Press Releases

The Wall Street Journal Online Announces Results of Interest-Based Targeting Advertising Campaign Implemented for American Airlines

Results of New Case Study Focused on Behavioral Targeting Shows Overall Success for the Campaign

New York (May 18, 2004) — The Wall Street Journal Online at WSJ.com, the largest paid subscription news site on the Web, today announced results of the Interest-Based Targeting (IBT) advertising campaign it implemented for American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR). Results of the Dynamic Logic study, which focused on behavioral targeting for this large-brand advertiser, revealed improved brand metrics against the key target audience of business travelers and improved audience composition efficiencies.

"American Airlines is proud to work with The Wall Street Journal Online to implement this successful campaign, and equally pleased to be leading the travel industry with pioneering online-advertising techniques," said Steve Schlachter, advertising manager at American Airlines. "When we advertise on the Online Journal, we now know that we are reaching savvy business travelers with our key messages."

The results revealed, among other things, that:

1. Audience composition can be greatly improved through Behavioral Targeting.
   • The overall campaign's audience composition of business travelers was improved by 115%.
   • Against especially high-frequency business travelers, the audience composition increased by 145%.
2. The benefits of targeting can be quantified through improved brand-metric scores.
   • All of the brand metrics measured against this more targeted audience showed improvement.
   • In some cases, message association for targeted business travelers increased as much as 218%.
3. The benefits can also be quantified through improved cost efficiencies.
   • When evaluated on a Cost Per Target Audience metric (ad rate/qualified audience reach), IBT was 25% less expensive when compared to a basic campaign targeting business travelers, and 43% less expensive when targeting heavy-business travelers.

"TM Advertising is continuously looking for ways to leverage its online expertise on behalf of its clients," said James Hering, senior vice president and director of Interactive Marketing, TM Advertising. "The agency's relationship with the Online Journal enabled us to provide American Airlines with key insights into behavioral targeting."

With IBT, advertisers such as American Airlines can target specific advertisements to Online Journal subscribers based on their site-usage characteristics, and reach groups of subscribers who have shown an interest in a particular area of content over time.

"Interest-Based Targeting allows large-brand advertisers, such as American Airlines, to target more precisely the audience they are trying to reach with the message they are trying to convey," said Randy Kilgore, vice president of advertising, The Wall Street Journal Online. "This type of targeting greatly enhances the marketer's messaging impact. It's like the difference between a home run and a grand slam."

The interest-based segments for American Airlines are based on subscribers who are defined as business travelers, such as those who read Scott McCartney's "Middle Seat" column on the Online Journal. These subscribers are added to a "business traveler" targeting segment. American Airlines can show relevant advertising impressions not only on that section, but also on other areas of the site visited by the business traveler. As a result, its target audiences can be exposed to a message sequentially over a set period of time.

Revenue Science Inc.'s Behavioral Targeting service powers IBT, which complements existing targeting technologies, such as demographic and contextual targeting. The IBT model combines standard Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) formats with unique data analysis and customer-intelligence technology to create an optimum brand-building environment. IBT is available on the Online Journal, Barron's Online and the Online Journal Network of sites: CareerJournal.com, OpinionJournal.com, StartupJournal.com, RealEstateJournal.com and CollegeJournal.com.

About The Wall Street Journal Online

The Wall Street Journal Online at WSJ.com, published by Dow Jones & Company (NYSE: DJ; www.dowjones.com), is the largest paid subscription news site on the Web. Launched in 1996, the Online Journal continues to attract quality subscribers that are at the top of their industries, with 695,000 subscribers world-wide as of Q1, 2004.

The Online Journal provides in-depth business news and financial information 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with insight and analysis, including breaking business and technology news and analysis from around the world. It draws on the Dow Jones network of nearly1,700 business and financial news staff-the largest network of business and financial journalists in the world. The Online Journal also features exclusive content, including interactive graphics on business and world news, and online-only columns about the airline and automotive industries, personal finance and more.

The Online Journal offers two industry-specific editions: the award-winning Health Industry Edition and the Media & Marketing Edition. The Health Industry Edition offers authoritative analysis, breaking news and commentary from top industry journalists. The Media & Marketing Edition is designed for professionals in the advertising, marketing, entertainment and media industries. Subscribers to both online editions also get access to the full content of the Online Journal.

For the second consecutive year in 2003, the Online Journal received a WebAward for the "Best Newspaper Web site" and was also cited by Yahoo! Internet Life magazine as the "Best Business News" site (2002 & 2001).

The Wall Street Journal's Online Network includes CareerJournal.com, OpinionJournal.com, StartupJournal.com, RealEstateJournal.com and CollegeJournal.com.

Media Contact for Dow Jones:
Nicole Pyhel
Dow Jones
609.520.4057
nicole.pyhel@dowjones.com

Back to Top

Back to Press Releases