10/15/96 RMIUG Meeting Minutes - Winning on the Web and other Interactive Opportunities

The Tuesday, October 15 meeting of the Rocky Mountain Internet Users Group (RMIUG) featured a presentation called "Winning on the Web and other Interactive Opportunities," by Chris Briggs (briggs@eriver.com), Vice President and Creative Director of Eagle River Interactive (www.eriver.com). There were approximately 85 people in attendance. Art Smoot MC'ed the meeting. Our main presentation began at 7:15.

Eagle River has been around for about 18 months; about 9 months ago it went public (we believe that it was the first of the Colorado Internet firms to do so). The local branch of Eagle River is located in Avon, Colorado. In total, there are over 200 people currently working for Eagle River.

Chris began by defining "Interactivity" as something that requires two-way communication. Traditional media is broadcast -- one to many, where as interactive media is one to one and highly directed. There are two types of interactivity: external to a company and internal within a company.

Externally, as companies are deciding what to do on the Internet, the first thing that look at is their audience. The marketplace looks good: 80% are willing to pay for web-based services, and the average Web surfer's salary is $69,000. However, in order for people to pay for Web-base services, the quality of the service must match the price requested.

Internally, "Intranet" opportunities may be the greatest opportunity on the 'net for distributing information internally for rapid information disemination and instant changes. It is estimated that by 1998, there will be two Intranet servers for every Internet server. Winning customers over with interactive media takes the right balance of the following three components:

• A well formulatd marketing strategy
• Technological prowess
• Outstanding creative design

Keep in mind that there is some reusability of resources, such as graphics and look and feel, for other advertising mediums -- CDROM, sales presentations, and normal print campaigns.

Chris' talk was short and to the point. Following the talk, he ran through several interesting demonstrations, including a Motorola CDROM for new products (highlighting the rapid production of an interactive non-Internet based marketing tool), and the SHARP and Arthur Anderson web sites.

Next month's meeting is our annual ISP-Fest Panel Discussion on November 12th from 7-9 PM at the Department of Commerce in Boulder. Don't miss it!

RMIUG wishes to thank Internet One of Boulder for continued sponsorship of refreshments, NIST for the use of their meeting room, and XOR Network Engineering for maintenance of RMIUG's WWW site and mailing lists.

Suggestions/comments/feedback are always welcome - please email these to rmiug-comm@rmiug.org.

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