Big Brands Moving Dollars into Online Advertising

The New York Times reports that I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, a Unilever brand that has long used traditional advertising, primarily television commercials, to reach its target market of women ages 35 and up. For the spray-bottle version of the spread, the American unit of Unilever is introducing this week a humorous campaign devoid of TV spots.

"Classical advertising is not as effective and efficient as it has been in the past," said Javier Martin, who manages the brand at Unilever United States in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., "so we're looking for more innovative ways to reach our consumers."

The fact that "more and more women are using the Internet" helped persuade the company that Webisodes would be preferable to commercials, Mr. Martin said, as well as the idea that the ads needed to be "engaging and entertaining and interesting enough to be forwarded to friends and family."

Using word-of-mouth marketing for the spray also made sense, he added, because consumers questioned in research sessions say they hear about the spray that way more often than they do other brand varieties like sticks and tubs.