It Takes A Village: From Utopia Comes A New Way of Selling Raymond Pirouz Senior Partner/Creative Director R35 Although the Internet began quietly enough as a U.S. national security operation in light of the cold war, it accidentally grew into a humble global village of linked networks used mainly by scientists and researchers. To them, the Internet must have been an almost utopian technology: an unregulated mode of communication through which the Earth's brightest minds could freely share information for the advancement of the scientific and research communities. The graphic representation of this near-utopian model of human communication (made possible by first-generation browsers) gave birth to the World Wide Web. Identified by early web pioneers as the electronic "manifest destiny," the web's popularity quickly transformed it into a booming metropolis of interconnected supercomputers hosting local access providers who host corporate and home-based webmasters and netizens. Imagine going from the quiet of "starry nights" to the bustle of "honking horns and flashing lights." Culture Speak Throughout its swift evolution, the web has established its own online culture, code of ethics, and visual language. Witness the cultural phenomenon of the "smiley face" :-) and the "wink" ;-). But many invisible (almost moral) codes also have evolved within the online culture, such as: * Information on the web should be free. * Commercialization is frowned upon. * Web citizens (often referred to as netizens) would rather barter than pay for intangible goods or services. * Traditional "rules-of-the-game," such as national boundaries, and local, state, federal, and governmental regulations, should not apply to the Internet and the World Wide Web. * A polite "mother may I" is all it should take to use intellectual property belonging to someone else -- no lawyers necessary. * The web should be free from taxation and support the right to free speech online. Although the above are general representations of online culture, they reflect a state of mind based on the Internet's origins as a medium of communication through which the free flow of intellectual information went unchecked (and for the most part) unregulated. As an advertiser, you must know your audience and be able to speak their visual language to effectively compel them. One of the key steps in knowing your audience is understanding the nuances of their culture. If you understand the online culture, which differs significantly from the mainstream "live" culture, you are one step closer to creating compelling Internet advertising that draws visitors. Of course, the underlying cultural beliefs referenced above should not drive your online advertising strategy or message. They should form no more than the foundational thinking on which to base your advertising campaigns. Going Against the Grain One of the most important considerations to take into account when developing an online ad campaign is the fact that netizens HATE webvertising. This is an interesting phenomenon, because advertising revenue is nevertheless the key factor that has helped keep the "commercial, graphic" web alive. Without advertising revenue, designers could not afford to spend countless hours developing for the web. After all, the only people who are really paying to keep the major sites on the web (and all the hype surrounding the web) alive are advertisers. Every time you see a banner ad, or a sponsor logo, or MSNBC's THE SITE for that matter, know that they are being funded in part by advertising dollars. While some sites don't require advertising dollars because they make a killing selling products online, other sites are purely information-based and rely mainly on advertising dollars to help pay the electricity bill. Given the fact that the online community hates banner ads and webvertising in general, know that you literally have two seconds to get the attention of your potential audience and five seconds total (including the initial two seconds) to compel them to click. Where Advertising Meets the Web On the web, advertising has emerged as the savior of the online experiment and the easiest revenue-generating resource for web sites with compounding ISP fees. With the exception of a few sites such as Amazon Books, most sites rely on advertising to maintain their costs. The online webvertising model takes a census of a site's potential user-base and sells "banner" space on sites with the most visitors. Therefore, sites like Netscape which receive thousands of hits per day can charge advertisers big bucks for ad space. To create effective webvertising, it is important to understand that there are two major kinds of advertising: (1) Advertising that creates a need based on a sense of insecurity and inadequacy; or (2)Advertising that creates a need based on the inherent values (that is, the "core-being") of a product or service. The best kind of advertising creatively communicates that which is at the core-being of a product or service. "Honesty in Advertising" is a good example of the best kind of advertising. Products or services that sell themselves help to create the best ads (the Volkswagen ads of the '60s are a prime example). So how are advertisers successfully doing so on the web? Through banner ads, of course. Despite rumors predicting their imminent death, banners are still very much alive and well and selling in Tahoe. Next Tuesday, I’ll talk about their most effective use. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Banner Secrets: How to Run a Successful Campaign Raymond Pirouz Senior Partner/Creative Director R35 (second of two parts) Despite rumors predicting their imminent death, banners are still very much alive and well and selling in Tahoe. As the most prevalent form of direct webvertising, banner ads have been in business since the web became commercialized. So despite all the rumors about their death, banners have continued (and still continue) to be a prominent form of online advertising and brand positioning/promotion. A banner ad can basically be described as a piece of visual communication (either animated or still image, with no "set" size standards) that is placed within a web site. Its goal is to attract the netizen (or distract browsing netizens) long enough to compel a "click-through." The term click-through comes from the act of clicking on a link, thereby taking the user "through" to another location (in the case of banner ads, to the advertiser's site). Banner advertising serves two major purposes: Compelling users to click in order to take them away to the sponsor's site; Promoting a positive brand image, reinforced through repetition. The banner ad is nothing but an invitation to visit the site, which is, after all, the real webvertisement. Each site is an ad in its own right. There is simply not enough time to tell an entire story in a banner. Netizens don't like banners and will not spend more than two seconds (if that) to look at one. Banner ads are created to draw users to the meat of the ad. Specifically, we're talking the web site. A Unique Attribute Never in the history of advertising has creative communication been able to receive an "immediate" sense of success or failure. For the first time, advertising can be judged by the click-through rating, which is a measure of the number of times a banner is clicked versus the number of times it appears to visitors. The industry-average click-through rating is somewhere between 1 and 2 percent. For every 100 banners, one to two get clicked, on average. Never in the history of advertising have advertisers had the chance to "test" the immediate user response to advertising, with the ability to change them on the fly if they don't receive positive click-through ratings. Creating Effective Banner Ads Effective banner ads can be defined as those receiving high click-through ratings, while portraying a conceptually strong, aesthetically pleasing image that helps to reinforce a positive brand message for the product or service being advertised. The Microscope site is the Internet's only weekly web ad review. It profiles some very interesting banner ad campaigns on the web. By visiting Microscope, you can browse through its archives and examine the excellent site editor critiques of a wide variety of banners ads. My only complaint about Microscope is its lack of click-through rating coverage. While many of the banners profiled on the site are conceptually strong, there are no indicators as to how well they were received by the Internet audience. Simply creating a strong banner is not enough. It must perform well within the context for which it was designed before it can be deemed truly successful. (Editor's note: I can't pass up this opportunity for a shameless plug. The new Microscope site actually will track an ad's performance. The improved site debuts January 26.) Here, we have arrived at what I call the "click-through dilemma." What is more important? A banner's concept and image or its success with netizens (measured in click-through ratings). While it's important to create beautifully conceptual communication, it's also just as important to have audiences "click" on banners. When it comes to creating successful banner ads, the common consensus is: The banner MUST say, "Click Here" on it. (This is often referred to as a "call to action"). It should use the word FREE if such an offer exists. The bright color RED should be used to accentuate BIG type. Unfortunately, things are never this easy. There are simply no set formulas for any kind of visual communication. Each problem is unique, as should each solution be unique. Assumptions that create false senses of reality (such as there needing to be the words "Click Here" on a banner) are extremely absurd. This implies that Internet users are dense and don't know that ads are meant to be clicked on. Let's not forget that banners serve two functions: Enticing users to click and promoting a positive brand message about a product or service. Banner Click-Through Secrets So what are the secrets of banner ads? Well, you don't have to say, "Click Here," to get users to interact with a banner. All you have to do is incorporate the following strategy into your design and you will have successful banners every time. A strong concept. Without a concept, you might as well ask visitors to "Click Here" in big, bold, red, flashing type. Excellent art direction. Image is everything. Creating a memorable first impression helps to reinforce a positive branding message. Utilize the basic design principles. Scale, contrast, typography, visual language, and white space are details that you must address if you want to design successful banners. Creative copy writing. Sell the core-being of the product or service and compel users to click with creative call-to-action messages. Animation for the sake of reinforcing the concept. If the banner needs to be animated, animate it! Make sure that it is necessary, and not gratuitous. Small file sizes for quick load times. Remember that you have only two seconds to get your audience's attention. Your banner should load extremely quickly (hence, a 1k to 10k file size is preferable). Be brief and to the point. Banner ads are not there to tell a story; that’s the job of the web sites that they lead users to. Just get them to click, and the target web site will do the rest. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://www.clickz.com/archives/011398.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -