Surprise! Online Ads Work Like Magazine Ads for Retailers

After years thinking of online advertising as qualitatively different from regular advertising, could it be that it often works similarly to print advertising? Possibly, if the results of a new study are to be believed. Analytics firm RapidBlue has determined that Google AdWords campaigns tend to increase visits to retail stores. The company, which places sensors in shops to anonymously monitor customer behavior, studied about 4,800 shoppers in Helsinki. The study showed AdWords campaigns increase "both brick-and-mortar retail [visits] and visitor dwell times by double-digit figures," the firm says.