Re: ONLINE-ADS>> advertising on free e-mail sites

Ross Wm. Rader (rwmrader_at_idirect.com)
Mon, 11 May 1998 14:08:31 -0500

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William Greene <William.Greene_at_Grizzard.com> wrote:

:It was a dismal failure as a direct response campaign (I tried to
:convince my colleagues that it was a wonderful branding campaign, but I
:don't think they bought it) - less than .25% CTR. Maybe it was because
:Hotmail was being bought by Microsoft at the same time, maybe it was
:because they were switching their ad serving software (they even
:delivered extra impressions!), maybe it was because their rep was
:replace midstream - but it left a bad taste in my mouth for free
:web-based email banner advertising.

When considering placement for any online campaign, I think that it is
critical that buyers analyze not only what the purpose of the site is, but
how the activity generated by the site will impact on CTR's etc.

I have always maintained that advertising in a "heavy-activity" region of
the site is death for CTR's, branding, and everything else that buyers hold
valuable. Why? The user is distracted.

For instance, if I am a Hotmail user, I need to go to the Hotmail site to
read my email. I am purely interested in reading my email until I have
finished the task that brought me to the site. The time when the user is no
longer interested in the activity that the site provides them with is when
they should be nailed with ads. Why? Because they are about to make a choice
to start another task. In this scenario, that can be either clicking on a
well-placed banner or starting the next item on their to-do list.

This applies to all sorts of online activities - search engines, news
browsing etc.,etc.,etc.

IMHO, unless your banners were very carefully place on Hotmail, your CTR's
are very typical.

Ross Wm. Rader "Although we may build the
Director of Marketing technology that we define as
TUCOWS Interactive Limited tools, we must be vigilant that
http://www.tucows.com those tools do not define us."
(416) 233-2151 ext. 335 ----- rwmrader_at_idirect.com -----

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