Battling Banner Blindness

I often wonder when creating banners how many of the X Million impressions that the banner will get, actually resulted in someone looking at the banner. Not only do people use ad-banner blocking software / plug-ins, but research shows that people quite effectively ignore banner ads or anything that looks like a banner ad.

So how do we get people to actually look at these ads? Or interact with them. Well there's not much we can do if people are using ad-blockers, but for those who are filtering them with their brain, there are a good list of suggestions in the article below.

Give the user something, use a simple design, keep the ads fresh and customise the ads for the viewer are the suggestions - and they're not bad suggestions! Have a read, follow their guidelines and hopefully watch click-rate increase!


http://www.marketingvox.com/4-tricks-to-battle-banner-ad-blindness-046498/

DoubleClick for Publishers

Google have just launched their latest technology for publishers in the form of DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP). They will be removing the DART branding and replacing it with Google branding.
It's been a long awaited upgrade to their system and one that will include a variety of enhancements to keep DoubleClick at the forefront of the market. Included in these are the new Public API which has been opened up to allow third parties to create applications which utilise DFP.


Google blog post:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/next-generation-of-ad-serving-for.html

AdAge article:
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=142237

Online privacy icon agreed

The ad industry has come up with the icon above to signify "Interest based ads", which it is adopting on ads that have been targeted using behavioural data. The industry is adopting use of this icon in an effort to reduce interference from Washington and other parties.


http://www.marketingvox.com/ad-industry-agrees-on-online-privacy-icon-046078/

Common banner ad mistakes

This article lists a few basic mistakes that can be made when designing banner ads. It is true that you can sometimes see people falling at the same hurdles as previous generations in their design.
Getting your message across clearly and concisely is key in my book!

http://adage.com/digitalnext/post?article_id=141751

Anyone for BANners

There have been Firefox extensions for ages now that block ads, here's a nice new one, TidyRead to help you read more easily.
More than just an banner ad stripper, it does a little bit more and tries to give you a completely clean page to read - useful for reading blogs and longer articles, which on some sites can get lost amongst the banners, google ads and site promotions.

I wonder how much these ad blockers affect the actual number of banners viewed vs. the number of banners served.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/tidyread_deals_blow_to_display_ads.php

Amazon makes a stand over bad-Phorm

Amazon has written to Phorm to ask for their site not to be scanned by their system. The controversial banner supplying system that scans every site that users go to and then serves banners depending upon their surfing habits apparently offers an opt out service, by emailing them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7999635.stm
http://www.marketingvox.com/amazon-uk-says-no-to-phorms-behavioral-ad-probe-043806/

Big Up Ads

Banner ads are set to get larger. I've been working on some 500x400s - which aren't massive, but seem to becoming more popular. Here 720x300 seems to be the size discussed.

http://mashable.com/2009/03/23/online-banner-ad-sizes/

New ad banner sizes

Some new ad banner sizes have been suggested through Online Publishers Association. They are not part of the industry's standard specifications set by the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

• The fixed panel, a 336-by-860-pixel banner that is wider than the standard skyscraper and follows users as they scroll down the page.
• The XXL box, a 468-by-648-pixel unit that can expand with video.
• The pushdown, a 970-by-418-pixel placement that takes up over half of the page before rolling up.

More...
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3i77fdd1ea9c8421a4fcf75b32b1ce2ccb?pn=1