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Tony Romeo, chairman-North American Interactive Brand Center for Unilever, said package-goods players investing in online retailers may be a possibility, but added: "The real issue for us is would investing in these companies somehow enable us to serve the consumer more effectively, and we don't have an answer for that yet."Netquity's report is more upbeat on the future of online grocery retailing than Forrester has been in the past, Mr. Romeo said, adding that Unilever shares the upbeat outlook.

"Branded Web sites are going to have a limited usefulness," Mr. Romeo said of sites for individual package-goods brands. "Consumers aren't necessarily going to run to these brand temples. They're more interested in having their needs satisfied. The reason we created a joint venture with iVillage on beauty (a yet-to-be-launched site rather than investing an equal amount of money in any one branded site is that we felt it would have a much better elsa peretti jewelry of being a destination site."But he said brand communication on the Web doesn't have to involve a transaction to be of value."There can be value in the communication, just as there's value in any kind of advertising activity."

MET PAYS OFF FOR PHYSIQUEP&G also is working on a beauty site joint venture, Reflect.com. A spokeswoman for P&zG said it has a team of marketing and sales executives who work on developing programs with online retailers."A great example was the recent launch of Physique (haircare products," she said. '"The Internet strategy was part of the initial marketing strategy right from the beginning. In fact, the Internet site went live long paloma picasso jewelry there was any on-air advertising in order to build buzz and word-of mouth on the Internet . . . and I would say we're seeing the payoff definitely."With Sony Nintendo and Microsoft set to flood the market with more console boxes backed by hundred million-plus launches, Sega of America will devote around 30% of its $135 million marketing budget to reposition itself with an Internet play late this year.

By launching SegaNet in late summer, the gaming giant frank gehry jewelry to remove hardware as a differentiator and finally cash in on the promise of online gaming,a brass ring the industry has tried to grab almost since its inception.The site goes live in August, but supporting ads won't roll until Sept. 7 when Sega again will use its sponsorship of MTV's Video Music Awards as a launching pad. Four new ads will push games and its new garner themed ISP SegaNet. The campaign's tag: "Opponents are everywhere."Among the initial games being pushed are Quake III, NFL 2KI and NBA 2KI. Sega will continue to use Randy Moss to push its NFL title and Allen Iverson for the NBA game, while Pedro Martinet will endorse a forthcoming World Series baseball game.Adopting the razor/razor blade philosophy, Sega will give away a Dreamcast system, or $200 to those who already own its gaming console, and sign up for SegaNet as their ISP for two years at $21.95 a month.

"Everyone in this industry is bleeding to death trying to build up an installed base,so we're saying here's a better way to do it more akin to cable TV, where no one pays for the set top boxes," said Peter Moore, the former Reebok marketer who was recently elevated to return to tiffany and COO of Sega from the svp-marketing slot.Moore said the Web business can break even with 200,000 subscribers, adding that the attraction of the site to teen-hungry advertisers plus the revenue from the ISP along with potential e-commerce sales, was a better economic model, aside from giving Sega an unassailable first-tomarket claim for online gaming.

Sega's regular retailers will serve as signup points for SegaNet and the Dreamcast giveaway will give tiffany 1837 the same margins as a normal sale."We're not sure about broadband rolling out generally for a few years, so this will allow us to define some space now"Moore said."Software has always been what drives this market, so the new model we're proposing is about content, not selling as much hardware as you can without going absolutely bankrupt."Despite a successful launch last fall, Dreamcast sales are slowing down. Nintendo's N64 console outsold Dreamcast by a 3-to-1 margin in March, per NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y.