INTERNET MARKETING AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR In 1999, the low-budget horror film Blair Witch Project was released to packed movie houses. It shouldn't have happened. As mentioned, it was low budget, an "indie" film, that had absolutely no budget for advertising. But the producers decided to market the film on the as-yet untested Internet. Word about the movie spread like wildfire, leading to the packed theaters on opening day. The Internet was able to generate the buzz, which got consumers excited and encouraged them to tell their friends. But would Blair Witch Project had worked with conventional media marketing? Would consumer behavior have gone the same way as it did on the Internet, to the point that theaters were filled during the first weekend of release? One could suggest that, given the somewhat unique content and the praise the movie was already receiving in some quarters, it might have had the legs necessary to do well. But there's no doubt the Internet helped spread the word. The question we ask here, therefore, is whether consumer behavior is any different when it comes to Internet marketing, versus standard marketing. The media are certainly different, but in this paper we'll explore if buyers behave differently online versus offline. Marketing 101 – The Standard Media Bearer To open the discussion, we'll first point out the differences between traditional marketing and that used for the Internet. Traditional marketing methods, by their very nature, are one-way – the medium involves a