Revitalizing Digital Display

It seems that digital display creative standards are on a pendulum...

• beginning of display - creative tried to distract from content (blinking, crawling over content, etc)
  
• the last couple of years - publishers pushed back and said that an annoyed customer meant a customer who left their site
• within the last few months though - publishers are starting to open themselves back up to big, bold creative
  

With this change, I have to ask... "yeah, but will they even see that rich media ad?" I've been hoping to see some traction on measuring time/exposure and last week I sat down with an ad network that had tested various models such as only charging if the ad had been seen by one user for 1-2 minutes during the course of the campaign. I asked why that model didn't stick -- "CPMs were in the pennies that way."

Surely there is some middle ground that generate revenue for the sites and helps digital ads stand out more.

Part of the issue is that we've accepted the focus on the short term measurements and we're less concerned branding and long-term intention drivers. I think the following could help us look at the branding impact (beyond pre- and post-wave studies) :

• Sites could stand to be more open to product integration. I know, I know... this is church and state in the traditional world, but digital blurs the line between user generated content and site generated content. I'd love to see the same courtesy extended to advertisers.
• Ad units need to be able to "read" if the user can see the full ad in their screen in order for it be counted as an impression.
  
• I get WHY sound isn't allowed on most sites, but doesn't this seem odd to anyone else? TV and radio have the ability to pull you in with sound even if you're driving or in another room. Would it not make sense that one ad on the digital page could have sound to help pull users into their message?
• It's been raised by others in the industry, but I'd love to see one ad unit per page-- perhaps the ad could even follow you as you scroll down the page?
  

The responsibility doesn't just lie with sites/networks...

• Media Planners/Buyers need to push for more information.
  
• Agencies need to take the time to tailor ads to fit the various needs of the consumer-- not just based on their mindset, but also based on their "in the moment" surfing habits.
  
• Creative needs to think beyond telling a story to creating long-term bonds with its consumers.

Thankfully, IAB has finally tried to take on this long-standing concern and will hopefully help turn many individual voices into a discussion that can yield results.

Digital Ad Impact

So I've been reading a bit here lately about what is being called a problem for digital advertising - why consumer's can't recall online advertising.

Obviously, I'm in the industry and while I can call some creative that I've liked... I've got plenty more examples from other media. So should digital advertising consider more impactful ad units, i.e. - one ad unit per page?

I like the idea, but something seems odd to me. I grew up in a time when people freaked over how certain songs sounded when you played them backwards. Have we lost the idea that working into someone's subconscious is just as desirable as making them sing our jingle?

Hey don't get me wrong, I totally agree that it's absolutely silly to think that someone who doesn't even scroll down enough to see the ad is anything but a wasted impression. But just because I didn't play the ad's game or clicked the ad, does it mean I wasn't impacted?

Instead, I think the larger problem is two fold

For awareness driven campaigns, it's often difficult for consumers to understand what the ad wants you to takeaway. The pages which are usually targeted for awareness campaigns often aren't pages that people rest on for more than mere seconds. Off the top of my head, two ideas come to mind:

• Create simple, 5-second ads for these types of ads
• Push publishers to retarget users who only saw part of the message until they are given time to digest the message

Completely opposite of that, is trying to tell the consumer a story and trying to get them to perform an action (AKA DR). Over and over again, we find that contextually relevant conversation and content is the best area to get someone to perform an action. Here is where it's easier to get someone to get into your message... because you're relevant to what they want to find.

Display often gets a lot of knocks but when you think of it as a process instead of an instantaneous push, it's much easier to create a successful campaign.

Update: Google Feeling the Pinch

Well, who didn't see that Google investing in newspaper sales wasn't maybe the brightest strategy? I mean in THEORY it's a cool idea -- using codes in newspapers to track to eventual sales, but in a medium that is feeling the pains, it's smart for Google to cut it's losses.

Unfortunately, that's not the only area that's effecting Google's ad revenue.

Due to the economic climate's effect on the way marketers are looking at media's need to be accountable, one would think that Google of all places would see an increase in CPCs (money out of branding and into DR means more demand = higher bids). As it turns out, not so much. Reportedly, this is due to marketers moving to less expensive terms that still produce results. Google ad spends, like the rest of advertising, are feeling the pinch.

Compacting the effect the economy has in this field is the fact that marketers are seeing that Search Engines alone aren't the end all be all. In fact, Search Engine usage has actually fallen a bit over the past few years.

Will people's use of Google products tumble?

Likely not.

Sure, consumers may shift to favor social network learning, but Google won't die. People will still need a 3rd party to help give us unbiased, factual information. We as consumers may be prompted to explore something by our friends, but we still feel the need to be the leader of our own research.

We may see more people lessening their use of SEARCH part of learning, but this will likely not hurt nimble companies like Google - keep in mind that Google/Yahoo have an extensive network of partnerships with content based sites and we'll still their ads. Additionally, YouTube is one of the most heavily "searched" sites on the net and they're owned by Google.

With that worry out of our minds, it brings up a larger issue. We're afraid that one of the "best" products we've grown accustomed to showing "success" may not be invincible.

Today's marketing isn't "media is the message" or "creative is the message" it is.. your customer is the message.

With the market ever changing it's easy to get hung up on the tactics instead of the idea. Search doesn't stand alone, display doesn't stand alone... WOM while several instances are EXTREMELY cool doesn't stand alone. Each media tactic works in tandem.

The key take away I have been feeling over the past few years is that there's a need to impact people no matter where they're researching (across this fragmented market). This means that we as marketers need to focus in on why/when our message would be most impactful. For instance, imagine it -- an ad network that puts your ad in front of someone who's looking to find out about your specific product. Selling a Dried Bean product? Imagine marketers targeting search/display/conversations about bean soup recipes. Or targeting consumers who are looking for projects to keep their kids entertained on a rainy day. Who is that optimum customer - not how old are they, but who are they and why would they care about your product?

Today's new model is shifting from telling why your brand is important to demonstrating how this product is a part of the consumer.

2009 CPCs Up and CPMs Flat

Happy New Year!

Let's start the year off by talking forecasts... Media Post published an article today that discusses digital spending forecasts for 2009.

Overall several media are feeling the downturn in the economy, but various interactive spend forecasts still say 2009 will remain relatively strong. This is no surprise given digital's accountability and ability to segment out the optimum audience. The medium has become even more attractive given the current climate and as a result some dollars are shifting from non-digital media to digital.

This means that where other media are able to cut deals, it is a bit of a different story when it comes to an online buy.

• Search will remain the strongest due to its ability to capture those seeking to find your product (higher demand = higher bidding).
• Display will likely see some shrinkage in demand but CPMs will remain somewhat flat.

That being said search, "which captures the lowest hanging fruit," still needs promotional media to help increase search enquiries. As such, TG Madison recommends a targeted mix of display, WOM and search tactics for many of it's clients.

So what does this mean immediately for 2009?

• Bid based campaigns will need to be monitored more closely to ensure that spend levels are adequate for the desired visibility.
• Online commitments will need to begin earlier than in previous years as inventory in certain, high profile, highly relevant areas may become tighter more quickly.
• Consumers will need to clearly see the difference between your offering and your competitors as its likely that your ads may run side-by-side (i.e. - Search).

Get ready for an interesting year, guys! Its going to be a bumpy ride!

More Support: Display --> Search

No surprise, but a recent study from Specific Media says that while search acts as a base to capture those who want to find your product, display has it's purpose too and should be monitored jointly (i.e. through DoubleClick or Atlas tracking products).

This recent eMarketer article calls out how display tends to help stimulate incremental conversions when coupled with SEM.