RE-WEAVING THE WEB: INTEGRATING
PRINT AND ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS
KimBartelSheehan
Caitlin Doherty
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ABSTRACT
Advertisers are recognizing the World Wide Web as a valuable
addition to their “tool box” of advertising media. However,
whether traditional advertising relates creatively to communication
efforts on the Web have yet to be assessed. This study explores
the extent to which advertisers integrate messages between
traditional advertisements and websites. Since consumers are
exposed to a product or service initially through an “offline”
method, it would appear beneficial for the communication potential
of the offline advertisement to be carried to the online message.
This study investigated the print advertisements and websites of
over 180 advertisers. To do so, the study used principles found in
the literature of Integrated Marketing Communications to assess the
current status of integration between the print advertisements and
websites. The study identified elements that advertisers appear to
successfully integrate between the two media as well as areas
where advertisers need to focus on improving the integration.
© 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and
Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, Inc.
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JOURNAL OF INTERACTIVE MARKETING
VOLUME 15 / NUMBER 2 / SPRING 2001
47
KIM BARTEL SHEEHAN is
Assistant Professor at the School of
Journalism and Communications,
University of Oregon, Eugene,
Oregon.
CAITLIN DOHERTY is an account
executive at Babcock and Jenkins
Direct, Portland, Oregon.