"I believe that the Internet is the one true integrator because it links all brand and messaging touch points. Using the analogy of an atom, the Internet is both the nucleus (the core) of integrated marketing programs and an orbiting electron. To employ a different image, the Internet is like Grand Central station, where consumers arrive, depart, and are funneled from node to node on the consumer adoption curve, and it is simultaneously one of many mediums controlling the flow of traffic to the desired destination.

As the chameleon of modern-day marketing, functioning as a storefront, distribution channel, medium, communication device, entertainment interface, fulfillment center, customer service mechanism, and information resource or productivity tool, the Internet is the key to turning the failed promises of integration into reality."

The above is an excerpt from Life After the 30 Second Spot, a book by Joseph Jaffe. Chapter 10 is available for download. Well worth the read, as he examines the purpose the Internet serves tradional advertising media.