As the original online advertising medium – the banner ad – hits 21, I think that it’s time for it to retire ungracefully.
Although 21 is usually the age many of us launch a career, it’s definitely time for the banner ad to call it a day. And I’m sure it won’t be just me who will be glad to see the back of it. The basic ad banner has been getting in the way of people’s web enjoyment for years, while advertisers and publishers still struggle to prove its effectiveness. The first ever banner ad, from 1994, was clicked on by 44% of the people who saw it (on website hotwired.com). Today, research by Trademob suggests 40% of banner clicks are mistakes!
Banner ads are designed to generate a click that pushes people through to a third-party website, in doing so, they are literally being a middle man. Not serving a purpose themselves leads to lazy design, which means they are neither boosting brand awareness nor changing perceptions.
What’s more, they’ve become so highly commoditised, flooding every web page, that context and relevance have gone completely out of the window, so they rarely catch people in the right frame of mind to acknowledge them.
Of course, it’s fine dismissing the banner ad as well past its sell-by date, but what’s the alternative? Well, surely something more sophisticated, relevant and engaging – not to mention more effective and measureable. And this is where content is key.
Think about the best ads around at the moment. MoneySupermarket.com and CompareTheMarket.com are surely up there, using wonderfully inventive and entertaining content to significantly boost their awareness and appeal, despite their products being simple, dry and more than a little dull.
Shifting online, Paddy Power’s approach goes one step further, not only using great content and a tone of voice that resonates with its audience through social media, but also jumping on current trends, such as an upcoming football match, to add context and increase engagement. This means the brand catches people at the right time, in the right frame of mind and in the right way, so that it doesn’t even seem like the brand is trying to sell you its betting service.
Back to the web page, relevant content and context is key, but engagement can be boosted further using adaptive ad units that give the consumer the choice to opt in and spend time with a brand message, rather than it being forced upon them. If these units can also deliver scale, so that once opted in consumers enjoy a full-screen experience, core brand messages can be delivered more effectively and absorbed quicker.
Advertisers need to be educated and have a desire to make the content within an ad unit appealing to a user, while also decluttering the web page to draw attention to the advertisement. This is key to both the user experience and the effectiveness of the advertising. Rather than taking the old-school approach of littering the page with banner ads and taking a little revenue from each one to build up a business model, publishers are better elevating themselves to a premium status by limiting supply and using a single attractive format, which can push up the revenue for the one individual ad unit. Essentially, improve quality, reduce quantity and increase yield.
The user experience will then naturally improve, so there’s a greater chance consumers will engage with the site and become a trusted audience, because they realise the publisher has their viewing interests at heart. The audience also becomes more valuable to advertisers, who get better results as consumers are more engaged and have fewer ads to be distracted by, while the one ad on the page is better quality and relevant to the content they are viewing.
I’m confident that in the near future adaptive technology will also be the answer to the mobile advertising conundrum. Currently it’s difficult to offer an ad solution on mobile that doesn’t deliver from one static banner at the bottom of the page, due to sheer screen size. Adaptive will allow the introduction of gesture-based, and even native in-stream content-focused formats. This means users will have spent time within content, and then be delivered an ad rather than simply landing on a page, with an ad at the bottom when they are simply not in the right frame of mind to engage with it.
When you’re on the go and consuming small bites of content very quickly, how are you expected to show interest in a banner ad that sits at the bottom of a page? The secret is to catch users when they are already immersed in content.
Adaptive, opt-in advertising also makes it easier for advertisers to measure the cost-effectiveness of their investment. Over the years, technology has been applied to banner ads to qualify the value of a click and track the user to finally making a purchase, but it is far from a completely polished solution. The opt-in nature of adaptive ad units means advertisers are guaranteed eyeballs on their ad rather than just assuming or hoping someone will see it, which also gives it an edge over TV advertising, and makes cost effectiveness easier to measure.
So let’s say farewell to the banner ad for once and for all. It’s been great knowing you, but a web future free of banner ad clutter will be a much more pleasant place to be, with more engaged and trusted audiences enjoying cleaner, clearer website experiences. Meanwhile, smart advertising will be an integral part of the content, to the obvious benefit of advertisers.
By Lawrence Horne, UK Sales Director at Say Media.
Originally posted 2 March 2015 Digital Marketing Magazine