In New Marketing Twist, Polaroid, Boston Beer turn to 'Microsites'
By Sheri Qualters,
Boston Business Journal Staff
BOSTON MA - Companies commonly tailor products and services
to various market segments, and increasingly, those companies are using
separate web sites to woo distinct markets.
In the past six weeks, two local retailers have launched
so-called microsites - or miniature, stand-alone web sites - to entice
a subset of their customers.
Earlier this summer, Boston Beer Co. Inc. hired an interactive-advertising
agency to create a microsite for "Taste of Success," an art
contest that will feature the winner's work on a billboard. And Polaroid
Corp. of Cambridge launched a microsite last month to promote its i-Zone
instant cameras to teen girls by featuring a contest that offers a photo
session with the pop band NSync.
Polaroid advertising manager Peter Panagopoulos said the
microsite's objective is to capitalize on the back-to-school time frame.
"It's an excellent way to reach the true teen target and touch on
the passions they like," Panagopoulos said.
Neither Boston Beer nor Polaroid would reveal how much they
spent on the microsites, but Andrew Graff, president of Watertown-based
Allen & Gerritsen Inc., said companies spend anywhere from a few thousand
dollars to $100,000 on microsites. Despite the wide range, most max out
at $35,000, Graff said. And advertisers typically support microsites with
separate direct-mail campaigns or direct-response messages in ads, Graff
said.
Another advertising executive, Bill Lynn, executive vice
president and managing director of interactive at Boston-based Hill, Holliday,
Connors, Cosmopulos Inc., said microsites run anywhere from "less
than $20,000 to $100,000." Despite this expense, they are still a
cost-effective way for companies to post new information on the web, Lynn
said.
"Building or revamping a (main) web site in a lot of
cases is a fairly costly endeavor," Lynn said. "It costs quite
a bit to make revisions, never mind a revamp. Companies are finding the
quicker, more cost-effective approach is to go with a microsite that exists
along with corporate web site."
Boston Beer spokeswoman Michelle Sullivan said the company
uses microsites for contests because they can be designed and posted very
quickly.
"It's a very flexible format," Sullivan said.
"It was the speed and ease of getting the page together."
Allen & Gerritsen's Graff also noted that microsites
are a useful way to reach key customer segments without potentially frustrating
them with the volumes of information on the main web site.
Most large corporations have a "Taj Mahal" type
site, agreed Hill Holliday's Lynn, and microsites are a tactical way to
reach a small audience.
"It gives you the ability to really tailor a fairly
deep little site around a specific initiative," he said. "Whether
it's a product launch, an ad campaign, some kind of seasonal initiative
or a trade show."
In recent months, Hill Holliday created a microsite for
Thermo Electron Corp. of Waltham - with information about its participation
in a lab-research trade show - and for Quincy-based Shields MRI, to support
its new full-body CT scan.
A microsite is often another doorway into a company's official
web site, said Stephen Turcotte, president of Waltham-based Backbone Media
Inc. Backbone, for example, created a separate web site (www.shinolas.com)
highlighting the best and worst names for products and companies for A
Hundred Monkeys Inc., a Sausalito, Calif.-based naming and branding consulting
company.
"What you're doing is repurposing existing content,
or … something you wouldn't want to use on the corporate web site,"
Turcotte said.
The Shinolas site cost between $10,000 and $15,000, but
has already garnered media attention for the company since its launch
earlier this year, said Jay Jurisich, A
Hundred Monkeys' editorial director.
Since a microsite can be as simple as an online brochure
or as complex as a site that supports online transactions, companies use
them for many purposes - but they're not a quick fix, said John Wolfarth,
senior vice president and creative director in the interactive group of
Wenham-based Mullen.
"When a user logs on and types in your company name,
they're beginning a brand experience," Wolfarth said. "There
should be the same caliber of experience (as the main site)."
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