Hold on, I need to make a right turn from the left lane because I just saw that Container Store billboard
How come internet advertising is based on click-thrus? Seriously. I don’t understand it. For 100 years, advertising has been totally (well, kind of) passive: the ad sits in the magazine, hoping you will look at it, and after seeing similar ads a number of times, you will consider purchasing the product contained therein. Right? So how come online advertising is so obsessed with click-thru rates? I don’t have to throw a rock at a billboard every time I see it, so the advertisers know I saw that ad. So why do I have to click a banner in order for that ad to be considered effective?
If I’m driving down the highway (again) and I see an ad for the Container Store, the advertisers don’t expect to me to all of a sudden immediately take the next exit and head toward the nearest Container Store, do they? So why do they expect that if I’m reading news or checking out designsites or shopping for music online, I’ll be willing to immediately stop what I’m doing, click the flashing banner at the top of the page, and totally redirect my activities, just because I saw a banner? That’s ridiculous. One rule of advertising is that the best you can hope for is that the consumer will think of you strongly enough when they next need/want a product that fits the description of yours, not that they’ll go out and buy in droves the second they first see your ad. That simply isn’t going to happen, offline or on, bigger ads or smaller ones:
Web sites have been looking for ways to become more attractive to advertisers, who have been disappointed with response rates to Internet banner ads.
The bulked-up Web ads will take up much more space on a Web page than current banner ads, which typically run across a narrow section at the top of a page — 234-by-60 pixels for a half banner or 468-by-40 pixels for a full banner.
The larger units include a square pop up that is 250-by-250 pixels and a so-called “skyscraper unit” that measures 120-by-600 pixels. Larger ads will also allow marketers to make their online message more creative and more interactive.