Travel Sites Pop Up In Brand Equity, Too
- by Ross Fadner , February 4, 2004
Ironically, Expedia and Orbitz are two of the Web's most prolific purveyors of pop-up and pop-under ads. According to data from Nielsen//NetRatings, 86 percent of Orbitz's total ad impressions for the fourth quarter of 2003 were pop-under ads, while 40 percent of Expedia's total fourth-quarter ad impressions were pop-ups or pop-unders. Only 8 percent of Travelocity's total fourth-quarter ad impressions were pop-ups.
Consumer annoyance resulting from these ads has been the subject of surveys by Dynamic Logic, GartnerG2, Overture, PlanetFeedback, and many others during the last few years. One of the more emblematic findings of users' attitudes toward pop-ups and pop-unders came from GartnerG2, which found in an April 2003 survey that consumers were more annoyed by pop-up ads than spam--83 percent to 77 percent.
If consumers are so turned off by pop-up and pop-under ads and Expedia and Orbitz happen to be two of the Web's most valuable travel properties, why do online travel brands use them? And what is their effect on brand equity?
ACNielsen defines "brand equity" as the distinct effect brand knowledge has on consumer response to marketing activity--the relationship between what a consumer knows about a brand and what a consumer does as a result of that knowledge. The study makes it clear that consumer awareness is the foremost factor driving brand equity, and what better way to be noticed than to have your brand popping up into consumer's faces all the time?
Clickthrough and conversion rates for pop-up ads across consumer categories are 13 to 14 times higher than for standard banner ads, according to recent research by Advertising.com.
"Strong brand messages that resonate with consumers are very important to the online travel industry, and can make a big difference in the success of a travel web site," said Deepak Varma, senior vice president at Nielsen International Research. "Travelocity and Expedia have become household names in online travel through effective advertising."
Widespread use of the Internet for airline travel arrangements has essentially turned air travel into a commodity. As a result, travel brands now place a premium on brand exposure and low-cost fares, rather than customer loyalty and quality service. These factors reinforce online travel brands' decisions to deploy pop-ups and pop-unders as a cost-efficient way to reach today's consumer, who is looking to pay as little as possible for what is now simply a standard service.
Ruth Stubbs, Director of Online Media Services, EuroRSCG, underscores the importance of [brand] awareness in a commodity-driven market like online travel. "Being a late entrant into the space," Stubbs says, "Orbitz used pop-unders extensively to build awareness and traffic to their site. We would assume initial conversion was extremely low, but now everyone seemingly knows about Orbitz because of these units. Are they annoying? Yes. But if Orbitz gives me a good price, then I am as likely to use them as anyone else. Brand equity does not account for much in this market," she adds.
This is still no excuse to disrespect your customers, says Jeff Minsky, East Coast Media Director for OMD Digital. "From a brand equity perspective, I would very much discourage the use of pop-ups and pop-unders on an indiscriminate basis." He adds that while some people may like the cute games Orbitz deploys in its pop-under campaigns, awareness alone doesn't drive sales. "If you want to build a strong brand, and you're using pop-ups, there better be frequency-capping."
Orbitz does, in fact, exercise frequency capping, although it may not cap with the frequency that Expedia and Travelocity do (see Nielsen data above), according to Nancy Lerner, president and chief strategic officer for Otherwise, Inc., who creates Orbitz's pop-under ads. Lerner notes that "developing brand equity is the cornerstone of the pop-under work we do with all of our clients. When the ad is well-conceived, well-designed, engaging, and has entertainment value, we're able to see not only positive transaction results, but also positive results on brand equity."
The bottom line: Online travel brands are doing what they have to do to create brand awareness and impressions in order to generate sales. "Pop-unders can generate brand awareness, while they also can undermine brand equity, but if you are an online travel site, who cares?," said Rich Reigart, Director of Strategic Development, EuroRSCG.
