• by John Hallenborg , June 18, 2002

Talk about line-of-sight advertising. adReady’s just-launched adPointer is an online device that detects when a user’s cursor is stationary on a web page. It then sends you a message in the form of a postage stamp-sized pop-up ad. The ad appears right next to wherever the cursor arrow is on the screen. The size of the message can vary, according to client wishes, and so can the lag time (three seconds, typically) from when the mouse stops moving. Click on the ad and you go to whichever site the adReady client advertiser has programmed. Move the mouse and the ad disappears.

The device could bring out the impulsive online buyer in anyone. Suddenly, there’s an ad telling us about a 40 percent off sale at our favorite sportswear maker. Or maybe it’s a spot for a candy bar, setting your mouth to watering. Advertisers can choose to have the message or logo pop up elsewhere on the screen, but a user’s eye is most likely to track the cursor arrow, according to Samer Hanini, CEO of adReady.

Given how sophisticated online advertisers have become, the adPointer may be especially successful in delivering lifestyle oriented messages to consumers and businesses alike. Perhaps you leased a particular brand of car almost three years ago, and just as you’re thinking about what to do when the lease expires, POP, the adPointer links you to your local car dealer with an offer of a special deal for current lease holders. Revenues generated by the adPointer are shared by adReady and the advertiser.

Hanini reports that the device originated “about a year ago from thinking about Internet advertising techniques. It is a Java-script code device that gets imbedded in the HTML (display coding),” he says. It behaves just like a banner except that as the user scrolls down the screen using arrow keys, the adPointer stays on the screen.

Permutations for preferences programs such as these are endless, but if you’re the type with a fidgety mouse hand or if you just never let go of the thing, you may elude the adPointer for awhile. But what happens when you get up to go to lunch? Will you return to find your screen plastered with little ads extolling the virtues of every product that has had your name registered to it for the last five years? That is unlikely, for as one moves from one site to the next, pop-up ads will change as well, reflecting the increasingly targeted attributes of messages chosen by savvy Internet advertisers.

Down the road, there will be other applications for the adPointer, Hanini indicates. It can be used to click on pre-programmed instructions, such as food delivery. “The logo of a pizza franchise might pop up and by clicking on it, an order could be placed for delivery to your home or office.”

Opinions about the adPointer are sure to vary, as some will find the device invasive or distracting, while others will promote it as a convenient tool. Internet advertisers will find it attractive as a branding instrument, perhaps by simply displaying a logo. “Soft” messages will probably work best, as screaming pop-ups exhorting users to BUY NOW!!! will most likely fall flat. At press time, Hanini and company should be launching adReady’s first client pop-ups, so be prepared: Pop-ups are no longer limited to VH-1 videos.