Around the Net

Why Display Advertising Sucks

"Online display advertising sucks," says Ad Age contributor Noah Brier. He argues that all the attention on display advertising not working has been focused on "everything but the ad itself" -- that is, the creative, which he thinks has been generally poor. "First off," he says, the creative is "hardly ever aware of the content it is hanging out with. I'm not talking contextual ads here, just saying that display advertising needs to be aware of where it lives. At least it should know what site it's on and what people are there for."

Brier laments that the planning process is so heavily math-oriented that it doesn't matter whether an ad runs across a gossip, sports or gadget site, as long as it fits the IAB guidelines. "Without thinking about where the display is sitting, the creative is left focusing on a totally-out-of-context consumer." This, he says, "pretty much gives up the biggest advantage the web has over other media: the ability to target smaller groups affordably with discrete messages. As soon as we go with a single message across all these sites we're left with a glorified TV ad."

Brier argues that specfic ads should be created for big publishers. "If you know you're designing something for ESPN.com, for instance, you would create a very different thing than if it were for Newsweek." Then, by knowing what site your creative is running on, "we can start to design things that look like they belong a little more."

Read the whole story at Advertising Age »

2 comments about "Why Display Advertising Sucks".
Check to receive email when comments are posted.
  1. Joshua Rex from AP, March 12, 2009 at 10:03 a.m.

    Hallelujah! I’ve been bantering on about this for years….display ads completely suck and have NEVER worked. Existing online display formats are nothing more than a lazy attempt at monetising the Internet. Whacking ‘print model’ ads onto the Internet was doomed to fail. We’ve reached a stage where we think 0.2% CTR is good - in fact almost twice as good as average. Whilst this is an incredibly sad state of affairs - it does lend itself favorably to innovation. As the pressure continues to mount from above and budgets are squeezed, there will be a renewed vigour for accountability, performance and ROI. Let’s face it - online is the only channel with more than a modicum of accountability - it’s about time we used it. New online display models are in the works that are fit for purpose. Once such format is the Open IMU. Among other marvellous things, it’s an ad format that knows where it is and serves contextual to the placement and the user preference. There are a few other tricks to it - but the results are what counts. CTR rates on average of 10%+…this is just the beginning.

    thisisopen.com

  2. Joe Fredericks, March 12, 2009 at 11:15 a.m.

    "Math" and technology enables great advertising - deal.

    This is why the ad exchange model is growing so quickly as insight into media is provided to advertiser and publisher like never before.

    In my mind, effective use of creative is a huge opportunity that can take advantage of the coming sea change as advertisers match and optimize audience messages.

    Stop fighting technology, everyone - and don't worry, your creative is getting more important than ever!

Next story loading loading..