Communicating in the new interactive marketspace

Purpose – The proliferation of the internet and world wide web (WWW) in recent years has resulted in the creation of new social and marketing spaces, and a new form of interaction and identity formation. This paper aims to investigate this phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach – Whilst cost benefits and profit derivation from the internet and other hypermedia mediated communication environments have been the focus of much research, the majority of these assessments have left many assumptions unarticulated. Questions of how contemporary communication content and interactivity is different from the singular “one‐to‐many” communication models have been avoided in this research. This paper investigates these deficiencies and goes on to suggest how academics and practitioners can realign their thinking in the light of these findings. Findings – Computer mediated marketing environments provide organisations with a medium that can be used to deliver content in a variety of ways to consumers. This capability highlights the distinction between the information in marketing communication and the vehicle used to deliver the information: that is, content differs from communication. Originality/value – The paper highlights how versatility of the internet as an instrument for mediated communication means that organisations can integrate different modalities of marketing communications into a strategy that combines on‐line and off‐line tactics to meet strategic objectives.