The rapid development of new interactive media such as on-line servicesandtheWorldWideWebhastakenmostconsumermarketersby surprise(Figure 1). Many are struggling to ‘‘guesstimate’’ the likely impact of interactive media on consumer marketing, wondering what they should do and how they should go about doing it. Those who move forward do so with mixed success. Our recent analysis of nearly a hundred web sites of Fortune 500 consumer marketing companies shows that most of today’s interactive media marketing applicationsare uninspiring and,we would argue,fall far short of the potential of interactive media (Figure 2). Yet there is emerging evidence that new media represent both a tremendous MICHAEL ZEISSER is a Principal at opportunity and a serious threat for marketers today. McKinsey & Company, New York. To address this apparent gap, we have developed an integrated perspective on leveraging interactive media for marketing, which we refer to as digital marketing. Our perspective on digital marketing is articulated around four key issues: for whom does digital marketing represent an important opportunity, what elements should be included in the digital marketing program, and how should the digital marketing organization be designed?