Quick… Name some great online display ads you remember. Come on. Got any? It’s tough, isn’t it?
Unlike television, online advertising has been plagued by poor creative, consumer ad blindness and a cultural disdain for interruptive advertising. The result has been poor consumer ad recall, a drop-off in online banner advertising, lower publisher revenues, and unanswered questions of how to overcome these issues.
The Online Publishers Association – a trade organization representing content providers — thinks they have found the solution. In a new initiative unveiled yesterday, they argue that the answer lies in making larger ad units. The initiative casually mentions the need for inspiring creativity and enhancing interactivity but that is all window dressing for their simple call to just yell louder.
Say wha?
Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad idea? In an age where the majority of site users say they would stop visiting specific sites due to in-your-face and over-the-top ads, can this really be the best solution? Are publishers and advertisers that out of touch with banner blindness studies and consumer viewing preferences that their basic answer is to “go big”?
I argue the answer lies less with size and more with relevancy, context and innovation. The best display ads tend to be the ones that organically align with a site and their consumer — like this GameSpot / House of the Dead example — or ones that innovative and entertain like this Apple / The New York Times example from last year.
Entertain and fit in with your target consumer and your banner ads will make sense. Increasing unit sizes for the sake of grabbing attention will fail. As in love, it’s not how big your pencil is but how you write your name.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }