CNET Campaign Pitches to Ad Industry

CNET Inc. said it launched an advertising campaign “that uses humor to set the record straight about its dominant position versus its competition in online technology coverage.”

The business-to-business campaign, which is targeted to the advertising community, cites syndicated research data showing CNET ahead of competitors ZDNet, IDG, and CMP in terms of audience reach. Spending was not disclosed.

The first ad shows a man with the upper body of a weight lifter and disproportionately skinny legs. The copy next to the upper body reads, “Ziff- Davis in Print,” while the copy next to the lower body reads, “Ziff-Davis Online.” The body copy admonishes advertisers to “Go with the biggest audience online. Just make sure you know who that is.”

The new campaign includes both print and online media. The first of three planned print ads appeared in Advertising Age, Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek and The New York Times.

The online ads are running at AdAge.com, ClickZ and the Iconocast newsletter, among other outlets. The ads were developed by the San Francisco office of Saatchi & Saatchi, CNET’s agency of record.

CNET said it led ZDNet in audience reach with 8.4 million unique visitors compared to ZDNet’s 7 million, as reported by RelevantKnowledge and 4.3 million unique visitors compared to 3.7 million for ZDNet, as reported by Media Metrix. According to @Plan’s Winter/Spring Report for 1998, CNET had 11.3 million unique visitors, compared to ZDNet’s 8.1 million.