Chicago-based interactive marketing agency and online media expert Performance Communications Group (PCG) predicts 2008 is the good year for online advertisers given better methods and new tools to make effective campaigns. Here are some of their predictions:

1. Intelligent banner ads will fix what ails poor campaign management. Media buyers who demand more control and disclosure on where, when and why their budgets are being spent will look to a new generation of ad banners that incorporate more intelligence, better multimedia and secure data capture.
2. Online advertising evolves into social advertising. Facebook is leading the charge, despite their early stumble, in what could be the next evolution in online advertising. By uniting advertisers with social network members, Facebook is creating a system in which members themselves promote products. Word-of-mouth advertising, traditionally the best form of advertising because it involves personal recommendations, is difficult to predict and scale.
3. Indirect distribution will dominate video consumption. Video has been a hot topic during 2007, with iTunes and YouTube dominating the direct video distribution market. However, as more companies utilize RSS and video web services, these forms of indirect video distribution will become the dominant means of online video consumption.

Flickr Photo by firefox out of the box

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