• by September 19, 2000

As we all well know, there are two sides to every story. Some say the banner is dead; some say it's evolving into something bigger and better. Regardless of where you stand on the banner life expectancy issue, it's an undeniable fact that the format could use some help in almost every aspect from creative to placement strategy.

That's a generality, of course, and some advertisers have already figured out how to make a banner work, but that, apparently, is such a rare occurrence that those banners were deemed worthy of being placed into a museum.

Today marks the official opening of BannerAdMuseum.com, a website created by SNX and devoted solely to the "exhibition and recognition of excellence in the creation and use of banner ads."

BannerAdMuseum.com now hosts a collection of Internet banner ads from around the world by category and strategy, along with background information and tools for evaluating banners.

"Rumors of the death of the banner ad are greatly exaggerated," says Allen Lubow, SNX President. "Not only are they sound marketing tools, but are beginning to mature in treatment and subtlety. The shlock and shock banners are definitely on the way out."

Well... that's one point of view.

The Museum is divided into thirty-one Categories, nine Strategies and six sizes. Visitors may rate banners within each gallery. "It will be interesting to see which banners rise to the top," says Ron Barenburg, SNX Marketing Director, "as the same forces that get web surfers to click on live banners motivate museum visitors to vote for one banner or another. Seeing what works based on direct input from an interested public should help designers create more effective solutions."