The Future of Interactive Advertising Viewed Through an IMC Lens

This paper considers the future of interactive advertising (IA). While some suggest that IA is the wave of the future, others suggest that in five years IA will be mainstream marketing and will no longer be a novel concept. In order to examine this issue, the authors consider IA as it serves another important marketing concept, Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC). Thus IA is examined through an IMC lens. After a brief discussion of the definition of IA and the focus on a five-year time frame, three trends are presented with a focus on expected technologies. This presentation is followed with a discussion of IA as it contributes to IMC, and an examination of questions for future research. The paper concludes that IA will likely evolve and expand in form and that this evolution will remain a key in successful advertising and product/service interaction.