Re: Interesting Twist to BANNER ADVERTISING

From: Adam Strong <adam_at_strongvisuals.com>
Date: Sun 30 Jan 2000 13:27:49 -0600

I have been following this thread on Fred's
"technology" and I wanted to make a couple comments.

Do people really believe that this will stop "unwanted
ads"? IMHO, Filtering DOES NOT work. That is why we all
still receive SPAM, that is why there are hackers, that
is why there are blacklists, etc. Once this technology
is in place, someone will find a loophole. Do companies
really want to waste resources trying to block
advertisers and marketing companies who are bound and
determined to get that message through. A big waste of
resources (time and money) in my opinion.

Also, I have a comment on something I read from the
adbanter.com site
http://www.adbanter.com/big_news/big_news_004.shtml

I don't know the facts on this but Fred was quoted as
saying "This technology still serves their ad," he
continued, "but it will trash it and bring up our ad
automatically. They will still get the hit, which is
all they are looking for."

ARE YOU SERIOUS!! Yeah, all I want as an advertiser is
a hit. I don't want to sell more products, or have
people come to my website. I just want the hit. That is
what I spend my money to get. My ROI is based on the
hit. Get real!!

"It's important to me to get local advertisers on the
Web," Showker says. "Our research says that most
people don't care about banner ads but they would like
to see local businesses and business-owners, people
they went to school with and grew up with, utilizing
the Web like the major companies do. This idea gives
them that chance."

Then build them a website with local content. That is
why you have a local paper and a local TV station.
Plenty of local ISPs have this in mind when they build
local portals.

Your Research!??! Just a FYI, I don't believe anyone
really cares about advertising at all, if you look at
the research. We in the industry usually are the only
ones screaming to keep ads. Ask anyone if they like
advertising in general and the typical response will be
no (unless of course you ask them on Super Bowl
Sunday).

The web is fertile ground for any local/hometown
business to succeed. Your technology concept is the
equivalent to a book store owner tearing out pages of
magazines to put in local ads. When I place ads on my
sites, they are relevant, they ARE content, they are
paid for and the advertiser is reaching the audience
that they want to reach. This is called targeting. This
technology which would strip the ads off and put up
"Joes Hardware" ads is a ridiculous concept. Is their
any targeting in a concept that replaces relevant ads
with ads that maybe more regionally specific?

Taking of my ads hurts the end user as well. The ads on
sites with a niche audience often times ARE content
that can help the user. Not all ads are annoying
flashing or "punch the monkey" ads. Believe it or not,
some ads provide the user with more information or a
place to go that may be even more interesting that the
site they left. Your ads being placed instead of my ads
may be something that your dialup users can relate to,
but it sure has no relevance to the information they
are at my site to find.

"We're not an advertising firm - yet," he says with a
chuckle. My simple advice: If you want to play a new
game, figure out the rules first.

This proposed technological "threat" has done one good
thing. It has made people think about the possibility
that there is a better way. This, however, does not
seem to be it.

Thanks!
Adam Strong
www.strongvisuals.com




Received on Sun Jan 30 2000 - 13:27:49 CST