Intrusive ads

More and more companies are getting aggressive in placing their ads in different places. This is because these ads are everywhere, people have started to avoid them. The companies have in turn become even more aggressive in their advertising techniques, which results in people who hate ads to run farther away. What the ad companies need to realize is that showing ads everywhere does not work, even if those ads are creative. Why? Because most ads are intrusive and waste people's time. Non-intrusive ads are better at marketing a product or a service.

I run into intrusive ads all the time. A good example of an intrusive ad is on Yahoo Games. Whenever I go into any game room, I am taken to a full-page advertisement where I have to click a “Continue” link to proceed to the actual game page. That is an intrusive form of advertising, disrupting my normal browsing experience where I am forced to see an ad before I am allowed to play any game.

An intrusive ad takes time away, even when I am agreeing to play a free game. These intrusive ads also makes me go through extra steps before I am able to get to the things I want. Therefore, an intrusive ad is very annoying and not good in my opinion.

While advertising is getting more creative, it is also somehow getting more intrusive. Displaying creative advertising that is not intrusive helps build a reputable brand in the long run. Advertisements are going to be around for a while, so why not make them simple, easy and non-intrusive for the customer? If you do not push your product in ways that disrupts the lives or habits of customers, you are respecting your customer.

Put your ads in places where the only reaction a customer may have is “Hmmm, that is cool“, instead of a reaction that shows frustration of any sort Respect others and find out what is important to them and what kind of actions could help and hurt them. People will respect you for that by listening to what you have to say.

So my friends, what is your opinion on intrusive ads?
You are welcome to share your experience with us by leaving a valuable comment.
Thank you.

“I am not sure my purpose of advertising online?”

Yes! You hear me. “I am not sure why do i advertise online.” Does that sound familiar? =)

We talked about integration and performance of different media formats, but, most importantly, purpose. For example, what is the purpose of television? Awareness. The purpose of print (while it’s still around)? In-depth and qualitative. The purpose of radio? To connect with shoppers. And the purpose of outdoor advertising? To remind people who are in a position to shop. I know, this all seems simplistic.

But what about online advertising? Surely, search advertising’s purpose is to capture shopper intent. It does so extremely well, providing more economic visibility than any other advertising medium. It has made Google one of the most valuable media companies in only a few short years. In a book that i once read, What Would Google Do? As Mr Jeff Jarvis point out that it built a business on managing abundance rather than controlling scarcity. In a sense, it also created scarcity in that there are so many people who search on any given word in a day. The book logically captures the massive changes the internet is effecting in our culture, in marketing, and in advertising. But what about the rest of online advertising, such as display?

References:

Google (online). Retrieved, 26^th Jan 2009. URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google

And that is precisely the problem. So far, with the exception of search, online advertising has failed to find its core purpose. And to characterize the rest of online advertising as a single entity wrongly diminishes the challenge, because there are many online ad formats. How people interact with and use online advertising? The problem is that basic, and we need to better understand it before we can even begin to think about measuring and connecting it to business performance goals.

Lastly, we arrived at the ultimate cliché: if you don’t like online advertising, it is easy! So easy - to condition yourself to ignore it! I used to think that AdBlocker Plus, the browser plugin that removes all ads from your Web experience, was a potential threat to the advertising business. I realize now that it is only a red herring because the human brain subconsciously takes care of the problems of irrelevancy, clutter and waste for us — most of the time.

References:

Adblock Plus: Save Your Time and Traffic (online). Retrieved, 26^th Jan 2009. URL: http://adblockplus.org/en/

Result of analysis

In previous posts, we discuss about various type of online advertising such as banner ads, pop ups ads and also interstitial ads. A few bloggers have left some comment about this topic. Majority of them feel that online adverting is annoying but creative ads would catches their attention too. Some said that online advertising is on the rise while print advertising is near extinction and interactivity became main reason of the popularity of online advertising.

Besides that, wallpaper ads, floating ads, expanding ads and video ads are quite popular in online advertising. Majority commented these ads are more fun, unique and interesting compared to print media that no longer exciting but just a piece of paper with tonnes of advertisement. Moreover, they hope Malaysia would improve and continue to create more attractive online ads. However, some blogger dislike floating ads and video ads because it takes time to access into a web page, they prefer pop ups or pops under ads.

A blogger commented she prefer online ads than TV ads because of disturbance when watching a favourite drama and needed to switch channel. There are less people paying attention towards TV ads now a days as majority already started to spend more time online. In fact, user could multi-tabs and got to see the ads at the same time.

Let's see our polls result for this week. Our poll question is ''Which of the following you think would be the leading form of advertising in future?" According to votes, 42.1 percent voted Internet (Online), 31.6 percent voted TV, 26.3 percent voted Newspaper and no one voted for Magazines. This result shows that Internet (Online) could be the leading form of advertising in future follow by TV. Below is chart showing the analysis.

Internet Advertising outshine Print Media

Ethan Zuckerman, was a co-founder of Tripod.com, a web hosting enterprise, has included research into Global Media Attention. I once come across a newsletter received from Media Post Publication that some issues he mention, mentality engraved in me. Vague impression of the articles, however, i remembered a sentence clearly. He worries that the economics of print advertising in the past are unsustainable. I thought, he is right! Online has exposed the lie – the fraud, if you like; the fantasy, if you prefer - of print advertising.

References:

Wikipedia (Online), Retrieved, 23^rd Jan 2009. URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethan_Zuckerman

That fairy tale is in effect since that every reader of a publication, not just buyer but alleged reader, is exposed to every ad. So every advertiser is charged for every reader of every ad. Sounds great while it lasted eh? =)

But the internet deflates that illusion because on the web, advertisers pay only for the ads a reader sees. And, in many cases, we refer that as - clicks on. So online, a paper or magazine can no longer charge every advertiser for every reader. This has exposed the essential inefficiency of print advertising (like TV advertising that is ignored or skipped). Nonetheless it shows the inherent efficiency of online advertising. Nuffnang.com is Asia’s first and leading blog community, which platform allows advertisers to serve graphic or video based advertisements onto the thousands of local blogs that signed up with them.

References:

Cheo and Tiah, Nuffnang Malaysia (Online), Retrieved 23^rd Jan 3009. URL: http://www.nuffnang.com.my/

I always wonder. If online advertising is more efficient and measurable, why is it not worth more than other media advertising? Probably the trend is just not sizzling hot yet and scarcity, that is why. In print, the proprietor owned one of the outlets whereas there were only so many thousands pages and eyeballs. So, media sets the price! Marketers have to be sure with their direction when it comes to internet marketing in order to catch the right market and to be quantifiable.

Then, there are some really cool advertisements:

• -       U Mobile Grapes
  
• -       U Mobile - Teh Tarik
  
• -       U Mobile - Henna
  
• -       U Mobile - Breakout
  

These ads are just so chilly, fresh, breezy, and nippy, that I couldn’t stop laughing. Something superior!! You missed it on TV but i watched it zillionth time in you You Tube! Heh =P Please do not be lazy to click on the reddish hyperlink above. I promised you won’t be disappointed.

So, Internet Advertising outshines Print Media. Do we see eye to eye? We love love loves your comment!! And Happy Lunar “NIU” Year everyone!!

 

TV ads VS Online ads

Do you skip the TV ads often whenever you are watching a drama or a show? I strongly believe you do. Now a days, audiences in front of the TV tend to switch to another channel when it comes to a TV ad. These people are so used switching channel to skip TV ad that it became a habit naturally. Thus, online advertising has become more popular among the advertisers as an alternative to replace TV ads.

In this world of computing, computers and internet can be considered as a necessity for those whom lives in urban area and big city. People spend more and more time online than watching a TV program. Due to that reason, more advertisers prefer to advertise online than on TV which is so costly for just less than a minute.

Many marketers, as well as clients, are allocating as much as 20% of their advertising budgets to online marketing. These clients are interested in how online ads can affect a brand image comparing to TV advertising.

TV ads are long, disruptive and easily avoidable whereas majority of online advertisements is concise and must be watched before the content was showed whether it is a banner ad on a website or a mini-commercial.

National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American television network conducted an online survey of its NBC Rewind viewers says that internet ads elicit higher brand recall than those on TV. They found that the ads are more entertaining, engaging and, most importantly for the viewer, less disruptive.

References:

Internet Advertsing VS TV Advertising, Atelier(Online), Retrieved 22nd January 2009. URL: http://www.atelier-us.com/advertising-and-marketing/article/internet-advertising-vs-tv-advertising

Online ads

Source: (http://bbdigital.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/abc_com12.jpg)

TV ads

Source: (http://www.2dayblog.com/images/2007/september/w580_ad.jpg)

In contrast, the good thing about advertising on television allows you to show and tell wide audience about your business, product, or services. You can show how your product or services works and how it is packaged. With this, potential customers will know what to look for at the point of sale. The multiple touch points often effectively influence consumers' purchasing behavior.

According to a recent study by Ball State University on the media consumption habits of average Americans, television remains the leading medium in most U.S. households despite the Internet's steady rise in popularity over the last few years. On average, the general population spends over four and a half hours a day in front of the TV, making TV watching one of the most common modern leisure activities. Do you think also television advertising is one of the most powerful form of advertising?

References:
Television Advertising Pros and Cons, All Business (Online), Retrieved 22nd January 2009. URL: http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing/advertising-television-advertising/2592-1.html


Feel free to discuss more about this issue with us. Do leave your comment.

Wallpaper ads, Floating ads, Expanding ads and Video ads.

Ever since the augmentation of technolagy, we see a wide catogaries of ads. Some of them which we mention before (interstitial ads, banners and pop ups ads) or others, involved heaps imagination, vivid colors, good page layout, so it looks more interesting. Typical Adobe Flash is used to design advertisements these days. 

On last post, we discussed about interstitials, banners, and pop ups / under ads. So this post, it will just be a brief run through of wallpaper, floating, expanding and video ad.

Wallpaper ads forms background of a webpage.

Picture above is an online wallpaper ad that feature a brand of some Streets Skateboard Collection.

source: http://www.calstreets.com/site/components/com_fpslideshow/images/frontpage_volume8_maniat.jpg

The ads that floats on screen are called floating ads. It looks very much similar to pop ups ads, but definitely more infuriating. It "fly" anywhere around the page for 5-30 seconds, obscure view of the page you are trying to read, and often block mouse input. Get on your nerves ain't it? haha ;)

However, as i was talking to some friends yesterday, i realized a fact that for several reasons, floating ads are appearing more and more frequent.

• They definitely get the viewers attention. Many now have sounds. Like TV ads, they "interrupt" the program and force you to watch them. They can take up the whole screen. Therefore:
• From a branding standpoint, they are more powerful than a banner ad or sidebar ad. They can hardly be ignored.
  
• They have a high click through rates.
  

An image of floating ads. And i know what to name it - Did you suddenly hate Starbucks now? Lame-O-Me.

If you would like to see more examples of floating ads campaign, see EyeBlaster.com .

source: http://loosewire.typepad.com/blog/starbucks.gif

Advertisements which are displayed in a video form on a website is known as a video ad.

Image above displaying video ad for a telecommunication company.

What I find interesting is that clicking on the ad does not take you to the source. There is no "on click" event for the actual video. Your only recourse is to close out the video and then click on the links from the non-video ad.

source: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3293/2363124745_66477ea2bf.jpg

Lastly, An ad that enlarges and changes the contents of the page being displayed is known as expanding ad. Expanding ad panels are user-initiated, and can contain detailed info about the advertiser  & the product inventory.

Nissan Sentra's expanding ad.

Product description, multiple photos to accompany product descriptions, links out to details page, email seller, maps or floor plan, are the common advertising tools that is frequently use in an expanding advertisement. It is pretty much difference compared to wallpaper ads that is rather just focusing on the product image itself. An expanding ad has much more message that can be successfully deliver to consumers.

source: http://www.lostremote.com/images/grab_abc_ad.jpg

So readers =) all and all, which online ads category do you like the most? Is floating ads a real lil monster or pop-ups?

Let me know what you think! 

Na'night!!

Various type of Online Advertising

I believe everyone who uses Internet to go online has come across the ads on the web page. Interstitial Advertising is one of the various type of online advertising. What is Interstitial Advertising? Interstitial Advertising is a page,banner, or video that is inserted in between the normal flow of editorial content on a website for the purpose of advertising or promotion. The browser is compelled to view the ad before the desire content is available. In other words, you are pretty much to force to look at the ad while waiting for the content to be loaded. It is much like the commercial ads that take place when you are watching a movie. You have no choice but to take it or leave it. Agree?

The most common type of online ads you can found easily are banners that placed vertically or horizontally on the web page. Have you ever click on some of these banners? Perhaps you might not when you just glance through it. As for me, it still flashes through my mind although just a glance. This is how the ads captures the customers. In this way, the constantly appearance of the ads makes me remember and eventually create brand awareness. In the long run, the ads has become effective for me because i am aware of such brand or services.

Source : http://aliandesign.com/files/bannerads.png

If you notice, you can also see other more effective ads such as pop ups and pop unders that constantly appear when you first open a particular web page. These are so called intrusive ads. I think intrusive ads will be more efficient as compared to others as they are more noticeable. Whenever I open a particular web page, they pop up in front of my screen and usually are flash animated. It catches my attention as it gain bigger revenue than standard banners. However, this type of ads would be irritating sometimes.

Source : http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/uploaded_images/ads-720184.jpg

What type of online advertising attracts you the most?

You are welcome to comment and discuss with us. =)

SugarBunnie wave "HI"

The world, in the best circumstances, marked by intense competition, uncertainty, and instability, is not an easy place, and the developing countries were not always doing the most they could to advance their own well-being. But, i became convinced that the advance countries, through the advent of Internet has became young, feisty, funky, sexy, that is how i see it!! grin* To be irrevocably in love with an 'Internet', could there be possibilities of misuse? 

Hello readers, sunshine!! You are now reading a web-blog uniquely design for everybody to share their thoughts or even debate with us on the Pros and Cons of Online Advertising!!

Thanks to the advent of internet, advertising through the World Wide Web has grown to be one of the most common and popular form of marketing for marketers to promote a brand and create awareness. Personalizing a webpage has became really easy for individuals whereby they can reach website visitors and have direct interactions or comments, advertise or even provide details about a product or services, hence, it can be a very useful way of PR.

My earlier academic work has led me to the basic knowledge of online advertising. The common definition are usage of internet as an advertising medium where promotional messages appear on a computer screen. Since the communication software reveals sufficient information about the site's visitors, online advertising can be custom-tailored to match user preferences.

Online advertising is being classified to above the line which uses mass media as advertising technique to promote a brand that is conventional in nature and is considered impersonal to customers. Some of the examples includes Spyware/Adware, Web Banner, Web Portal/Portal Site, Weblog/Blog and Interactive Broadband Commercial, etc. Online coupons, newsletter, offers, discounts, can even be pasted on the side to increase interest of web visitors.

Many large corporations, businesses and companies has fully utilize this cost effective and time saving form of advertising to "win the hearts and minds" of consumers. The passion evoked by the marketers and advertisers have now raised a competitive market economy. 

Yet, i should say out of the myriad of worldwide web marketing, some negative issues do arise, which we will be bringing out later in our blog. After-all, nothing is ever perfect right? Same goes online advertising! It is not totally positive!

Feel free to send us comments, suggestions or even objections! The debating has just began!! AND not forgetting to mention, it is definitely our greatest pleasure ever to hear from you! Au revoir people! Have a kick-ass weekend ahead!!