M’kay, you have to watch both of these. There’s a twist in the second one. Also, this new learning fascinates me. Tell me again how sheeps’ bladders may be employed to prevent earthquakes.
Allow…
Deny…
That is one scary chicken.
Posts Tagged ‘marketing’
Protect your hard drive from Dokken. Wait …huh?
Friday, September 11th, 2009One Bad Ad Ruins It for All Advertisers
Thursday, August 6th, 2009I noticed something this morning with my online reading behavior that is probably not unique and it brings up an interesting issue regarding on-page marketing. Whenever I’m on a newspaper or magazine website or blog trying to read an article and there is an animated ad on the page, I become instantly annoyed as it distracts me from what I’m trying to do (read). Instead of doing what advertisers want me to do—have a look at the animated ad and perhaps become interested—I merely click my Readability tool to get rid of everything except the article text and images.
One result of this action is that I now have a pleasant reading experience, free from visual distractions. Another result is that all of the ads on the page disappear. In essence, one intolerably distracting animated ad spoils the chances for it and every other advertiser on the page. I will see none of the ads and be exposed to none of the sales pitches, offers, announcements, branding, or other attempts to capture my attention or sway my interest. And yet advertisers are paying good money that has now been wasted …all because of one idiotic animated ad.
I think this poses an interesting and perhaps grave issue for advertisers and publications. If I’m not alone in my preference to consume articles without visual/animated distraction (and I’m not), there’s a lot of money being flushed down the toilet by advertisers. If your ad appears on a page that also has animated ads, you’re likely wasting much of your advertising dollars. If you’re a publication owner and your serve up animated ads on your pages, you’re rendering a certain percentage of your other advertisers’ chances moot.
If I were a merchant purchasing ads in online publications, I would demand that no animated ads appear on the pages where my ads appear. Or I would take my marketing budget elsewhere.
Mad Men Destroyed Our Culture
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009Craig Ferguson on how Madison Ave. ad execs destroyed our culture. Hard to argue with!
Friggin’ ad people.
Odd Brand Placement
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009An interesting bit of oddness in magazines this week. One of our clients, Woot.com, was featured in a Maximum PC magazine article about Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8. Interesting to note that the Woot website is not a site that requires the use of IE8’s august “Compatibility View” function. Can’t imagine why they picked Woot as the example here. At seeing this, Woot’s creative director Dave Rutledge said:
“We wholeheartedly support use of screenshots of our site as the lorem-ipsum of demonstrating and discussing any browser features or functionality, regardless of how irrelevant or tenuous the connection is.”
Fun times.
ABSOLUT World Makes Kindness the New Currency
Thursday, April 30th, 2009I have no idea what this has to do with vodka, but ABSOLUT vodka’s “In an ABSOLUT World” campaign results in a gem of an ad spot, where kindness is currency. Good one, guys. Via Adrants.
Strong Connections
Friday, January 30th, 2009
Some people just have a knack for effectively participating in the conversation that is the Web. John DeGroote is one of them. He’s just doing it right. John is a litigation attorney and dispute resolution specialist who is keen to share his perspectives on settlement negotiation with people online (hence the name of his blog).
Now, I’m not a settlement litigator and I’m not currently in need of negotiation advice, but I find his posts compelling and I think he’s got a great little newsletter …in an era when newsletters are made almost obsolete by blogs. In John’s case, however, his newsletter is effective in sparking my interest and engaging my curiosity (note: his is an email newsletter, but he’s posted this one online to give people a peek at what they’re missing if they don’t subscribe). John always writes with a voice that connects strongly and his newsletter expresses things that are relevant to his topical context and people’s curiosity about what’s coming next on his blog.
Having spent hours with John, I can attest to the fact that he is exactly who you “see” on his blog. He’s effective at delivering his genuine personality online. In short, they guy delivers: excellent content on a regular basis, written in a compelling and natural voice. He even dares to share what’s coming soon—whetting appetites. Folks wanting to learn how to effectively (and honestly) conduct an online conversation with people would do well to study Settlement Perspectives. This is how you do it, folks.
Same Content, More Eyeballs
Monday, December 15th, 2008Pitchforkmedia.com is beginning to publish their annual “The Year in Music”, best-of lists. Most years, this is a signal for me to blow my Christmas cash on another stack of CDs (nope, not all digital yet), but this year, I was also caught by a savvy bit of marketing that Pitchfork is playing out.
On their index page, they are heavily promoting lists like “The Best 100 Tracks of 2008”, but releasing each list in chunks of 50, with a new part being published each day this week. Instead of blowing all the knowledge in one go, Pitchfork opts for the slow reveal, creating more fervor from their readers, and simultaneously building a more profitable experience for themselves, as the repeat visits mean more eyeballs their ad space (which seems to be part of their profit model).
Something to think about for my “Top 100 Ways to Welcome Your New Insect Overloads” list.
If the Shoe Fits…
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008SeaVees has announced an exclusive collaboration with Pantone, the world?renowned authority on color. With the creation of the 09/63, SeaVees celebrates the founding of Pantone, and the release of the first PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM in September 1963. For the first time in their 45 year history, Pantone has allowed an external design team into their hallowed archives. SeaVees has selected seven vintage colors from the original Pantone color guide. The series production has been restricted to 1,963 pairs and is not yet available to the general public.
