I just don't know which half. Direct-marketing principles have been applied to all forms of online advertising. It's that simple. The Web was new, different, and exciting. It seemed like everything should be different.
Ads are ads.
Magazines still need readers. Catalogs are catalogs, whether we access them online or get them in our mailboxes. No, at least not right away. In the meantime, as we're all finding out, the basics still apply. Spark discussion in ClickZ's Forum.