e internet has proven to be both more effective and more convenient. A traditional focus group normally consists of about 10 people, while an online group can reach thousands of participants. The DiscoverWhy group is one such group that holds online polls and focus groups for various companies. In order to test the effectiveness of Lycos.com’s new advertising campaign, “DiscoverWhy polled 500 people online through its patented system, which collects consumers' responses as they watch commercials. With a mouse, participants move a tab on a sliding scale to rate a commercial from one to 10. Commercials are streamed via Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Player software.” (AdAge.com, Riedman) While a normal focus group usually can poll a few participants at a great cost to the marketer, “DiscoverWhy, on the other hand, can poll 1,000 or more people through the Internet and reach them when it's convenient for them.” (AdAge.com, Riedman) Lycos found the results very useful, and threw more weight to the commercials that fared well, while scrapping or reducing the use of less favorable commercials.The Internet group AdCritic.com claims that online focus groups are far superior to traditional groups. “Respondants are more honest in their responses since there is no one looking over their shoulder, no one who is over-bearing in the group to lead or overpower their opinions, and no one watching from behind a 2-way mirror.” (AdCritic.com) The site offers Internet users digital versions of commercials seen on TV, and asks users to rate the commercials in return. They offer marketers the chance to research the effectiveness of their ads in an inexpensive and effective format. AdCritic.com has been one of the most popular sites on the Internet, partially to do with the enormous popularity of advertisements run by Budweiser, among others, and an overwhelming response from Internet users to find digital c...
