Re: AM: The next Advertising on the Internet meeting

[Ross Stapleton-Gray <director@embassy.org>]

At 12:45 PM 5/31/98 -0400, you wrote:
>While I want to remain objective, I would like to take the approach of
>Devil's Advocate.  Inline below I'm going to take the position of
>internet USERS, rather than internet ADVERTISERS.
>...

A pretty heady rant, but I don't think either extreme--"death, taxes and
full-screen ads" (which is a great turn of phrase...), or an icon-only
pastoral Info Parkway--are likely to be the evolutionary end point.

There's a point to all of those full-page ads in magazines, and they're
helping to sell soap, even if they're not being sought out, or much
appreciated.  And we're all aware of a lot of companies and their services
even if we've never visited their home page... the power of banner ads to
grind a brand into the readers' brains can't be overlooked.

If you were asked by a friend, "where can I get a free Web site?," might
you suggest Tripod?  I've never visited Tripod (now owned by Lycos, which I
don't much use either), but I do know that it's one of those services that
give customers free Web pages.  That thought's in my head, and it got there
somehow...

Ross


_____________________________________________________________________
Ross Stapleton-Gray                     TeleDiplomacy, Inc.
director@embassy.org                    2503 Columbia Pike, Suite 118
                                        Arlington VA 22204
http://www.embassy.org/telediplomacy/   +1 703 685-5197 / 5257 fax