Operative Blog

Everyone  has seen those little online popup windows that show a surveillance camera or a TV monitor with some sexy women on it.  Let’s be honest – it tempts us to check out the name, address and  …….. while some us find it annoying as hell.

Back in the days…well to be specific in April 2009, the Online Publishers Association announced that a broad set of its members would be adopting new larger ad units. Even though it is OPA’s intent to increase innovation and efficacy in the online space, is this particular move one that could easily backfire in the long term?

Let’s take a look at some points put forward by experts in the industry and classify them as ‘Pros’ or ‘Cons’.  You be the judge on whether these non-standard ad units should be used or not.

The top 5 YEAH…

• On a limited basis non-standard banners and pop-ups resulted in a lift in CTR, engagement, and possibly even conversions or transactions.
• They also create new revenue stream for publishers, while creating extremely high impact placements for advertisers.
• Create scarcity – Limiting the number of these “non-standard” units you sell in a month will help mitigate user burnout or creative fatigue.
• Pop-ups can help establish a brand while offering transactional services and opt-in or contact opportunities.
• The interstitial ad creative uses “dead time” to show an ad message, at a time when the site visitor is on hold and attentive to the message that appears.

The top 5 NAH !..

• These ads might be testing well initially, but at some point the novelty will wear off for users, and the innovation that seemed to flow so freely at the beginning may reduce to nothing.
• These new-size banners aren’t cheap and the same goes for pop-ups.
• There is a relatively small but vocal minority of users who have a low tolerance for pop-ups.
• Pop-ups tend to physically blot out the content that the consumer is actually seeking.
• Another drawback to consider for interstitials is that these ads can attract a lot of attention, but do not always generate a large number of clicks.

What do others think?

A Doubleclick study found that banner ads increased brand measures 56%, large rectangles 86% and interstitial ads increased brand measures 194%.

The IAB’s own study, conducted by Dynamic Logic, found that the new larger ad units are 25% more effective in lifting key brand metrics such as brand awareness and message association. The research also shows that additional exposures significantly increase persuasion metrics such as purchase intent. The research was based on 8750 respondents, four advertisers and 12 creative units.

As for ad shape, so-called skyscraper ads — long, skinny upright banners, proved most effective. Ad placement made a difference as well, with ads displayed during a transition from one Web page to the next outperforming those placed within or on top of a page.

Final thoughts …

“When used with enriched ad technology, the new units are two to three times more effective in increasing message association than standard banners.” said Jed Savage, Director of National Sales for MSN at Microsoft Corp.

Media buyers claim that pop-ups deliver a click-through rate of anywhere from 2.5 percent to 19 percent.  That’s many times the click-through rate of the banner ad, which hovers around a negligible 0.3 percent.

Three suggestions for sidestepping the annoyance factor:

1. Target pop-ups as carefully as possible, because pop-ups don’t work for every type of web surfer.
2. Avoid repeated pop-ups in the same visit.
3. Be sure the pop-up is either very informative or very entertaining, since either of these attributes will help the ad seem less annoying.

As a whole, you need to be conscious of your brands integrity. Just because an advertiser has budget doesn’t mean they should be allowed to spend it. Make sure they are relevant to the users and the content. Any online media campaign should have a healthy mix, a variety of different sizes and types of messages.