April 27th, 2007

Eat Drink Internet Advertising

An eMarketer report shows that consumer packaged goods (food and beverage) advertisers cut spending in nearly every major media last year except the Internet.

This year, eMarketer estimates the CPG category will spend $288 million advertising online, a 36.6% increase over 2006.

“. . . food and drink is becoming an online staple for consumers who are searching the Internet for healthy eating tips and recipes, as well as for products they see advertised in other media,” says Lisa Phillips, eMarketer Senior Analyst and the author of the new CPG Online: Food & Beverages Party On report.

The report indicates that CPG companies prefer to focus their Internet campaigns on branding, sponsorships and direct response such as e-mail, and therefore do not spend as much on search advertising as other industries. However, search advertising has been found to work well for both branding and direct response by other market research firms.

“In the CPG segment, purchase consideration hinges more on in-store sales and discount coupons,” says Ms. Phillips.