John Kricfalusi, best known for his successful but short-lived Nickelodeon series Ren & Stimpy, wants to combine animated pitchmen and direct sponsorship to produce Internet-based cartoon commercials. He operates an animation production company called Spumco, where he heads up a team of six other artists.

Based in Glendale ca, Spumco has produced animated tv commercials for Old Navy, Nike, Barq's Root Beer and most recently Wagwell's Dog Treats. But Kricfalusi's goal is to use the Internet to provide a new kind of advertising.

"My idea is to go back to the early days of television or radio (sponsorship) relationships and do entertaining commercials online," says Kricfalusi. "The commercial can be pitched to the audience by the star of the show."

The idea is essentially an enhancement of banner advertising. While many banner ads use some form of animation, Kricfalusi proposes a fully-animated Internet spot containing a link to a sponsor's website. Kricfalusi describes a sample version of the ads he shows to potential sponsors.

"We have two kids eating cereal. When they get the prize out of the box it turns out to be a star cartoon character, Wally Whimsy, who has his own show online," says Kricfalusi. "Clicking Wally takes you to the sponsor's page which presents the Wally Whimsy cartoon show."

Kricfalusi says one three-minute animated spot would cost about US$80,000 to produce, so one advantage of his concept is affordability. But this model offers an answer to a more basic problem faced by online advertisers and retailers - how to get consumers to their sites. According to Kricfalusi, the best way to attract consumers to a retail site is via association with a popular character. Kricfalusi says this works well when combined with the clickable hyperlinks inherent to the Internet.

"You can go direct from the show right to the sponsor's page," says Kricfalusi. "It's like having a chauffeur picking you up at your house in the middle of your favorite show and taking you right to the store that wants to sell you something - you can't beat that from a sponsor's point of view and it's never existed before."

The use of cartoons to promote products aimed at kids is not a new development. In the 1960s, cereal companies sponsored Jay Ward cartoons like Rocky & Bullwinkle, and Hanna-Barbera shows such as The Flintstones.

Online marketers are not opposed to updating the idea for the Internet, says Rishad Tobaccowala. Tobaccowala is the President of Starcom IP, the digital communications arm of Starcom, the media buying division of Leo Burnett Company.

"The idea is that sponsoring cartoons on the web or online applications is no different than sponsoring cartoons on Saturday morning," says Tobaccowala. "But I have no doubt that you basically have to say "this is an advertisement.

"There are opportunities clearly, but it also means there are certain legal and other issues that we have to be concerned and careful about."