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1 Advertising Online Engaging Consumers with Web 2.0 The advertising landscape has changed dramatically in recent years, and nowhere is this more visible than online. When the Web was linked with Netscape, the first commercial Internet browser, its adoption as a commu- nication channel was fast and furious (at least as adoption of new forms of media goes), and now about thirteen years later, the result is approxi- mately 70% penetration in the United States. The penetration worldwide looks bleak in comparison at 17%, according to the statistics provided at Internet World Stats, but the figure belies intense penetration in some countries and regions with sparse reach in more developing areas.1 Further, if one considers the Triad, the major trading areas of the globe, encompassing the European Union, Japan, and North America, the figures are quite consistent with the United States’ 70% penetration level. While the Internet’s consumer reach does not yet compete with that of television (which has hovered at about 98% for decades) as a truly general population medium, its coverage well blankets all but the oldest of generational segments and reaches even the elderly in affluent markets. The advertising industry has long sought to go where consum- ers go. Indeed, the industry has followed consumers online, even devel- oping new forms of advertising to relate to consumers in their virtual reality. In fact, the very philosophy of advertising has changed, not