Super Sunday will be awash in dot-com advertising By JIM BROOKS No matter if you're a fan of the Tennessee Titans or the St. Louis Rams, this year's Super Bowl XXXIV will be one worth remembering. In addtion to what most Super Sunday fans hope to see on TV -- a hard-fought and competitive football game -- there are those interesting little slices of broadcast time between the game play that attract so much attention each year. Some of television's most creative, interesting and compelling advertising is aired during those precious and -- at around $2.2 million per 30 second spot -- expensive spots each year. Normally we think of the big name products in Super Bowl advertising -- Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Nike, Apple Computers and more. This year, Super Bowl ad-watchers will see ads from Internet-related -- or ``dot-com'' -- companies they've probably never heard of. Internet ads were a true novelty last year and the year before, with three ``dot-com'' ads last year and just one the year before that. This year you'll be innundated with them during today's game. About a third of the advertisers shelling out the bucks for ad time will be ``dot-com'' companies. According to a recent story in the Boston Globe, Internet start-up Computer.com will spend nearly $1.5 million on Super Bowl advertising. Computer.com plans to be an online retailer of computer systems, but has yet to sell its first product online. Will Super Bowl advertising change that? It may -- if the ad does what it should, which is to get viewers interested enough to remember their easy-to-remember Internet address (www.computer.com). The Super Bowl draws in the viewers -- both those who enjoy the football and those who enjoy the ads -- and it exposure that has always attracted the traditional advertisers, and will attract the "dot-com" upstarts in the future. FREE NET ACCESS. Few of the columns I have written sine 1995 have generated the interest that my recent columns that mentioned free Internet Service Providers. I've tried several of these services, and more seem to enter the fray each week. These services can offer you free Web access because their revenue comes from advertising -- in the form usually of a advertising banner window on your computer screen. The single common thread among all the e-mails I've received about free Internet access has been a single question: ``How well do the free Internet providers perform?'' To date, my experience with the free providers has been positive. To answer that, I've scored the ones I've tried below. • NET ZERO. Net Zero was the first free Internet provider I tried, and I've had their software installed now nearly a year. Signing up for NetZero, as is the case with most free Internet providers, means filling out online forms divulging your name, address, phone number, and answers to questions about your income, shopping habits, etc. These companies are being nosey; they simply plan to use this information to target ads that you might be interested in seeing once you go online with their service. The NetZero software installs quickly. Once you're online, a rectangular window stays open on your desktop. This window displays a series of banner ads targeted to your likes and shopping habits. The connections were good with NetZero. I experienced a few busy signals during peak everning hours, but only had to redial in a few times to get through. Other than that pesky ad banner windows you can move but can't close, I'd give NetZero a ``B+'' for their free Internet access. Visit their Web site, www.netzero.com, for more information. • ALTAVISTA FREE ACCESS has attracted a lot of attention since its debut last summer, and for me it's worked nearly flawlessly every time I've tried it. I would give the service a solid ``A-'' -- with the caveats I've included at the end regarding the value of ``free'' Internet access. To signup head for www.altavista.com. • FREEi. In addition to free Internet access, Freei also operates a pretty impressive Internet portal Web site. It's chock full of links to news, features, lifestyle information and more. The Freei client download includes a required upgrade to Internet Explorer 5.0. If you don't want to upgrade your Internet Explorer browser, you better avoid Freei. The program is available as a file download or can be shipped to you free of charge on CD. My connections using it were solid and trouble-free. I never experienced a busy signal, but there's no way of knowing just how many users they have, or determining their subscriber-to-telephone line ratio. Freei users can customize their own start page, getting the news and info they want everytime they go online. As an ad-supported service, Freei also has a non-closing ad banner window that floats on your computer desktop. My grade for Freei would be a ``B.'' For more information, visit their Web site at www.freei.com. • BLUELIGHT.com. If there's any ``blue-light special'' among free Internet providers, its BlueLight.com. In addition to being a provider of free Internet access, BlueLight.com is Kmart's e-commerce site on the Web. The Internet connections were as good as any; no busy signals or dropped connections -- but be aware that nearly all free providers disconnect you quickly if they don't see activity from the user in the form of mouse clicks. I didn't find the Web site particularly useful or attractive. Of course, I was there mainly to try the Internet connection. My score: ``B.'' For information, visit the Web site at www.bluelight.com. • JUNO was the first ``free'' service years ago with its free e-mail software. Hundreds of thousands of users still enjoy their free Juno e-mail, and the company has since moved into free and low-cost Internet access. The free Internet access plan, like the rest I've reviewed, is advertising supported in the form of an ad banner window on your computer screen. Juno is one of the most recent entrants into the free Internet access field, and I haven't tried their service, though a couple of acquaintenances who use it say it works well. I've avoided giving Juno a score since I haven't tried their Web access first hand. Juno's services -- free e-mail, discount Internet and free Internet access -- are all found on one CD ROM you can request for free from their Web site at www.juno.com. CAVEAT EMPTOR. For all of my tests, the free providers gave me relatively trouble-free Internet connections. The problems showed up after surfing for a period of time. For whatever reason, the technology that the ``free'' Internet providers use for their ad windows didn't always set well with my computer -- a no-name 266 MHz Cyrix-powered machine. Sometimes after surfing for a 10 or 15 minutes, my browser would lock up. Other times my mouse pointer would disappear. There's a transfer of information that occurs frequently between the ``free'' Internet provider and the constantly visible advertising window, and sometimes that data transfer seemed to bog down my browser. This isn't to say they didn't work at all. When any of the free Internet services worked, they worked well. And while I didn't experience many busy signals with any of the providers, I'm not sure this was due to their massive computer phone banks. I suspect it was because they weren't being innundated with free Internet access phone calls. Not yet, anyway. I never experienced any real technical trouble with any of these services, so I can't vouch for what -- if any -- tech support may be available. If you're having trouble with your Internet at midnight on a Friday, it's certainly worth the price you pay to find someone on the phone that can help you. Another issue for many people is privacy. When you sign up for one of these free services, you must divulge a good bit of information about yourself. And from the fine print I've read in some of the services' terms of service, they are tracking the Web sites you visit and what you click on -- solely to help them better target advertising you'll find interesting. Still, that aspect of the services sounds a bit ``Big Brother-ish'' to me. The final disadvantage is that depending on where you live, accessing one of the free services may be a long-distance phone call, which probably negates any savings you might see for getting free Internet access. If you visit the Web sites, check their area code listing. If you're in an rural area, chances are you're probably out of luck. A recent article I read online about free Internet providers said that many folks are turning to them as a back-up connection. Since we've become more and more dependant on being "connected" -- at both home and at our jobs -- having some sort of back-up plan isn't a bad idea. Even a long-distance free provider may fill the bill when you are in a pinch for sending or receiving an important e-mail. Comments and questions about this column may be sent to jbrooks@myoldkentuckyhome.com, or visit www.myoldkentuckyhome.com on the World Wide Web. | HOME |