Gone is the time that the only way to reach your desired audience was through an expensive ad campaign or by hiring a pricey public relations firm.

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Google, Microsoft, Mozilla and Apple - Opera today joined the ranks of those web giants as the company unveiled the most expensive ad ever created by the company to promote the launch of the Opera 11.10 browser.

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Because the online fashion show featured supermodels and the company paid for an expensive ad placement during the Super Bowl game, Victoria's Secret "had to expect a significant amount of traffic, " said Melissa Bain, an analyst at The Yankee Group in Boston.

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The ad campaign is expensive as well, and Coles says he'll spend what he needs to win.

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Another media buyer said ABC's GMA stole some ad dollars from "Today" during this year's just-completed "upfront" ad-sales process because GMA's ratings are up significantly this year and its ad rates are less expensive than the "Today" show.

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At the same time, the price point of new technologies is dropping fast, allowing tools that were once considered space age and too expensive to be deployed at much lower costs, ad executives say.

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Nevertheless, many of the biggest brands continue to pursue what remains of the mass audiences of old, which is why ad time during the Super Bowl is so expensive.

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