Forbes.com, the online division of Forbes Inc., is running an advertising campaign challenging advertisers that ad dollars placed with it will outperform those spent on The Wall Street Journal newspaper.
Called “Take the Forbes.com Challenge,” the effort offers advertisers a refund of the cost of their Forbes.com campaign if the advertising does not live up to its promise.
“Your ad dollars work harder on Forbes.com than in The Wall Street Journal. Or your money back!” screams the headline in a company ad running in trade media.
The challenge is advertised in the print and online editions of Advertising Age, Adweek, BtoB magazine and MediaPost's Media magazine, MediaDailyNews and on www.medialifemagazine.com.
Advertisers participating in the challenge must set up ad test research by running at least $150,000 of advertising on Forbes.com. They should use similar messaging in online and newspaper creative executions.
Also, participants must run comparable spending over similar time periods for the measured online and newspaper campaigns.
Independent researcher InsightExpress will measure effectiveness. Details of the methodology are available on the site at http://www.forbes.com/fdc/advertise.shtml. A copy of the ad is at www.forbes.com/challenge.
Forbes.com runs 1,500 stories daily on its site. The online publication attracts 8 million unique visitors monthly, priding itself on its senior decision-maker audience.
Forbes.com's latest campaign blends its Brand Increase Guarantee positioning with a sales push introduced last year comparing the value and effectiveness of online ads versus those in print media.
Another ad in the fall also touted Forbes.com as the new way to reach big business vs. the old way, namely, The Wall Street Journal. Overall, Forbes.com aims to prove that online ad dollars work as well as or better than print.
