Sunday
Banners Being Used as Branding Tools
As click-throughs hover below 1 percent and Internet marketers debate the branding effect of banners, research by AdRelevance has learned that the majority of all online ads and impressions are geared toward branding.
Branding ads (positioning, awareness, and feature/benefit) account for 63 percent of all online ad units and 54 percent of all impressions, according to AdRelevance. Within the branding category, ads generating awareness garner the most impressions (33 percent of all impressions), followed by ads positioning the brand (20 percent), and ads promoting a feature or benefit of a brand (1 percent). Among direct marketing ads, those driving traffic (28 percent of all impressions) are more prevalent than ads driving sales (17 percent).
Industries leading the branding charge are entertainment (73 percent of impressions devoted to branding); hardware and electronics (83 percent); retail (64 percent); Web media (63 percent); automotive (56 percent); and travel (54 percent). On the other hand, industries focused more on direct marketing include telecom (72 percent of industry impressions devoted to direct marketing); financial services (60 percent); consumer goods (61 percent); and business-to-business (54 percent).
"Online advertising is no longer just about click-through. Although industry and financial analysts have relied on click-through rates to gauge the effectiveness of online ad campaigns, the market has finally realized that click-through is not an appropriate metric for brand-oriented ads," said Charlie Buchwalter, VP of media research for AdRelevance. "Leading advertisers have already drifted away from the click-through mentality of pure direct response marketing, as AdRelevance data show that a full 63 percent of the ads are brand-oriented. As streaming and rich media comer more into play, the Internet will increasingly function more like a traditional branding medium -- making advertising on the Web more appealing to all, especially traditional companies who have mastered offline brand management strategies."
Branding ads (positioning, awareness, and feature/benefit) account for 63 percent of all online ad units and 54 percent of all impressions, according to AdRelevance. Within the branding category, ads generating awareness garner the most impressions (33 percent of all impressions), followed by ads positioning the brand (20 percent), and ads promoting a feature or benefit of a brand (1 percent). Among direct marketing ads, those driving traffic (28 percent of all impressions) are more prevalent than ads driving sales (17 percent).
Industries leading the branding charge are entertainment (73 percent of impressions devoted to branding); hardware and electronics (83 percent); retail (64 percent); Web media (63 percent); automotive (56 percent); and travel (54 percent). On the other hand, industries focused more on direct marketing include telecom (72 percent of industry impressions devoted to direct marketing); financial services (60 percent); consumer goods (61 percent); and business-to-business (54 percent).
"Online advertising is no longer just about click-through. Although industry and financial analysts have relied on click-through rates to gauge the effectiveness of online ad campaigns, the market has finally realized that click-through is not an appropriate metric for brand-oriented ads," said Charlie Buchwalter, VP of media research for AdRelevance. "Leading advertisers have already drifted away from the click-through mentality of pure direct response marketing, as AdRelevance data show that a full 63 percent of the ads are brand-oriented. As streaming and rich media comer more into play, the Internet will increasingly function more like a traditional branding medium -- making advertising on the Web more appealing to all, especially traditional companies who have mastered offline brand management strategies."
EBay to buy Indian online auctioneer Baazee.com
EBay will buy privately held Baazee.com, India's biggest online auctioneer, for about $50 million, extending its international expansion to another burgeoning market, eBay said on Wednesday.
San Jose, California-based eBay has been building its international business, which the company hopes will eventually become larger than its U.S. operations. Last year, eBay completed an $180 million purchase of China's EachNet, the most popular online auction site in China. (Related: Tiffany sues eBay.)
Baazee.com, like eBay, allows people to buy and sell wares in an array of categories such as consumer electronics, home decor and jewelry. The Bombay-based company was founded in January 2000 and says it now has more than 1 million registered users.
Internet usage in India is still relatively low. The companies cited data from IDC showing that there are currently 17 million Internet users in India, a number expected to rise to more than 30 million in two years.
"Although it's early days for e-commerce in India, we believe there is great opportunity over the long term," eBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman said in a statement.
The deal is expected to close in the third calendar quarter of 2004. It is not expected to materially affect eBay's 2004 revenue and earnings per share results, the company said.
San Jose, California-based eBay has been building its international business, which the company hopes will eventually become larger than its U.S. operations. Last year, eBay completed an $180 million purchase of China's EachNet, the most popular online auction site in China. (Related: Tiffany sues eBay.)
Baazee.com, like eBay, allows people to buy and sell wares in an array of categories such as consumer electronics, home decor and jewelry. The Bombay-based company was founded in January 2000 and says it now has more than 1 million registered users.
Internet usage in India is still relatively low. The companies cited data from IDC showing that there are currently 17 million Internet users in India, a number expected to rise to more than 30 million in two years.
"Although it's early days for e-commerce in India, we believe there is great opportunity over the long term," eBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman said in a statement.
The deal is expected to close in the third calendar quarter of 2004. It is not expected to materially affect eBay's 2004 revenue and earnings per share results, the company said.
Friday
Explode your TV
TV is about to explode, just as publishing is exploding thanks to the web and weblogs.
Many elements are coming together that will mean the barrier to entry to TV is dropped to the ground. Anybody can produce TV. Anybody can distribute TV. And TV will thus be able to serve any interest. Just as you no longer need a printing press to publish, you no longer need a tower (or cable or satellite) to broadcast.
Of course, that's hardly a new prognostication. Many smart folks, like Adam Curry and Ernie Miller, have been writing about this for a long time (more links shortly). But now all the things that will make this happen are coming together quickly -- why, as fast as global climate change in The Day After Tomorrow. more...
Many elements are coming together that will mean the barrier to entry to TV is dropped to the ground. Anybody can produce TV. Anybody can distribute TV. And TV will thus be able to serve any interest. Just as you no longer need a printing press to publish, you no longer need a tower (or cable or satellite) to broadcast.
Of course, that's hardly a new prognostication. Many smart folks, like Adam Curry and Ernie Miller, have been writing about this for a long time (more links shortly). But now all the things that will make this happen are coming together quickly -- why, as fast as global climate change in The Day After Tomorrow. more...
Tuesday
Internet ad revenue at record $2.3 bln in quarter
U.S. Internet ad revenue surged an estimated 39 percent to $2.3 billion in the first quarter from a year ago as advertisers moved more aggressively online to reach consumers, a study released Monday said.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau, which compiled the study with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, said first-quarter revenue was the highest quarterly sum recorded since it began measuring online ad revenue in 1996.
The results are extrapolated from data provided by the top 15 online advertising sellers. Final results will be reported in July.
"The last two years have offered marketers the opportunity to collect research and data that proves ... Internet advertising accomplishes key marketing goals as well, if not better, than any other ad medium," said Greg Stuart, chief executive at the IAB.
Internet advertising rebounded in 2003 after a multiyear slump triggered by the dotcom bust. Media analysts expect Internet advertising to grow as much as 20 percent this year.
Blue-chip advertisers still spend only a fraction of their budgets online, but they have steadily increased those ad dollars as consumers spend more time on the Web and new technologies make it easier to track the effect of those ads.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau, which compiled the study with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, said first-quarter revenue was the highest quarterly sum recorded since it began measuring online ad revenue in 1996.
The results are extrapolated from data provided by the top 15 online advertising sellers. Final results will be reported in July.
"The last two years have offered marketers the opportunity to collect research and data that proves ... Internet advertising accomplishes key marketing goals as well, if not better, than any other ad medium," said Greg Stuart, chief executive at the IAB.
Internet advertising rebounded in 2003 after a multiyear slump triggered by the dotcom bust. Media analysts expect Internet advertising to grow as much as 20 percent this year.
Blue-chip advertisers still spend only a fraction of their budgets online, but they have steadily increased those ad dollars as consumers spend more time on the Web and new technologies make it easier to track the effect of those ads.
Thursday
Let the Google IPO Games begin....
Search engine Google finally ended mountains of speculation by filing their initial public offering today, April 29, 2004. This means that Google's stock will now be available to the public, although the stock isn't expected to be available for a few months.
Google hopes to raise $2.7 billion with one of the most anticipated IPOs in high tech industry. The AP reports that "Thursday's filing represents a significant milestone in the 5 1/2-year-old company's evolution from a fun-loving startup to a corporate adolescent that will be held more accountable for how it manages its money."
Also, the filing gives competitors their first opportunity to take a look at Google's finances. Last year, the search engine earned $105.6 million on $962 million worth of revenue.
This year, Google is off to an even faster start. The recently passed first quarter saw the company earn $64 million, more than double last year's $25.8 million first quarter earnings.
Google hopes to raise $2.7 billion with one of the most anticipated IPOs in high tech industry. The AP reports that "Thursday's filing represents a significant milestone in the 5 1/2-year-old company's evolution from a fun-loving startup to a corporate adolescent that will be held more accountable for how it manages its money."
Also, the filing gives competitors their first opportunity to take a look at Google's finances. Last year, the search engine earned $105.6 million on $962 million worth of revenue.
This year, Google is off to an even faster start. The recently passed first quarter saw the company earn $64 million, more than double last year's $25.8 million first quarter earnings.
Saturday
The newest online marketing tactic: Tell a friend...
Search engine marketing is in full flower – but forward-looking retailers casting about for something to augment search marketing might consider keeping an eye on the fast-growing phenomenon of online social networking. Technology consulting firm Molecular Inc. vice-president Darryl Gehly says the Watertown, MA-based company has seen an increase in the number of clients inquiring about online social networking in the past three months.
"It's something that could be a powerful medium that gives retailers another avenue besides search engine marketing. It's a concept that leverages many of the technologies that are already out there, and it's growing quickly," he says.
Offline networking is nothing new, and social networking online works in much the same way. The concept is that a participant in a social network is a member of an online community to which he or she discloses personal information of potential interest to others in the network: job, interests, activities, background. Other community members can view the profiles and contact each other over data points of mutual interest--for instance, seeking a resort recommendation from someone in the network whose profile indicates he`s a frequent traveler to Hawaii.
Typically, participants are invited into the network by someone they know and they, in turn, invite others in. That means participants seeking recommendations or information from anyone in the network are in theory only a connection or two away from actually knowing that person personally.
"The idea is that if I know you and you know someone who could provide a service or a recommendation, I'm more likely to trust your judgment than that of a compete stranger," says Gehly. Move that into the realm of shopping--and the idea that one also may be more likely to make a purchase based on the recommendation of a friend of a friend than a stranger or an impersonal marketing approach--and the commercial potential becomes apparent.
Gehly's own company has an internal message board on which employee users can seek or post information and recommendations. "People are turning to their friends or their social network before they turn to the yellow pages or the traditional marketing that organizations use," he says. "So our feeling is this is a powerful mechanism that retailers and consumer goods manufacturers could use to help accelerate adoption of their products."
Just how online social networks could be leveraged for that purpose is still in the conceptual stage. One Molecular client is considering aligning its classified ad program within a social network. What's clear is that any solution would have to strike the right balance between commercial positioning and the unedited information exchange at the core of online social networks.
"Think of the reviews on eBay," says Gehly. "If you ever use unfair selling practices, it doesn't take long for you to be discounted and no longer a trusted seller. You've got to have real offers, good products, and be willing to accept the bad reviews along with the good."
"It's something that could be a powerful medium that gives retailers another avenue besides search engine marketing. It's a concept that leverages many of the technologies that are already out there, and it's growing quickly," he says.
Offline networking is nothing new, and social networking online works in much the same way. The concept is that a participant in a social network is a member of an online community to which he or she discloses personal information of potential interest to others in the network: job, interests, activities, background. Other community members can view the profiles and contact each other over data points of mutual interest--for instance, seeking a resort recommendation from someone in the network whose profile indicates he`s a frequent traveler to Hawaii.
Typically, participants are invited into the network by someone they know and they, in turn, invite others in. That means participants seeking recommendations or information from anyone in the network are in theory only a connection or two away from actually knowing that person personally.
"The idea is that if I know you and you know someone who could provide a service or a recommendation, I'm more likely to trust your judgment than that of a compete stranger," says Gehly. Move that into the realm of shopping--and the idea that one also may be more likely to make a purchase based on the recommendation of a friend of a friend than a stranger or an impersonal marketing approach--and the commercial potential becomes apparent.
Gehly's own company has an internal message board on which employee users can seek or post information and recommendations. "People are turning to their friends or their social network before they turn to the yellow pages or the traditional marketing that organizations use," he says. "So our feeling is this is a powerful mechanism that retailers and consumer goods manufacturers could use to help accelerate adoption of their products."
Just how online social networks could be leveraged for that purpose is still in the conceptual stage. One Molecular client is considering aligning its classified ad program within a social network. What's clear is that any solution would have to strike the right balance between commercial positioning and the unedited information exchange at the core of online social networks.
"Think of the reviews on eBay," says Gehly. "If you ever use unfair selling practices, it doesn't take long for you to be discounted and no longer a trusted seller. You've got to have real offers, good products, and be willing to accept the bad reviews along with the good."
Friday
The Banner's Comeback?
Rich media companies battle endlessly to increase their share of the interactive market. Nearly a year ago, Eyeblaster unveiled a new ad unit cleverly dubbed the 100k Polite Banner. It may seem bizarre for a rich media firm known for eye-catching ads to christen one of its formats "polite." But, no question, it was genius. With so much contempt directed at invasive ad units, a polite alternative is a breath of fresh air.
How can a 100k banner supporting audio and video be considered polite? Unlike standard banner units, the Polite Banner loads in stages. This appears seamless to onlookers, but in reality it loads a frame or two, pauses for page content to catch up, then loads to completion.
Banner file size is usually limited to 20k. That limits creative. The Polite Banner accommodates file sizes about 300 percent larger. Visitors get a rich online ad experience without slowed load times, an improvement over larger file sizes that leave consumers fuming at advertisers and publishers.
Countless publishers, including AOL, ABC, Boston.com, and Disney, have offered this unit for some time. To date, knowledge of the Polite Banner was limited. It wasn't until Yahoo! agreed to accept the technology and Eyeblaster launched an associated promotional ad campaign, the industry's ears perked up.
Yahoo hopes Eyeblaster's format will attract media buyers who pass on more standard banner placements. It's also banking on higher CPM rates it can justify charging (though word is the publisher is waiving the usual technology fee associated with rich media buys). According to Eyeblaster, Yahoo is prepared to serve Polite Banners in the place of any standard banner units, including the good old 468 x 60.
With publicity like this and Eyeblaster's efforts to improve its structure, the banner ad is poised for a comeback. Could the Polite Banner improve the online landscape in the process?
We know banners haven't produced satisfactory results. Plenty of banner ads are still served, but smart buyers only invest in them on a CPC basis to guarantee results. It's significantly larger formats: free-form rich media ads and performance-oriented units, such as paid search ads and pop-ups, that advertisers have been relying on lately.
Despite the many available inventive and effective online formats, the Internet is rife with lurid and pushy ads that slow load times and block content from frustrated users. Many advertisers who employ these ads do so to get the eyeballs, leads, and conversions they feel banners, with their limited file sizes, can no longer supply.
By combining coveted rich media technology with existing standard banner sizes, Eyeblaster is breathing new life into a format currently considered little more than a bonus placement, no expectations attached. With the Polite Banner on the table, advertisers can opt for a less intrusive unit without relinquishing needed interactive features and creative freedom. Publishers can appease clients by offering larger file sizes, and not irritate their users in the process.
Finally, media buyers can kiss goodbye those arguments with sales reps over maximum file sizes. Never again must we negotiate functionality and creative styling with clients in an impossible effort to conserve space.
Eyeblaster's Polite Banner has the potential to be as flashy, noisy, and distracting as most any other ad. But its value lies in its ability to draw deserters back to the stationary banner, and maybe to turn the Web into a slightly better place.
How can a 100k banner supporting audio and video be considered polite? Unlike standard banner units, the Polite Banner loads in stages. This appears seamless to onlookers, but in reality it loads a frame or two, pauses for page content to catch up, then loads to completion.
Banner file size is usually limited to 20k. That limits creative. The Polite Banner accommodates file sizes about 300 percent larger. Visitors get a rich online ad experience without slowed load times, an improvement over larger file sizes that leave consumers fuming at advertisers and publishers.
Countless publishers, including AOL, ABC, Boston.com, and Disney, have offered this unit for some time. To date, knowledge of the Polite Banner was limited. It wasn't until Yahoo! agreed to accept the technology and Eyeblaster launched an associated promotional ad campaign, the industry's ears perked up.
Yahoo hopes Eyeblaster's format will attract media buyers who pass on more standard banner placements. It's also banking on higher CPM rates it can justify charging (though word is the publisher is waiving the usual technology fee associated with rich media buys). According to Eyeblaster, Yahoo is prepared to serve Polite Banners in the place of any standard banner units, including the good old 468 x 60.
With publicity like this and Eyeblaster's efforts to improve its structure, the banner ad is poised for a comeback. Could the Polite Banner improve the online landscape in the process?
We know banners haven't produced satisfactory results. Plenty of banner ads are still served, but smart buyers only invest in them on a CPC basis to guarantee results. It's significantly larger formats: free-form rich media ads and performance-oriented units, such as paid search ads and pop-ups, that advertisers have been relying on lately.
Despite the many available inventive and effective online formats, the Internet is rife with lurid and pushy ads that slow load times and block content from frustrated users. Many advertisers who employ these ads do so to get the eyeballs, leads, and conversions they feel banners, with their limited file sizes, can no longer supply.
By combining coveted rich media technology with existing standard banner sizes, Eyeblaster is breathing new life into a format currently considered little more than a bonus placement, no expectations attached. With the Polite Banner on the table, advertisers can opt for a less intrusive unit without relinquishing needed interactive features and creative freedom. Publishers can appease clients by offering larger file sizes, and not irritate their users in the process.
Finally, media buyers can kiss goodbye those arguments with sales reps over maximum file sizes. Never again must we negotiate functionality and creative styling with clients in an impossible effort to conserve space.
Eyeblaster's Polite Banner has the potential to be as flashy, noisy, and distracting as most any other ad. But its value lies in its ability to draw deserters back to the stationary banner, and maybe to turn the Web into a slightly better place.
Wednesday
Beyond Pop-Ups
The once-ubiquitous pop-up may have all but vanished from the news over the past year, but hardly a day goes by when I don't hear from a marketer desperate to incorporate the format into his campaign. Consumer usage of pop-up blocking software is increasing. So are the number of ISPs and browsers offering the feature. Yet that's not enough to dissuade marketers from gravitating to the format.
Many advertisers cite other marketers' success as providing the impetus for their resolve. We can't criticize them for that. Countless brands have been plucked from obscurity and transformed into household names solely via pop-up advertising. Once advertisers couldn't afford not to engage the annoying but successful format. Just a year ago, Advertising.com released a study that showed pop-up ads produce a CTR 13 times higher than a standard banner. The average conversion rate was over 14 times better than that of a 468 x 60 banner.
Pop-ups are the obvious choice when increasing brand exposure is a concern, too. Not only are they noticeable, they're usually cheap. Some say buyers are astute to employ the format when they're responsible for accounts pitted against competitors with hefty online budgets (in light of statistical evidence, perhaps they really are astute).
Several new studies on consumer perception of the format may reveal all this praise as premature. It could result in a rude awakening for residual pop-up fans. Forrester Research released a report indicating 64 percent of Internet users still find pop-ups "irritating." Sound reminiscent of the avalanche of studies we saw in 2002?
There's more.
According to a similar report commissioned by Web behavior firm Bunnyfoot Universality, annoying consumers isn't pop-ups' only potential consequence. The ads renowned for capturing eyeballs aren't even being viewed. The Bunnyfoot report states the average time it takes for a pop-up to display a company's logo (never mind the call to action) is 8.2 seconds. The average user shuts the window in 2.5 seconds.
Worse, the study reveals 60 percent of Web users mistrust "any company that uses -- or even hosts -- pop-ups." "Brands undoubtedly committing commercial suicide by insisting on using pop-ups," the company's director of business behavior said in a statement. "Pop-ups are therefore not just a huge waste of money; they are also extremely negative for a brand."
If that isn't a kick in the pants to pop-up buyers, I don't know what is. We all know the importance of trust to a brand in establishing a consumer base, driving sales, and increasing brand loyalty over time. Once your target market loses trust in your brand, no amount of damage control is likely to save it from a quick and quiet death.
If you think the data I've cited so far is contradictory (how could consumers loathe pop-ups, yet continue to click?), you're right. But pop-ups aren't the only form of advertising that comes saddled with inconsistent research results.
Consider telemarketing and spam, the most reviled forms of marketing of them all. Ask a consumer her opinion of these, and she'll launch into a diatribe about how they disrupt her life. Ask the "marketers" who call and spam consumers about their results. They'll say they make money hand over fist. If these marketing techniques didn't work, they'd disappear. The fact is, someone out there is responding.
That doesn't make it right... or smart. Pop-up ads work. They get consumers' attention. They deliver results. But if you wouldn't consider spamming your customers or calling them at home ad nauseam for fear of what it might do to your brand, pop-ups are not your format. These marketing techniques simply aren't known for building consumer confidence in the products they peddle. If you value the public's perception of your brand, consider seeking new ad formats.
An obstinate few will continue to use pop-ups, despite the warnings. Maybe some will even get the results they seek. But when you've got the option of going with another form of advertising that's proven to work without besmirching your brand, I can't imagine why you'd take the risk.
Many advertisers cite other marketers' success as providing the impetus for their resolve. We can't criticize them for that. Countless brands have been plucked from obscurity and transformed into household names solely via pop-up advertising. Once advertisers couldn't afford not to engage the annoying but successful format. Just a year ago, Advertising.com released a study that showed pop-up ads produce a CTR 13 times higher than a standard banner. The average conversion rate was over 14 times better than that of a 468 x 60 banner.
Pop-ups are the obvious choice when increasing brand exposure is a concern, too. Not only are they noticeable, they're usually cheap. Some say buyers are astute to employ the format when they're responsible for accounts pitted against competitors with hefty online budgets (in light of statistical evidence, perhaps they really are astute).
Several new studies on consumer perception of the format may reveal all this praise as premature. It could result in a rude awakening for residual pop-up fans. Forrester Research released a report indicating 64 percent of Internet users still find pop-ups "irritating." Sound reminiscent of the avalanche of studies we saw in 2002?
There's more.
According to a similar report commissioned by Web behavior firm Bunnyfoot Universality, annoying consumers isn't pop-ups' only potential consequence. The ads renowned for capturing eyeballs aren't even being viewed. The Bunnyfoot report states the average time it takes for a pop-up to display a company's logo (never mind the call to action) is 8.2 seconds. The average user shuts the window in 2.5 seconds.
Worse, the study reveals 60 percent of Web users mistrust "any company that uses -- or even hosts -- pop-ups." "Brands undoubtedly committing commercial suicide by insisting on using pop-ups," the company's director of business behavior said in a statement. "Pop-ups are therefore not just a huge waste of money; they are also extremely negative for a brand."
If that isn't a kick in the pants to pop-up buyers, I don't know what is. We all know the importance of trust to a brand in establishing a consumer base, driving sales, and increasing brand loyalty over time. Once your target market loses trust in your brand, no amount of damage control is likely to save it from a quick and quiet death.
If you think the data I've cited so far is contradictory (how could consumers loathe pop-ups, yet continue to click?), you're right. But pop-ups aren't the only form of advertising that comes saddled with inconsistent research results.
Consider telemarketing and spam, the most reviled forms of marketing of them all. Ask a consumer her opinion of these, and she'll launch into a diatribe about how they disrupt her life. Ask the "marketers" who call and spam consumers about their results. They'll say they make money hand over fist. If these marketing techniques didn't work, they'd disappear. The fact is, someone out there is responding.
That doesn't make it right... or smart. Pop-up ads work. They get consumers' attention. They deliver results. But if you wouldn't consider spamming your customers or calling them at home ad nauseam for fear of what it might do to your brand, pop-ups are not your format. These marketing techniques simply aren't known for building consumer confidence in the products they peddle. If you value the public's perception of your brand, consider seeking new ad formats.
An obstinate few will continue to use pop-ups, despite the warnings. Maybe some will even get the results they seek. But when you've got the option of going with another form of advertising that's proven to work without besmirching your brand, I can't imagine why you'd take the risk.
Sunday
Pop-Up Alternatives
Last week's piece cited recent news pop-ups cause consumers to mistrust associated brands. A number of marketers says they don't see a way around using the format in their campaigns. "Our clients demand the format," they insist. "It's cheap, proven to generate leads, and produces solid ROI repeatedly."
Their case is a simple one: Pop-ups outperform every other online ad format. They realize associating their clients with pop-ups could damage the brands. But when a format works, you'd be surprised how many marketers and advertisers are willing to take that risk.
Listening, one realizes there are two types of media buyers. There are those who represent Fortune 500 firms. Their duty is to promote trusted brand names online. Some may say these marketers have it easy. On the one hand, failure to meet the elevated standards of these clients (whose business single-handedly supports a good many agencies) could result in being blacklisted from this elite community. On the other, working with familiar and trusted brands vastly increases the likelihood of marketing success.
Then there are those who represent the hundreds of independent advertisers promoting products online. The majority of online media buyers fall into this category. These marketers can attract big budgets, too. They plan and buy for online travel services, casinos, office supply companies, and the like. But unlike their counterparts, they don't have the luxury of promoting established brands. These planners and buyers aren't often asked to develop branding campaigns. Their decisions and actions are entirely driven by sales, and their clients can't easily absorb campaign blunders.
It's the latter group that continues to be drawn to pop-ups, a format heavily relied on to buttress campaigns and used to fall back on should they somehow hit the skids. When representing clients less concerned with brand image, these individuals are more inclined to blanket the Web with millions of untargeted, uncapped ads -- a bad habit that's loathed by all.
To these media buyers and marketers, pop-ups are an addiction. What advocates need is an alternative that produces results without the inherent risks (and without irritating the rest of the online community in the process). These marketers have fruitfully used pop-ups for so long, few believe such an option exists. Here's what some of the top ad networks recommend to these die-hards.
Skyscrapers
In the infamous Advertising.com study that named pop-ups 14 times more effective at generating conversions than standard banners, one format was found to produce even more stellar results: skyscraper ads. According to the study, skyscrapers boasted a CTR 60 percent higher than banners and a 20 percent better conversion rate. Part of the Interactive Advertising Bureau's (IAB's) Universal Ad Package, skyscrapers are carried by virtually all major sites and ad networks. Many publishers offer them on a cost-per-action basis, making them a cost-effective option for marketers with limited budgets.
Pop-Unders
The less-intrusive cousin of the pop-up, the pop-under is still touted as an "incredibly effective format" when used responsibly. It's one of the eight formats offered by Fastclick (pop-ups didn't make the cut). According to Jeff Hirsch, the network's chief revenue officer and IAB Task Force member, it's experiencing "unprecedented demand."
The price at which Fastclick offers pop-unders -- rate card cost of $7 CPM -- is higher than the average pop-up. Hirsch says it's known to produce good return on investment (ROI). The secret is strict quality control. Fastclick only delivers one pop-under per user per browser session. They try to introduce new creative to users every week. This effort to avoid inundating consumers with ads is what Hirsch believes makes the format work. "There is some association between pop-ups and pop-unders, and some concern about negative brand association," he says. "Then again, some of the largest brands became that way by using pop-under ads."
Word is the IAB plans to release a new set of standards for both pop-under and pop-up ads in upcoming months.
Customized Combination
When asked about replacing pop-ups, Colin Petrie-Norris, director of product with Advertising.com, admits "there's no silver bullet that can replace pop-ups that we know about." His network has come up with the next best thing. When approached by a client who wants results without pop-ups, Advertising.com recommends a combination of formats customized to each advertiser's needs.
Without the pop-up option, Petrie-Norris says he must "be more thoughtful in the design of creatives to reach each objective." Incorporating interactivity, interstitials, and rich media into campaigns is an oft-used approach. Knowing larger formats work well, large skyscrapers are used, too. As a network almost exclusively composed of cost-per-action (CPA) advertising, Advertising.com can practically guarantee results regardless of format, even without pop-ups to fall back on.
Pop-ups may be matchlessly effective, but not everything that tastes good is good for you. Consider expanding beyond the pop-up. You may just find something that works.
Their case is a simple one: Pop-ups outperform every other online ad format. They realize associating their clients with pop-ups could damage the brands. But when a format works, you'd be surprised how many marketers and advertisers are willing to take that risk.
Listening, one realizes there are two types of media buyers. There are those who represent Fortune 500 firms. Their duty is to promote trusted brand names online. Some may say these marketers have it easy. On the one hand, failure to meet the elevated standards of these clients (whose business single-handedly supports a good many agencies) could result in being blacklisted from this elite community. On the other, working with familiar and trusted brands vastly increases the likelihood of marketing success.
Then there are those who represent the hundreds of independent advertisers promoting products online. The majority of online media buyers fall into this category. These marketers can attract big budgets, too. They plan and buy for online travel services, casinos, office supply companies, and the like. But unlike their counterparts, they don't have the luxury of promoting established brands. These planners and buyers aren't often asked to develop branding campaigns. Their decisions and actions are entirely driven by sales, and their clients can't easily absorb campaign blunders.
It's the latter group that continues to be drawn to pop-ups, a format heavily relied on to buttress campaigns and used to fall back on should they somehow hit the skids. When representing clients less concerned with brand image, these individuals are more inclined to blanket the Web with millions of untargeted, uncapped ads -- a bad habit that's loathed by all.
To these media buyers and marketers, pop-ups are an addiction. What advocates need is an alternative that produces results without the inherent risks (and without irritating the rest of the online community in the process). These marketers have fruitfully used pop-ups for so long, few believe such an option exists. Here's what some of the top ad networks recommend to these die-hards.
Skyscrapers
In the infamous Advertising.com study that named pop-ups 14 times more effective at generating conversions than standard banners, one format was found to produce even more stellar results: skyscraper ads. According to the study, skyscrapers boasted a CTR 60 percent higher than banners and a 20 percent better conversion rate. Part of the Interactive Advertising Bureau's (IAB's) Universal Ad Package, skyscrapers are carried by virtually all major sites and ad networks. Many publishers offer them on a cost-per-action basis, making them a cost-effective option for marketers with limited budgets.
Pop-Unders
The less-intrusive cousin of the pop-up, the pop-under is still touted as an "incredibly effective format" when used responsibly. It's one of the eight formats offered by Fastclick (pop-ups didn't make the cut). According to Jeff Hirsch, the network's chief revenue officer and IAB Task Force member, it's experiencing "unprecedented demand."
The price at which Fastclick offers pop-unders -- rate card cost of $7 CPM -- is higher than the average pop-up. Hirsch says it's known to produce good return on investment (ROI). The secret is strict quality control. Fastclick only delivers one pop-under per user per browser session. They try to introduce new creative to users every week. This effort to avoid inundating consumers with ads is what Hirsch believes makes the format work. "There is some association between pop-ups and pop-unders, and some concern about negative brand association," he says. "Then again, some of the largest brands became that way by using pop-under ads."
Word is the IAB plans to release a new set of standards for both pop-under and pop-up ads in upcoming months.
Customized Combination
When asked about replacing pop-ups, Colin Petrie-Norris, director of product with Advertising.com, admits "there's no silver bullet that can replace pop-ups that we know about." His network has come up with the next best thing. When approached by a client who wants results without pop-ups, Advertising.com recommends a combination of formats customized to each advertiser's needs.
Without the pop-up option, Petrie-Norris says he must "be more thoughtful in the design of creatives to reach each objective." Incorporating interactivity, interstitials, and rich media into campaigns is an oft-used approach. Knowing larger formats work well, large skyscrapers are used, too. As a network almost exclusively composed of cost-per-action (CPA) advertising, Advertising.com can practically guarantee results regardless of format, even without pop-ups to fall back on.
Pop-ups may be matchlessly effective, but not everything that tastes good is good for you. Consider expanding beyond the pop-up. You may just find something that works.
Friday
Consumers KNOW the VALUE of Ads!
Consumers will tolerate some pop-ups in exchange for free content, survey says.
Despite all the hoopla over the intrusiveness of over-content ads, and the fear that consumers hate them, new research finds that consumers will accept some -- two per hour, in fact. That's from a new study by Dynamic Logic.
Only 32 percent of respondents said they never consider this type of advertising appropriate, even to support free Web content. But the other 68 percent understands the necessity of advertising in order to receive free content. Their responses as to how many ads they?ll tolerate average two per hour (a calculation based on median number).
The same research also highlighted the top three concerns of consumers about intrusive ads:
1) Too many of them (70 percent)
2) Requires me to close them (58 percent)
3) Blocks content (56%)
The top concern suggests that frequency, perhaps more than format, is the major challenge. The other aspect is that some require closing. Intrusive ads that have frequency caps of two and do not require closing may lessen these concerns.
While it is a safe bet to assume that consumers want less advertising rather than more, many consumers understand advertising's role in supporting content they like, says Dynamic Logic. It is important for the online publishing industry to find a line between assertive advertising and what consumers feel is a fair and appropriate exchange for valuable content. This research highlights an aspect of consumers' sensitivity towards publishers' costs and the need to subsidize content. In return, publishers could show sensitivity to consumers by limiting the usage of these highly powerful ad units.
While many publishers have moved to block pop-ups altogether, there may still be an opportunity for the Web publishing community to reach a middle-ground where a controlled level can be established and enforced through frequency capping and more sophisticated ad serving.
Despite all the hoopla over the intrusiveness of over-content ads, and the fear that consumers hate them, new research finds that consumers will accept some -- two per hour, in fact. That's from a new study by Dynamic Logic.
Only 32 percent of respondents said they never consider this type of advertising appropriate, even to support free Web content. But the other 68 percent understands the necessity of advertising in order to receive free content. Their responses as to how many ads they?ll tolerate average two per hour (a calculation based on median number).
The same research also highlighted the top three concerns of consumers about intrusive ads:
1) Too many of them (70 percent)
2) Requires me to close them (58 percent)
3) Blocks content (56%)
The top concern suggests that frequency, perhaps more than format, is the major challenge. The other aspect is that some require closing. Intrusive ads that have frequency caps of two and do not require closing may lessen these concerns.
While it is a safe bet to assume that consumers want less advertising rather than more, many consumers understand advertising's role in supporting content they like, says Dynamic Logic. It is important for the online publishing industry to find a line between assertive advertising and what consumers feel is a fair and appropriate exchange for valuable content. This research highlights an aspect of consumers' sensitivity towards publishers' costs and the need to subsidize content. In return, publishers could show sensitivity to consumers by limiting the usage of these highly powerful ad units.
While many publishers have moved to block pop-ups altogether, there may still be an opportunity for the Web publishing community to reach a middle-ground where a controlled level can be established and enforced through frequency capping and more sophisticated ad serving.
Thursday
The Science of Targeting
What exactly is "behavior," and what's driving the growth of behavioral marketing?
Revenue Science, Inc. is among a group of service providers -- including Claria and TACODA Systems -- that offer publishers the technology to deliver behavioral targeting to their advertisers. iMediaConnection talked with Revenue Sciences' Bill Gossman, CEO; Omar Tawakol, SVP marketing; and Nick Johnson, SVP of business development.
iMediaConnection: Describe how your company defines behavioral marketing.
Tawakol: We use the term "behavioral targeting." The basic goal of advertising has remained unchanged over the years, and that's to communicate your message to the right audience. Behavioral targeting is the truest way for marketers to understand the interests of consumers and to target them based on those interests. It's all about relevancy. Search marketing works because it is relevant. When someone enters a search term, that's a behavior. We apply the same thinking throughout the whole advertising funnel, leveraging people's behaviors to sort them into audiences and ultimately deliver more relevant advertising.
iMediaConnection: What exactly are you referring to when you use the term "behavior?"
Tawakol: What consumers explicitly say when they register, what they actually do online -- where they click and how often, and how they do it, for example. If they're logging on at work at a Fortune 500 company or from home via dial-up. All three of these factors are part of the behaviors that are looked at to configure an audience.
iMediaConnection: So, say I'm a company that sells a consumer packaged food product. How would I use behavioral marketing?
Tawakol: That's a good question. In the past, a CPG advertiser targeting women would probably go to the lifestyle section of a site as a way to target women. In reality, however, probably 45 percent of the people reading that section are men. Now the same advertiser could look specifically for, say, new Internet moms by tracking the activities of someone doing product searches for baby materials, accessing information about baby care and so on.
Gossman: By IDing actions, marketers can get their messages to a broader base of like-minded people.
iMediaConnection: Could you provide me an example of a marketer that has used behavioral targeting and what type of results they received?
Tawakol: Computer Associates was interested in finding technology decision makers. We were able to determine that these people were more likely to read technology content on Wall Street Journal's site than the average reader. So Computer Associates bought access to these people, served its ads only to them, and cut back tremendously on waste.
iMediaConnection: How do you convince a marketer that ordinarily defines its target by demographics that this might be a better way to go or a supplemental tactic?
Tawakol: Our publishing clients use us for both. It's about building up reach to the right people rather than filtering down. Demographics gives you one group of people, and then behavioral targeting provides more clues, resulting in more value. Take the airlines. They want to reach people who travel a lot. One way to reach these people is by targeting by age and income. But a greater indicator that someone tends to travel a lot is if they read a lot about travel.
iMediaConnection: Way back when, at the beginning of online advertising, the promise was of more precise targeting using cookies, customer profiling, etc. The industry had to move away from this because of privacy fears. How is today's behavioral marketing different than those beginning efforts?
Tawakol: It's different on many fronts. You mentioned privacy. What's being done now is looking deeply within one publisher at a time, not watching activity across the Net. Plus, it's all anonymous. It's not tied to any personal information. Me knowing your name isn't relevant. Knowing your interests is. Behavioral targeting started when advertising was crashing, when reach was too small and price was too high.
Gossman: Another factor: $2.2 billion was spent in Q4 2003 (according to the IAB) for online advertising. There's a resurgence and that has everything to do with keyword search. Google and Overture have successfully regenerated the market. Behavioral targeting and keyword search are complements. Search is one form of behavioral marketing. It captures intent, representing a small sliver of what people do on the Internet. Behavioral targeting compliments keyword search because then you can interface with consumers at every level of the purchasing funnel. It's a valuable tool to a market that's growing rapidly. With keyword search, you have individuals looking for a group of marketers; with behavioral targeting, you have marketers looking for an audience with a specific composition.
iMediaConnection: A large part of behavioral targeting is determining what site data are useable. How do you distinguish actionable data from information that isn't as valuable?
Tawakol: You're getting at the heart of what we do. We determine relevance -- relevance to a person rather than a place. That's complicated for someone in a publishing environment to do, so we provide the technology that simplifies the process. It's about composition. That's a metric used offline a lot, for magazines for example, that we've translated online. We work with our publishers to show what behaviors get the highest composition. We have compiled best practices on how to design high composition segments and how to use third party survey capabilities to benchmark the composition of segments. For example, we may know that a reader of a car classified section is more likely to be in-market for a car, but a survey would validate that the composition of such a segment is several hundred percent better than the composition of ROS.
iMediaConnection: What are many publishers and/or marketers not doing correctly in terms of behavioral targeting?
Tawakol: This is a new skill set for publishers, so we're involved with leveraging the experience we have with partners, sharing best practices and creating standardization. That's one of the biggest challenges -- delivering consistency. We expect a publisher to have a learning curve. By fully aligning our pay with the publisher's success we are incented to accelerate that learning process.
Gossman: In fact, that's one of our primary tasks, to work with the agency side to make them aware of the capabilities provided and help create a demand for publishers.
iMediaConnection: Is the use of behavioral targeting growing?
Gossman: It may be self-serving of me to say it but, yes, it's growing.
Johnson: Behavioral targeting was ahead of its time, but we're now delivering a technology and service that make it actionable. In watching what happens, we see an interesting ripple effect. As new publishers sign on, we see more demand from advertisers.
iMediaConnection: So who is driving the growth of this? Publishers or agencies and clients asking for it?
Johnson: In every RFP that is written, there's a request for an audience, advertisers say, "We want this type of buyer." Agencies are begging for an audience and publishers have learned to respond with things like categories and keywords. Now they also have behavioral targeting. As more advertisers realize this is a better, more direct way, we see them driving demand.
That being said, publishers have lots of inventory that is undervalued using the "place" model. That's why there's such a thing as run-of-site. This model makes some of that inventory high-value, so the demand is being pushed from both sides.
iMediaConnection: Is there something beyond behavioral marketing? Does online advertising have another level?
Tawakol: If you tie this all together, both advertisers and publishers want to maximize their yield. Publishers are now selling by place, audience, calendar -- whatever can make them the most money. At some point the publisher is going to want a solution that maximizes the yield of every impression regardless of how the campaign was sold. The advertiser, on the other hand, wants the highest ROI. They may buy a bundle which includes place, demographics, and behavior but it all has to work together to drive the best ROI.
Revenue Science, Inc. is among a group of service providers -- including Claria and TACODA Systems -- that offer publishers the technology to deliver behavioral targeting to their advertisers. iMediaConnection talked with Revenue Sciences' Bill Gossman, CEO; Omar Tawakol, SVP marketing; and Nick Johnson, SVP of business development.
iMediaConnection: Describe how your company defines behavioral marketing.
Tawakol: We use the term "behavioral targeting." The basic goal of advertising has remained unchanged over the years, and that's to communicate your message to the right audience. Behavioral targeting is the truest way for marketers to understand the interests of consumers and to target them based on those interests. It's all about relevancy. Search marketing works because it is relevant. When someone enters a search term, that's a behavior. We apply the same thinking throughout the whole advertising funnel, leveraging people's behaviors to sort them into audiences and ultimately deliver more relevant advertising.
iMediaConnection: What exactly are you referring to when you use the term "behavior?"
Tawakol: What consumers explicitly say when they register, what they actually do online -- where they click and how often, and how they do it, for example. If they're logging on at work at a Fortune 500 company or from home via dial-up. All three of these factors are part of the behaviors that are looked at to configure an audience.
iMediaConnection: So, say I'm a company that sells a consumer packaged food product. How would I use behavioral marketing?
Tawakol: That's a good question. In the past, a CPG advertiser targeting women would probably go to the lifestyle section of a site as a way to target women. In reality, however, probably 45 percent of the people reading that section are men. Now the same advertiser could look specifically for, say, new Internet moms by tracking the activities of someone doing product searches for baby materials, accessing information about baby care and so on.
Gossman: By IDing actions, marketers can get their messages to a broader base of like-minded people.
iMediaConnection: Could you provide me an example of a marketer that has used behavioral targeting and what type of results they received?
Tawakol: Computer Associates was interested in finding technology decision makers. We were able to determine that these people were more likely to read technology content on Wall Street Journal's site than the average reader. So Computer Associates bought access to these people, served its ads only to them, and cut back tremendously on waste.
iMediaConnection: How do you convince a marketer that ordinarily defines its target by demographics that this might be a better way to go or a supplemental tactic?
Tawakol: Our publishing clients use us for both. It's about building up reach to the right people rather than filtering down. Demographics gives you one group of people, and then behavioral targeting provides more clues, resulting in more value. Take the airlines. They want to reach people who travel a lot. One way to reach these people is by targeting by age and income. But a greater indicator that someone tends to travel a lot is if they read a lot about travel.
iMediaConnection: Way back when, at the beginning of online advertising, the promise was of more precise targeting using cookies, customer profiling, etc. The industry had to move away from this because of privacy fears. How is today's behavioral marketing different than those beginning efforts?
Tawakol: It's different on many fronts. You mentioned privacy. What's being done now is looking deeply within one publisher at a time, not watching activity across the Net. Plus, it's all anonymous. It's not tied to any personal information. Me knowing your name isn't relevant. Knowing your interests is. Behavioral targeting started when advertising was crashing, when reach was too small and price was too high.
Gossman: Another factor: $2.2 billion was spent in Q4 2003 (according to the IAB) for online advertising. There's a resurgence and that has everything to do with keyword search. Google and Overture have successfully regenerated the market. Behavioral targeting and keyword search are complements. Search is one form of behavioral marketing. It captures intent, representing a small sliver of what people do on the Internet. Behavioral targeting compliments keyword search because then you can interface with consumers at every level of the purchasing funnel. It's a valuable tool to a market that's growing rapidly. With keyword search, you have individuals looking for a group of marketers; with behavioral targeting, you have marketers looking for an audience with a specific composition.
iMediaConnection: A large part of behavioral targeting is determining what site data are useable. How do you distinguish actionable data from information that isn't as valuable?
Tawakol: You're getting at the heart of what we do. We determine relevance -- relevance to a person rather than a place. That's complicated for someone in a publishing environment to do, so we provide the technology that simplifies the process. It's about composition. That's a metric used offline a lot, for magazines for example, that we've translated online. We work with our publishers to show what behaviors get the highest composition. We have compiled best practices on how to design high composition segments and how to use third party survey capabilities to benchmark the composition of segments. For example, we may know that a reader of a car classified section is more likely to be in-market for a car, but a survey would validate that the composition of such a segment is several hundred percent better than the composition of ROS.
iMediaConnection: What are many publishers and/or marketers not doing correctly in terms of behavioral targeting?
Tawakol: This is a new skill set for publishers, so we're involved with leveraging the experience we have with partners, sharing best practices and creating standardization. That's one of the biggest challenges -- delivering consistency. We expect a publisher to have a learning curve. By fully aligning our pay with the publisher's success we are incented to accelerate that learning process.
Gossman: In fact, that's one of our primary tasks, to work with the agency side to make them aware of the capabilities provided and help create a demand for publishers.
iMediaConnection: Is the use of behavioral targeting growing?
Gossman: It may be self-serving of me to say it but, yes, it's growing.
Johnson: Behavioral targeting was ahead of its time, but we're now delivering a technology and service that make it actionable. In watching what happens, we see an interesting ripple effect. As new publishers sign on, we see more demand from advertisers.
iMediaConnection: So who is driving the growth of this? Publishers or agencies and clients asking for it?
Johnson: In every RFP that is written, there's a request for an audience, advertisers say, "We want this type of buyer." Agencies are begging for an audience and publishers have learned to respond with things like categories and keywords. Now they also have behavioral targeting. As more advertisers realize this is a better, more direct way, we see them driving demand.
That being said, publishers have lots of inventory that is undervalued using the "place" model. That's why there's such a thing as run-of-site. This model makes some of that inventory high-value, so the demand is being pushed from both sides.
iMediaConnection: Is there something beyond behavioral marketing? Does online advertising have another level?
Tawakol: If you tie this all together, both advertisers and publishers want to maximize their yield. Publishers are now selling by place, audience, calendar -- whatever can make them the most money. At some point the publisher is going to want a solution that maximizes the yield of every impression regardless of how the campaign was sold. The advertiser, on the other hand, wants the highest ROI. They may buy a bundle which includes place, demographics, and behavior but it all has to work together to drive the best ROI.
