Biz 2.0: McDigital Marketing

Thomas Mucha examines McDonald's recent decision to shift more marketing budget away from TV in favor of online. Full of bolstering for online advertising effectiveness, including this:

…[T]he best reason for McDonald's to go digital is that the medium works. Carmakers like Chrysler, Ford, and GM are now responsible for about half of all online advertising. With more than 60 percent of all automobile shoppers using the Web to do research before heading to a dealership to make a purchase, Detroit is exploiting the Internet mostly for brand awareness and indirect marketing. PepsiCo's Frito Lay, buoyed by its success pitching Doritos online, now devotes about 10 percent of its Doritos marketing budget to the Net. Kimberly-Clark and Colgate-Palmolive both report brand awareness gains from online advertising campaigns.