Marketing Pilgrim

IAC/Interactive Corporation, the owners of Ask, saw at 31.6% increase in their net profits for Q1. Net profit increased to $62.1 million (up from $47.2 million in Q1 2006).

Before you start celebrating and announcing that Ask has arrived with its 5.2% marketshare (ref), MediaPost brings us back to earth:

Looking at IAC’s broader online strategy–which includes a growing stable of some 65 Internet brands–Ticketmaster sales jumped 26% to $309.9 million, and accounted for 19% of IAC’s revenue.

Never fear; Ask is launching more TV ads. Then again, when you look at the agency they’ve hired to do them, maybe we should all be afraid (be very afraid). These are the same people who brought the world the plastic-headed King from Burger King and brought Orville Redenbacher most of the way back from the dead. (If you absolutely love Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s work, just ask Seth Stevenson of Slate how it’s been received.)

As Greg Sterling of Sterling Intelligence told MediaPost, “You really have to hit the right notes with a campaign like this.” Good luck.

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