Nicolas Carlson over at Silicon Alley Insider has a great post about why the 15th anniversary of the banner advertisement should also mark its death knell.
He quotes a comScore stat indicating that 8 percent of Internet users account for 85 percent of the click-throughs on these advertisements, and that this group of heavy clickers is on average less educated and less wealthy than their non-clicking counterparts. Carlson also says the ads need to go because they are only engaging when they’re also distracting, and they can’t tell a story as well as things like video ads.
I think banner ads have quickly become outmoded because they are simple statements by nature, and with today’s emerging media at their disposal, advertisers need to be focused on conversations online, not statements. Why pay thousands of dollars for a banner ad that is static, annoying and lacking in interactivity, when you can provide an online community for your customers to engage with you for minimal expenditure? I don’t know that answer any more than I know why the Carolina Panthers gave Jake Delhomme a contract extension in the off season (he’s not exactly having a banner year).
But I do know that Carlson is dead on in seeing a pending death for banner ads. “Social consumers” care very little about a brand’s marketing message at the top of the page, and much more about their social network’s opinions and ratings of that brand. They expect to interact with the brand and receive contact when they have an opinion or question.
Unless a brand is content reliably reaching only 8 percent of its potential audience, banner ads should be removed from its advertising mix. Brands that currently spend on banner ads should take the money they are investing in this outdated marketing vehicle and use it to expand your social presence, instead. The money spent developing social networking engagement has much higher returns in engagement and revenue when used to interact with customers, rather than distract them.
- Pete
