It’s been over 20 years since this kind of ad first appeared. Why is it even more popular in marketing today?
But do you know that one of the popular ads we know has already existed more than two decades ago? Read more to learn how this type of ad remains to be a classic and is still relevant in the online advertising world.
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It’s been over 20 years since this kind of ad first appeared. Why is it even more popular in marketing today? When you’re surfing on the internet, visiting one web page to another… you’ve probably encountered this type of ad. There are few people who talk about this but would you believe that it’s been over two decades since this type of online advertising first started? Take a guess! It’s… BANNER ADS! Banner ads are also known as web banners, display ads, or image ads and are embedded on a web page. The contents of these kinds of ads can be text, an image (in .jpeg, .png, or .gif), a video, or other applicable multimedia formats.
The First One Ever In October 1994, HotWired, the online magazine version of the Wired magazine, ran the first ever banner ad in the world. The ad was for AT&T. It was a rectangular image containing text that says, “Have you ever clicked your mouse right HERE? You will,” in rainbow colored font.
HotWired received USD 30,000 from AT&T for a spot to place a banner ad at the top of the HotWired website’s navigation panel for 3 months. Guess how many people clicked on it? About 44% of the people who saw it. That’s not bad at all because today, a 2% click-through rate is commendable. A click-through rate is the number of users who clicked on a specific link over the number of total users who viewed a page or an email. How is the use of banner ads beneficial to your brand online?
Here’s an example. This is an article that my colleague and friend, Professor Joel Litman, Valens Research’s President and CEO, published on Forbes.com.
Do you see the multiple ads on this single article? There are more ads when you scroll down the web page. [See the full article here]: The Next Big Bath: Wall Street Is Blind To An Oncoming Earnings Disaster As of July 1, 2020, the article has a total of 9,832 views. That number is MORE THAN 3X the average 3,000 views of similar articles published in the same week under the same topic. What does this mean for the banner ads? More than 3x the average number of visitors saw the banner ads around the web page containing this article. The brands that were featured in those ads were given more than triple the average exposure and visibility. There’s also a big chance that people will recognize those brands the next time they see them. However… People sometimes use ad or content blockers. These are types of software that prevent those who use it from seeing ads and pop-ups. In a way, ad or content blockers can affect your campaign when you plan to use banner ads as part of your promotional strategy. Don’t lose hope! It’s important to take note that there are a lot more people online that don’t use ad blockers at all. What is the best way to face the possibility of ad blockers head on? Diversifying your advertising channels. Identify all the other ad options available for your brand. You can consider Google Ads, Bing Ads, e-Commerce ads, mobile game ads, or in-application ads. There’s a lot of room to be creative in terms of ad placement. Banner ads are keys to increase your visibility online. You can increase brand awareness and lead generation on your website too. Try this as part of your next marketing campaign and see the impact it makes on how more people can discover your brand online! Hope you’ve found this week’s insights interesting and helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for next Friday’s Collaborate and Innovate! Learn more about …… on next week’s Collaborate and Innovate! |
