Online Marketing Is More than Child's Play at BabyCenter

BabyCenter, L.L.C., the leading online resource for new and expectant parents, today released research demonstrating that online advertising can be an effective brand building tool. The advertising effectiveness research, conducted by third-party research firm Dynamic Logic, found that advertising campaigns on BabyCenter exceeded industry norms for key brand marketing metrics, including brand awareness, message association and purchase intent.

Unilever's all Baby Care Plus laundry detergent, the fastest growing detergent specifically for parents with babies, is among the advertisers who have recently experienced online branding success at BabyCenter. The yearlong online media sponsorship, developed for all by BabyCenter and launched in January 2003, has already outperformed Dynamic Logic's norms for message association, brand favorability and purchase intent. In its first six months, the all campaign helped accomplish a 48% increase in brand awareness, far exceeding the consumer packaged goods norm of just 5%.

We wanted to try online advertising and saw BabyCenter as a site with high-quality content that targets our demographic perfectly, said Bruce Levinson, Brand Manager for the all laundry brand. BabyCenter's deep understanding of and strong relationship with their audience provided insights that were extremely helpful in creating an impactful campaign.

BabyCenter is the most visited site targeting new and expectant parents, with over 3 million visitors to BabyCenter and sister site ParentCenter each month as measured by comScore MediaMetrix 2.0. 54% of BabyCenter visitors are currently pregnant, while 53% have at least one child at home under three years old. With the average US family spending more than $8,000 on their child in the first year of their child's life, this is an important consumer segment for marketers to reach.

These parents are actively seeking information and going through a key life stage that triggers many new purchases, from new cars and homes to diapers and strollers, said David Blair, Senior Vice President of Marketing for BabyCenter. Our audience leadership provides an unsurpassed forum for brands to establish and build relationships with new moms.

According to a December 2002 DoubleClick study, today's marketers increasingly recognize the branding capability of the Web and view their online campaigns less for driving immediate sales (69%) and more for building brand awareness (82%). The International Advertising Board recommends that brands incorporate at least 15% of their marketing budgets online in order to maximize the reach and branding impact of their campaigns across various media.

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Alex Gore is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.1st-in-toys.com. Find all the toys you wish you had as a kid. Fun and educational toys found here.

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Online Marketing Is More than Child's Play at BabyCenter