![]() ![]() Yahoo, for example, said that while it does sell advertising space related to trademark names, it "works hard to avoid conflicts" between competitors. ![]() "Back in the old days all the search engines did it, then they kind of backed off of it because they got the door slammed in their face," said Jim Nail, an analyst at Forrester Research.Īs a result, many online search services say that advertisers are given first right to their company name and trademarks. Pepsico, for example, might refuse to advertise on a site if that site were selling the Pepsi name to Coke. Although the court dismissed the case earlier this year, Playboy has appealed the decision, and a hearing is scheduled in a Los Angeles federal district court in September.Ī similar suit filed by Estee Lauder against Excite resulted in a settlement.Īd executives also say it's a controversial strategy for Web businesses to sell keywords aimed at a company's competitor because they risk alienating the competitor. In 1999, Playboy filed suit against and Netscape in an attempt to prohibit them from delivering adult ads when visitors searched for the term "playboy." The suit charged that the alleged practice violated its trademark. Metatags are essentially keywords that Web sites use to get top placement on some search engines. Indeed, companies have brought suit against Web sites that use so-called metatags to list competitors' trademark names, resulting in additional traffic to their own sites. But with the Gators of the world, if you own all the words, someone will eventually sue you," Quinn said. Some search engines won't allow you to do it. ![]() "It's never been conclusively established that you can't buy a competitor's name. Such efforts could rekindle the debate over the role of keywords in Web advertising. That's why most of the books are called 'Marketing Warfare.'" "But if I was a VP of marketing and a competitor owned all my keywords, I'd be annoyed. "People who are looking at competitive companies are the right target at the right time," said Andrew Swinand, media director at Starcom IP, which plans and places advertising. When a consumer is looking at a Honda minivan online, for example, an ad promoting the Dodge minivan typically draws interest because the shopper is in the market for this type of car. Many ad executives say niche opportunities through services like Gator and, an online shopping service, deliver on those needs. The company said it has about 7.5 million consumers.įor their part, marketers appear both drawn to and repelled by the practice of "Gatoring." As the online advertising market has dried up, brand managers have been on the hunt for more effective ways to reach consumers at more cost-effective prices. Gator, which launched online in April 1999, was rated one of the top 25 Web properties in July by Nielsen/NetRatings. "The promise of the Internet was always one-to-one marketing, but nothing has ever proven it out. "We're not whispering to 20 million people through a portal we're directly reaching someone when they're interested," said Eagle, whose company's clients include Sears, Procter & Gamble, Chrysler, CS First Boston, Dell Computer, ESPN, MSN, Mazda and The New York Times Co. The ads can also garner click-through rates in the double digits. Gator's Eagle said the proposition of reaching consumers when they are researching a product on a competitor's site is undoubtedly alluring because it can drive transactions. There's generally no third party between you and the TV. "There's now this third party between you and a customer within the browser, and that's changed the rules. "It's one of the nuances of this medium it's changing some of the parameters that we traditionally thought were sacrosanct," I-Traffic's Quinn said. And because the applications are downloaded with the consumer's consent, the companies say they are standing on firm legal ground, despite numerous complaints from marketing executives. But the reverse is true in many new application services such as Gator. Keyword advertising consists mostly of selling trademark owners the rights to their own names-on a search engine, for example. ![]()
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