CAIRO: Visitors to MSN Arabia were greeted with a decked out red webpage with entertaining musical graphics and animations of Nokia's latest 5700 XpressMusic mobile. The creative 'takeover' of the MSN Arabia portal was staged by Connect Ads (www.connectads.com), the online advertising unit of Internet solutions provider Linkdotnet. The company conceptualized and executed the innovative advertising campaign for its client Nokia to attract as many visitors as possible. A takeover in online advertising terms is a full sponsorship of a website's homepage, with the entire advertising space given exclusively to one advertiser. The entire webpage takes on the advertising brand's identity for the duration of the campaign, and the result is a creative and visually attractive advertisement that goes beyond the impact of the usual online ad banner or pop-up. The Nokia campaign is the latest effort by Connect Ads to raise awareness among marketers of the possibilities of online advertising, a sector which is in fierce competition with traditional advertising media. The growth is reflected in Linkdotnet's triple-digit growth figures in online advertising over the last couple of years, with its Connect Ads unit reporting 140 percent revenue increase in the last year. "Marketers have realized the added advantages that online advertising has over traditional media, said Karim Beshara, CEO of Linkdotnet. "Not only is it more cost-effective, it also enables a more targeted and more interactive approach, allowing greater room for creativity and audience engagement. And with more user-generated content online, there is renewed interest by the public and deeper understanding by marketers of the power of online advertising. It is therefore vital to innovate and introduce fresh new ways of reaching consumers to maintain their interest. Connect Ads is also working on expanding its network of media beyond its existing self-owned portals and Microsoft's regional MSN Arabia, Messenger and Hotmail sites. The latest addition to the network is Onkosh.com, an Arabic/English search engine launched by Orascom Telecom and developed to fit in with web usage trends of the Arab world and the specific intricacies of the Arabic language. With increasing Internet penetration in the region and the attraction of higher cost-efficiency in online advertising compared to traditional media, the overall online advertising industry in the region is expected to continue its current growth trend. Estimated at $18.7 million (at the end of 2006), online ad spend in the region is expected to grow continually at an annual rate of 50 percent to reach the substantial figure of $142 million by year 2011. The estimated number of Internet users in the GCC and Levant area is 26 million (at the end of 2006).
