which invented a device called Sesame-ad, debuted at the New York Yacht Club, that was billed as "quality television commercials on the web." The problem was the movers behind ZULU were more interested in promoting an OTC stock pump and dump scheme than they were advancing the quality of the technology which it had acquired. In effect, they dangled the acquisitions of these two companies before investors and there came a great run-up and then a tremendous downfall. My third investment ever, I lost eight grand in the mess. I had the right idea, but the wrong horse--Doubleclick was the right horse at the time. But one thing I learned from that experience is that there exists a tremendous interest for television quality commercial advertising and the schemers behind Zulu knew it. They basically milked the investors and then sold off the assets of the company. I think, yes, NetZero, particularly with established and respected entities Goldman Sachs and Compaq behind it, could become a perfect vehicle by which to deliver rich, bandwith-intensive ads. The existence of broadband could enhance, not inhibit, the efforts of an ad-intensive ISP like NetZero. Here's one way to think about it. If companies have demonstrated success sending out coupons or concentrating advertising in either book or magazine form, why can't a company which features advertising together with free web access also be successful? Broadband will be a boost to advertising. Oh, I got carried away and almost forgot to include my main point behind this post. Guess which major advertiser was primarily interested in the Sesame-ad and actually contributed a demo to the project: Proctor & Gamble. This should tell us something about what the relationshiop between advertising and broadband will be like. Now, could NZRO have a role here? Well, there's gotta be a reason why Goldman Sachs is so excited about NetZero. Maybe this is it!