NONE: Re: ONLINE ADS>> Creative
Re: ONLINE ADS>> Creative
BULMASH.COM Sales (sales_at_bulmash.com)
Tue, 10 Jun 1997 01:32:41 -0800
> From: Alan Ferguson <alan_at_5line.com>
> As a matter of fact I don't know anyone who uses the internet who
> likes or responds to banners.
Now you do. I click on ads all the time... well, when they interest
me anyway.
> Designing effective, tasteful graphics is a real challenge given the
> limitations of the medium, and that's considering the whole site. The
> visual real estate you have to provide for banners screws everything
> up for the site designer and the banner designer, who are now enemies.
Since when? A _good_ designer who has the use of banners in mind from
the start can find a way to tastefully integrate into his/her page
designs the blank space that needs to be reserved for them. Any
designer who can't should be painting landscapes by the Seine and
starving for his/her art because he/she doesn't have the temperament
for commercial design.
As for the banner medium. 468x60 is limiting, but it's also
challenging. How do you get someone's attention and communicate a
message without being annoying, misleading or too vague within that
limited physical space and limited bandwidth (as you want the banner
to be a max of 12k)? It's frustrating at times, but when you hit it
on the head it's an enormous sense of satisfaction.
> From my view banners irritate, and with the *technical tricks* even
> more so. The exception to this view is the PONG game from HP, great
> use of the space.
I hated the PONG game, mainly because of the sound effects. I'm trying
to read articles on news.com and I have to mute my computer, then
remember to turn the sound back on when I leave? No thanks. It was
cute ONCE and got old really fast.
[snip]
> The most effective internet banner advertising is delivering a visual
> link that relates to a subject searched, tricks, and spiffy graphics
> aside, that will encourage the highest CTR.
No argument there, but it should be expanded a little on what the link
relates to. If Microsoft is trying to get Mac Netscape users to switch
over to Mac IE, the ad might relate to the browser and computer the
user has rather than the topic on the page. This kind of targeting
isn't tough.
> Commercial web sites are meant to be a lot of things; directories,
> full page ads, brochures, catalogs, sell sheets, brochettes, or just
> fancy business cards. Cross-corporate ad vehicles they're not. Imagine
> getting your L.L. Bean catalog in the mail with a neon colored sticker
> on it advertising something else for someone else, yeah right.
Why wouldn't the PC Magazine site run ads? Why wouldn't
news.com? I can see not running ads for Toshiba on a Sony site. But
there are lots of "commercial" sites that are primarily content
providers and derive income from ads just like newspapers and magazines
in the real world.
> Sorry folks. but you asked. The internet isn't like magazine space,
> banners need to be on the cover, preferrably top and bottom, according
> to Mark Grimes http://www.eyescream.com tips for web advertising, that
> limits everyone.
They can be on the internal pages too, on the side, in the corners.
Bottom right-hand corner, according to one study, is amazingly
effective. They can be in frames, in separate browser windows as an
interstitial, they can be different sizes (468x60 is a standard, not an
absolute). Where one expert says they _need_ to be doesn't seem to
mean much considering all the various solutions various sites are
using. Despite its seeming limitations, this is a very malleable
medium.
[snip]
> Give the people a well
> designed web site that works with *all* browsers, give them a reason
> to be there, give them something and they'll find you and tell they're
> friends and most importantly, come back and do business.
Trust me, it's not that simple. It's a good formula and will
definitely enhance the success of your site. But no site is an island.
Effective communication and effective promotion go hand in hand.
First you bitch about design, then you say make the site work with
*all* browsers. To work with all browsers, you're _direly_ limited in
design options. Hell, some older browsers don't offer full forms
compatibility or SSL compatibility, making transaction processing a
near impossibility. Any good designer designs for the greatest number
of browsers while keeping in mind functionality objectives. The best
rule of thumb, IMNSHO, is to check your pages with 6-8 month old
versions of Netscape and MSIE. If it works the way you want it to,
you're okay.
> I believe a solution will emerge when the banners shrink to icons and
> more companies bent on internet advertising will instead sponser
> entire sites exclusively, till then, designing for the web does not
> compare to print or any of the other traditional media in quality and
> effectiveness.
Few sites will put all their eggs in one basket and accept sole
sponsorship if they can help it because then their survival rests on
the whims of a single advertiser. The TV & radio networks learned that
lesson a long time ago. Once the mediums and advertiser awareness of
how to utilize the mediums increased, the support of a show became
spread across a number of national and regional accounts, allowing the
ratings and demographics to better dictate its fate than a single
advertiser. It's much rarer to see a company name as part of a show's
name (like Texaco Star Theater) nowadays than it was back in the early
days of radio and television. Heck, you might remember that Jay Leno
took some network flack when he kept making jokes about Amtrak after
they threatened to withdraw their ads because of previous jokes. He's
still on the air and kicking butt in the ratings I might add.
Better methods of integrating ads, and better ads as well, will
eventually evolve with the spread of higher bandwidth connections, but
at the same time, there have to be standards because no ad agency wants
to produce the same ad in 80 formats. So far, the banner as it works
now has been the best broad-based compromise for the low-bandwidth
world. Just _my_ .02.
-Greg
http://www.bulmash.com
sales_at_bulmash.com
