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Overview
A billboard or a best friend: Which holds greater sway over our buying decisions? Is the power of suggestion even stronger when you combine the two? The Internet has enabled companies to reach consumers in previously unthinkable ways—but today’s e-mailing, text-messaging, PDA-toting 30-something is constantly throwing challenging questions right back at the marketers.
The intersection between today’s consumer and today’s technology is a moving target—and e-mail users are a primary example of today’s unpredictable Internet consumer. Online ads are everywhere, but trying to find the right way to successfully fit those ads into e-mail users’ lifestyles is a constant challenge.
That’s why in December 2006, Cingular Wireless, Microsoft® Digital Advertising Solutions, and MetrixLab teamed up for an experiment to discover just how effective a focused, single-product campaign in Windows™ Live Hotmail® could be. The question they were asking: What’s the payback for advertising just inches away from e-mail conversations?
Based on research provided by Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions and MetrixLab, Cingular was betting the payback would be significant. According to the study, 66 percent of Windows Live Hotmail users and 83 percent of male users age 18 to 35 say they would discuss buying personal electronics, such as a new phone, via e-mail.
