I generally dislike hate banner ads both as a consumer and as an advertiser.

The term “banner blindness” speaks to the reality that I believe most of us live in. The more banner ads there are on a website the more likely I will ignore them completely.

The conflict for many sites is that advertising supports them and they are paid by the amount of ad impressions they deliver thus providing an incentive to place more ads. In some cases the short-term revenue gain is at the expense of the long-term audience value.

I personally believe that one of the biggest factors in Facebook’s success is that MySpace had to many ads and users were happy to have an alternative that wasn’t a constant barrage of marketing messages.

Many marketers look at banner ads from two perspectives:

1. the ability for the banner to convert a user to take an action
2. the ability for a banner to raise brand awareness

Both of these are legitimate objectives; however, if you are going to focus on banner conversion (as most advertisers do) you must consider the following:

• Conversion is about convincing consumers to act, first by clicking on the ad
• The average click-through-rate of banner ads is around 0.3% (one click out of every 334 impressions)
• It has been reported that almost 50% of the clicks are coming from 6% of online users and those 6% are not always the ideal consumer

Where marketers make a mistake in developing banner ads is in focusing on the click-through-rate. In doing so they often focus on developing ads the try to catch consumers’ attention through animation, featuring promotions and using words like “FREE”.

And while yes some percentage of users will click and some may convert to consumers it is more a result of a numbers game and less about truly delivering a message of value to your target audience. This creates a scenario where your advertising becomes a commodity as you begin to focus more about the cost of conversion and less about the true value of the consumer you are working to convert.

While the solution is not a total ban on developing banner campaigns, I do think advertisers should ask themselves if they are honestly taking advantage of digital marketing when developing a campaign or if they are just going through the motions of another media buy.

For those who are developing banner campaigns, you should challenge the team to develop campaigns that stand out, not by being more annoying, but by being more relevant through considering both the audience they are reaching and the context in which they are delivering the message.

You must also look beyond the click to other metrics that may not always be as easy to measure, but are more important, including: impact on the brand, message recall and on the actual value of the consumers who click on the banners. This can be done through the proper use of online studies and web analytics and should always be a consideration at the beginning of any campaign process.

JelleS

One of the biggest impacts the Internet has had is in its ability to be a resource for research for consumers prior to making a purchase.

Before the Internet you were limited to advertising, recommendations from friends, the sales person and consumer reports for a limited set of products.

Fast-forward to today when everything is online and there is no shortage of opinion. When we decided to buy a new digital camera we were able to quickly evaluate almost a dozen sites to get a consensus of not only professional opinion but also actual consumer reviews. This has become a common habit for so much of our life.

Some obvious examples include:

• Movies: Rotten Tomatoes
• Christmas gifts: Amazon.com
• Vacations: Trip Advisor

It is not only limited to specific categories of goods and services. This trend will only continue to escalate as more and more consumers have Internet capable mobile phones so that they can even read reviews of the new brand of toothpaste while at the grocery store.

In the past when consumers were unhappy they might return the product or if they are really motivated they would call the consumer affairs number on the back of the packaging. In either case the experience would be limited to the single interaction.

We now live in an era when no matter how much an advertiser spends on marketing, if the product sucks it is easy for the consumer to know it before they decide to purchase.

The only option left is for advertisers to truly listen to what consumers have to say and to be a part of the conversation. This does not mean reiterating the copy from your print ad on message boards where consumers are complaining. It does mean engaging consumers to find out why they are frustrated and what actions can be taken to make it better.

The most effective markets in the age of new media will be the ones that understand what the consumer affairs department has always known - consumers want to be heard.

UPDATE: Seth Godin recently posted as to the importance of good customer service. His comments transcend the role of customer care and should apply to all who interact with our customers.

Armend Krasniqi

We used to have an understanding. The audience would consume media and marketers would use this as a platform to deliver advertising through well-established formats, such as 30-second commercials, full-page print ads and more recently online banner ads.

The issue is that the nature of content is changing.

It is becoming more portable. This has meant that we now have more control over when, where and how they consume media.

It is fantastic in that consumers now have more choice and control over their media behavior; however, with each of these new formats the relationship between advertising and content becomes more diluted.

Examples include:

• Watching TV shows online, through TiVo, and/or through the Slingbox
• Reading news via a RSS reader, such as iGoogle
• Listening to radio online at Pandora or through podcasts on iTunes

Jonathan Handel, a digital media lawyer, does a good job of outlining what he believes to be the reason for content’s devaluation.

The fourth point he makes is that, “…most new media business models are ad-supported rather than pay per view or subscription. If there’s no cost to the user, why should consumers see the content as valuable, and if some content is free, why not all of it? True, ads impose a cost in the form of user attention, but many online ads are easily ignored, and, today, even television advertisements can be skipped using TiVo.”

I believe that over time this shift will have an ever-increasing impact on all media, not only changing the nature of how people consume media, but also changing the nature of why people create media.

Already many people who create content do not do so as a means to generate ad revenue. Those at the forefront of this movement include musicians who make more money from selling tickets to concerts than from selling albums. The media becomes a platform not to serve advertising, but to start a more engaging relationship that provides value beyond ad dollars.

This will also mean that advertisers have to find other methods to connect with consumers that go beyond the standard ad formats. Instead of working to insert their message in other’s content they will work to create their own content that is relevant to their brand and for consumers.

There are lots of great examples out there. One that stands out is inthemotherhood.com from Suave and Sprint. It delivers on the brand messaging while being entertaining.

This should be a call to all marketers to begin to look at how we can connect to consumers by being part of the conversation and not just as the ones who subsidize it.

Katie Tegtmeyer

As the term Web 2.0 has been for the last couple years I predict that starting this year marketers yearning to show how digital savvy they are will start throwing out phrases such as, “…living in the cloud…”

What is “the cloud” you ask? The initial meaning is in reference to when an application and data are stored online and accessible from any device with a browser.

Some examples include:

Like Web 2.0, the references to cloud computing started first with those in the technology industry in an attempt to label a set of Internet based services that share a common solution. Also, like Web 2.0, I believe that cloud computing will take on a larger meaning that goes well beyond its initial intention and begin to represent a reference to the lives we lead online.

• My friendships on Facebook, in the cloud…
• My photos on Shutterfly, in the cloud…
• My online journal on Blogger, in the cloud…
• My online TV watching on Hulu, in the cloud…

As marketers begin to work on how to connect with consumers who are ever increasingly living their lives in the digital space we will have to map these activities against our target demographic.

As such, I can see a future where the creative brief includes the term, “Cloud Profile” under the target audience. This would allow the creative, media and account teams to develop new marketing concepts that work to connect with consumers in ways that recognize this shift in behavior.

Maybe some day in the future the term, “head in the clouds” will have a whole new meaning.

VSZ

Inspired by a need for an outlet, a chance to collaborate with others and the desire to understand blogging from the other side of the equation. The goal of AdverThought is to become a place to capture insights as it relates to the changing nature of advertising.