Mike Shields wrote an article about the end of display ads. I was happy to provide a quote and serve my role as the grumpy internet curmudgeon."Greg March, digital group director at Wieden+Kennedy, put it more bluntly. “Internet ads are small and out of the way,” he said. “Advertisers want to deliver impact, and I don’t think the impact for these ads is always that strong.”
Darren Herman, a peer of mine, running digital media for Media Kitchen wrote an post saying Digital Display Ads Aren't Going Anywhere?
Darren makes salient points about how engagement mapping will make banner ads more measurable, that integration with other mediums can enhance the value, and that there are business models and client careers invested in building off of these tiny little banners.
I totally agree with him.
Your probably thinking, "Greg, you are a fence sitting, waffling, vacillating, weak-kneed codfish hemming and hawing your way through your career trying to be everything to everyone." At least that's what you'd be thinking if you had a thesaurus handy.
Truth is he is right. The problem is that he's only addressing a portion of a robust communications plan. There is an aspect of a strong communication plan that relies on engagement, and a portion that relies on impact and disruption. Why can't the digital landscape house both? 200 million Americans are going to eat ketchup this month, how many of them are going to play (even the coolest) ketchup game or engage AT ALL with ketchup marketing. 1%? 2%?
That said, I don't think banners are "dead", I think they should continue serving their role of being low cost, navigational media that survives on targeting the perfect people at the perfect moment. Perhaps leads to immersive experiences that drive Word Of Mouth.
But as much as engagement is useful (and probably underutilized) the money in disruption is currently much larger. Whether its entertaining the masses to generate a feeling about your brand, or getting the word out about a sale, or owning a moment of popular culture, advertising often needs to get in peoples faces.
In order for digital marketers to have the strategic conversations with their clients about how much to allocate towards disruption and how much to allocate towards engagement, they need to accept that the disruptive piece has value.
When all the digital ad sellers and digital ad buyers ignore that, we reduce ourselves to a niche and get left out of the big picture discussions.
Darren makes salient points about how engagement mapping will make banner ads more measurable, that integration with other mediums can enhance the value, and that there are business models and client careers invested in building off of these tiny little banners.
I totally agree with him.
Your probably thinking, "Greg, you are a fence sitting, waffling, vacillating, weak-kneed codfish hemming and hawing your way through your career trying to be everything to everyone." At least that's what you'd be thinking if you had a thesaurus handy.
Truth is he is right. The problem is that he's only addressing a portion of a robust communications plan. There is an aspect of a strong communication plan that relies on engagement, and a portion that relies on impact and disruption. Why can't the digital landscape house both? 200 million Americans are going to eat ketchup this month, how many of them are going to play (even the coolest) ketchup game or engage AT ALL with ketchup marketing. 1%? 2%?
That said, I don't think banners are "dead", I think they should continue serving their role of being low cost, navigational media that survives on targeting the perfect people at the perfect moment. Perhaps leads to immersive experiences that drive Word Of Mouth.
But as much as engagement is useful (and probably underutilized) the money in disruption is currently much larger. Whether its entertaining the masses to generate a feeling about your brand, or getting the word out about a sale, or owning a moment of popular culture, advertising often needs to get in peoples faces.
In order for digital marketers to have the strategic conversations with their clients about how much to allocate towards disruption and how much to allocate towards engagement, they need to accept that the disruptive piece has value.
When all the digital ad sellers and digital ad buyers ignore that, we reduce ourselves to a niche and get left out of the big picture discussions.
