The prospect of tempting clients like Adidas, Coca-Cola and McDonald's to allocate a share of their ad budget to iTV is a compelling prospect. And the rise of the red button as a cost-effective marketing tool is another reason why digital agencies are looking so seriously at the sector.

Building up iTV's reputation

The Web built its reputation on accountability and return on investment, in the same way that iTV first crept onto media schedules as an inexpensive direct-response mechanism. Both have the ability to generate valuable audience data while building brand awareness for relatively little initial outlay by the advertiser.

We're now actively presenting the importance of iTV advertising to all our clients because we think it'll be a significant aspect of the marketing mix going forward. At the moment, pressing red is just the entry level and can sometimes be underwhelming. But it's important we remain committed to the medium as it develops.

Digital agencies that already offer iTV ad solutions alongside their existing Internet expertise believe that the red-button sector has outgrown the limited reach of specialist shops. These larger integrated outfits argue that their strength lies in being able to translate a creative concept consistently across a variety of emerging digital platforms like iTV, broadband Internet and handheld wireless devices. We're saying to clients that they no longer have to go to dedicated iTV agencies to create an effective red-button campaign. The sector has matured to the point where iTV technology and expertise are available to most companies with a decent enough digital offering.

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