Will WWW beat the 30-second spot?

People who visited Advertising Week pointed out that one of the recurring topics was the future of the 30-second TV spot. Brian McAndrews, president and CEO of aQuantive stated: "Our belief is that the Web site is going to replace the 30-second commercial over time as the central expression of the brand."

Interesting thought. Although a little bit futuristic. My opinion is that this can certainly happen, but not so fast. On the other hand, branding is closely related to the web site even now. You have to bear in mind that there is a good chance that a customer will interact with your brand only on the web. Talking about the 20-30 age group this will most probably happen. Change in media consumption has done that, so the wisest thing would definitely be to follow it.

The other thing is related to the amount of information that you can get from a web site. While on the 30-second spot you are constrained by the time issue, a website can offer timeless experience and a very structured one. Everything from the logo to the most complex information is linked and easy to use (well, this is not the case for every website).

Tags: Branding, TV spot, online advertising, web site