CIA MediaLab, part of Tempus Group plc,
released figures on Friday that show how the earliest Internet brands such
as
Yahoo! and
Amazon continue to have greater
name recognition in the U.K. than later brands,
despite spending substantially less on advertising.
For example, latecomer QXL.com spent £2.5 million ($4 million) on
advertising in 1999 and achieved 5 per cent awareness. By contrast, Yahoo!,
established in 1994, spent just £0.7 million ($1.14 million) in
the same year and achieved 39 per cent name-only awareness.
“There is so much competition for consumer’s surf-time that all
dot.coms have to spend more money on advertising to be heard
above the rest,” said David Fletcher, head of planning at
CIA Medianetwork, which runs MediaLab in the Tempus Group.
“It is not just a case of spending the money to launch a site,
money must continuously be invested in marketing to fight off
competition,” said Fletcher.
CIA MediaLab has compared the October 1998 launch of Amazon
in the UK with the subsequent launch of BOL in March the following
year. Figures show that BOL has had difficulty in matching its
older and more established rival, say researchers.
The 1999 awareness/advertising-spend figures for a whole range
of companies, released by CIA MediaLab, are as follows:
MSN achieved 16 per cent awareness after £0.26 million ($0.42 million)
spend;
Jungle 15 per cent after £1.1 million ($1.8 million);
Boo 8 per cent after £# 1.6 million ($2.6 million);
Lastminute 7 per cent after £0.6 million ($0.98 million);
Smile 5 per cent after £0.6 million ($0.98 million);
QXL 5 per cent after £2.5 million ($4.07 million).
The figures come from CIA Sensor, a monthly national survey of
500 adults conducted by BMRB for CIA MediaLab.