On Sunday December 2nd Pup-Peroni ran the following promotional coupon advertisement in a color insert that ran in millions of newspapers nationwide.

By carefully growing Dogster and Catster into trusted nationwide brands, our advertising relationships provide us marketing channels that are financially impossible for a business our size. Advertisers benefit from promoting their presence on our site because they know that as well as financially benefiting from having a presence in our community, they financially benefit by letting new offline consumers know they are the kind of company that really cares about their customers. Other examples of closed-loop relationships we have deployed with Disney (onsite, offsite), 9-Lives Cat Food (onsite, offsite) and Shutterfly (onsite, offsite).

This Pup-Peroni insert inclusion is simply the next progression of our Integrated Brand Campaign formula which along with our Triangle of Trust approach is rewarding for the advertiser, publisher and customer alike. Not only are we promoting Pup-Peroni around our site to show they are a trustworthy brand that provides on-site benefits to our members, they are welcoming new offline customers by directing them to those same features. Both Dogster members and the new offline viewers of the ad benefit from Pup-Peroni’s on-site features w/o having to buy anything.

An irrefutable fact to anyone working on the frontline of direct-buy web advertising is that short-term direct calls-to-action banner campaigns do not generate an ROI that is anywhere near that achieved by deploying long-term brand brand campaigns. Moving forward straight banner buys will be less and less common and deeper, integrated, meaningful campaigns will be what advertising agencies are expecting.

Brand Campaigns Are a Step-Function

Step 1: Establish a trusted presence.

Pup-Peroni becomes a long-term site sponsor

Step 2: Establish a brand allegiance.

Pup-Peroni launches the Lifestyle Lounge within Dogster to help find local pet-friendly locales near you.

Step 3: Invite prospective customer to directly participate with the brand.

Pup-Peroni will launch a banner campaign on the site offering product coupons to all members.

The beauty of brand campaigns is that not only are they designed to leave a lasting impression on a prospective customer, they prime the pump such that the advertiser can actually execute successful direct call-to-action campaigns once the trust and allegiance bond has formed.

Pup-Peroni understands it’s not about turning an eyeball into a one-time clicker or coupon-user. It’s about turning a prospective customer into a lifetime customer. Pup-Peroni understands that directing offline people to their landing page on our site is good business for them, because it shows prospective customers they are a dog treat company dedicated to the wonder, joy and responsibility of being a dog owner or guardian and thus can be trusted as much.

Campaigns such as this do not happen by chance. They happen because of our co-founder, Steven Reading, who has spent years learning how to bring customers, advertisers and media together into a single trusted space.