Marketing communication: principles and practice

Interaction and interactivity
If we apply the concept of conversation to the process of communicating,
we find that interactivity is critical. Communication, as we saw in chapter
two, is not really merely about information sharing. 
Interactivity arises when later exchanges in a process of communicating
are related to the degree to which previous exchanges referred to earlier
exchanges. Consumers engage in marketing relationships and in so doing
co-produce. There is an integral memory in the process, and essentially it is
the consumer who controls the content of the interaction.
Thus, interactive marketing is the 
immediately iterative
process by
which customers’ needs and desires are uncovered and met by the providing
firm (see Bezjian-Avery 
et al
., 1998). Both parties elicit information from
the other in ongoing attempts to align interests and possibilities. The marketer
is able to build databases that allow tailoring of subsequent purchase
opportunities through customized information provision. Interactive
marketing is discussed further in chapter eleven. In traditional advertising,
a predetermined linear presentation is made to expose consumers passively
to product information (for example in a TV advertisement segment or page
sequence of a magazine). In interactive advertising, consumers actively
choose, step by step, their ‘journey’ through the available information. Box
9.5 considers one such major alternative trading channel.
Interactive advertising vs. traditional
advertising
Although there has been excitement among marketers, advertising agencies,
and marketing educators alike, there is no universally agreed view that
interactive advertising is superior in marketing performance than the
traditional approaches to advertising. Bezjian-Avery 
et al
. (1998) compared
consumer reactions to products advertised through interactive media and