What will happen to online advertising in 2004? Very very good question... To find a few answers, read the article by Janis Mara on IAR. The market should grow, bringing a differentiation between online marketing investments in branding and direct marketing, as Nate Elliot, analyst at Jupiter Research, explains.
There's also a lot of confidence in the growth of search engine advertising, as confirmed on the New York Times, dedicating an article to the matter (More Businesses Are Turning to Paid Listings on Search Engines).

I guess I should have an opinion myself. Well, I obviously tend to agree with the idea that online advertising will grow in 2004, since this will represent a natural evolution of the market. However I wish this growth won't be just a rush to adapt to the mainstream but, on the contrary, a conscious development towards creativity and quality.

I appreciate your optimism, but as long as online advertising is tightly tied to incentivism (pay per click, affiliate programs, etc.), won't most advertising be less creative and more "tuned" instead? By "tuned" I mean structuring the ad text and graphics to what is search engine friendly, rather than creative. Just my 2 cents.

Posted by: John Taldor at January 31, 2004 06:14 PM

The process of making your ads search-engine friendly is a form of creativity. The expression of creativity in advertising always takes into account the lmitations of the chosen medium. And, on the web, text happens to rule!

Posted by: Seun Osewa at May 15, 2004 06:00 PM