Engaging Consumers in Online Advertising: The Central Role of Perceived Value

The Internet plays an important role in many companies ’ advertising strategies. According to Forrester Research, total interactive marketing spending will triple from $18.4 billion in 2007 to $61.3 billion in 2012 (VanBoskirk, 2008). Among the various forms of online advertising, emerging media such as social media and mobile are expected to grow the fastest at 59 % per year. Although these numbers show phenomenal growth of online advertising, consumers ’ reaction toward online advertising did not improve over the years. To the contrary, online ad click-through rates have steadily declined, and some intrusive online advertising formats have stimulated intense negative reactions from consumers (Edwards, Li, & Lee, 2002; Elkin, 2004). The much-anticipated partnership between online advertising giant Google and a top social network Myspace has also produced disappointing results so far (Blodget, 2009). Despite its start as an interactive channel that should draw consumers, online advertising now faces the danger of becoming another “push” media and being rejected by consumers as with traditional advertising. These developments run against the trend of integrated marketin