September 12, 2000 presentation
The New Media in Marketing:
Raising the Stakes for Investors
Presentor:
Mike Sullivan, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, The Focus Agency
Moderator
Mary Swensen, President, Swensen Communications
Panelists:
Jack Baum, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sagebrook Investments
John F. Jastrem, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Rapp Collins
Worldwide – Dallas;
J.G. Sandom, President and Chief Executive Officer, RappDigital
Panel Overview
The September 12th MIT Enterprise Forum® of Dallas –Fort Worth, Inc.
focused on the rise of digital media, dubbed as the "new media," and the
issues facing investors as they evaluate cost-effectiveness for companies they have
invested in.
The presenter for "New Media: Raising the Stakes for Investors," was
Mike Sullivan, executive vice-president and managing director of The Focus Agency. The
moderator was Mary Swensen, president of Swensen Communications. Panelists were
(alphabetically) Jack Baum, president and chief executive officer of Sagebrook
Investments; John F. Jastrem, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Rapp
Collins Worldwide – Dallas; and J.G. Sandom, president and chief executive officer of
RappDigital.
The urgent need for deeper understanding of the impact of the "new media" on
marketing has become evident because Internet start-ups invest anywhere from 30-to-50
percent of anticipated gross annual revenue in advertising and marketing related
activities, which includes the new media. It is a staggering percentage compared to their
traditional bricks and mortar cousins who spend from five-10 percent on average in the
same period. So, it ’s no wonder that investors in these young companies pay
particular attention to the way these funds are allocated and spent.
Complicating this dynamic picture is the rise of the "new media" and their
associated costs. Investors and other stakeholders, who must make marketing decisions, are
struggling to understand the relationship between traditional and new media and the
appropriate roles for each in the marketing mix. Too many stakeholders in Internet
start-ups, and other fast growing e-business companies, find themselves wondering about
the wisdom of their marketing media choices even after they have made commitments and
budget expenditures. Some find themselves getting "cold feet " in the highly
promising but often scary new marketing media environment even though they know the new
media are part of the future of successful marketing. Using casework compiled from a
number of different situations, the September 12th MIT Enterprise Forum will create a
"phantom company" concept to explore new media versus traditional marketing
media issues. The panel includes a balanced range of opinions that will be expressed by a
nationally recognized new media expert, a venture capitalist, and the chief executive
officer of a new media marketing communications firm.
Mr. Sullivan said, ""As the new media open up channels for marketers to reach
customers in ways never before available, it's a challenge to traditional thinking
regarding media mix paradigms. Determining the correct traditional-to-digital media ratio
can have a significant impact, one way or the other, on the marketing campaign's
ROI."
Ms. Swensen said, "With digital media offering previously undreamed of
opportunities to get messages out to a wider pubic, we must know how to select and measure
these new tactics. Investors, who have previously left marketing decisions to senior
managers, are now more interested than ever in what they are getting for their money now
that there are new costs and new ratios for determining promotional budgets.
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