Ron ChatterjeeAccording to comScore, only 8 percent of internet users account for 85 percent of clicks on display ads (and some of them aren’t even humans!).
After reading that, you might be thinking whether banner ads are still a legible form of advertising or not, whether display advertising is still alive.
You know that’s a very tricky question to answer.
For a second, forget about banner ads and think about TV ads.
Or perhaps, the roadside huge posters you see.
Or perhaps, the flyers that someone forces into your hand while you are running to office.
The common and funny thing about all those ads is that over 90 percent of us ignore them. Whenever there is a commercial break between your Seinfeld shows, we inadvertently mute the TV and go on to doing something else – maybe getting that cup of coffee or chatting with your spouse.
Even with the roadside banners that we don’t care to look at twice. The same old beautiful girl smooching with a red Maybelline lipstick. The same old muscular hunk feeling ‘hunkier’ with a spray of Axe Chocolate. The same old spectacled oiled-hair bloke smiling cheekily and saying, “Life is what you make of it” while holding the latest American Express credit card in his hand.
In all these cases, we just DON’T care.
But what’s interesting is that we still look at them and somewhere deep in our subconscious mind, the picture registers without us knowing them.
The next time, we are looking at a display ad showing the same Axe Chocolate or Maybelline lipstick, we instantly remember the last time we saw it. And this happens again and again. It’s highly likely that we don’t rush to the Maybelline store by the street or call up the sales agent of American Express, but we know about them and remember them nonetheless.
The interesting thing is that the next time we are out looking for a lipstick or searching for a deodorant, can you guess which products will we automatically end up with?
You guessed it right.
The Maybelline lipstick.
The Axe deodorant (most probably the Chocolate one).
The Amex credit card.
And this is exactly how display advertising works.
Display advertising is not meant for conversion.
Display advertising is for reinforcement.
Display advertising is a reminder.
Display advertising is telling your prospects about your ‘presence’.
So, according to me, measuring display advertising by the number of click-through or the amount of direct sales generated might not be a good idea.
Instead, just look at the sales graph.
Is it rising or falling when you are engaging in display advertising?
What happens if you stop advertising banners?
These are the questions that need to be answered.
As Tom Goosmann of True North, says:
We continue to design and serve online display advertising (including the occasional banner) as an integral part of any multichannel campaign. We run hundreds of millions of ad impressions and know display ads are solid “introducers” to brand messages and also act as “influencers.” Through complex analytics, we know when a person first sees an ad, if and when they later used search to follow up on the message, and when they landed on the website. Deciding to visit a website didn’t just come to them in a vision. When someone purchases at retail, you don’t credit the cashier with getting him or her into the store.
Either way, here is a nice infographic created by Principle Marketing Inc. about display advertising.
Whether you are a supporter of banner ads or not, you would probably like to check it out.
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