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Are we blind to banner ads?

Eddie Dane

Philosopher
Eddie Dane
Joined
Aug 18, 2007
Messages
6,681
Maybe this is the wrong sub-forum. this question is about human psychology


Some background:

I market a small fashion brand with a limited budget.
I'd love to use nation-wide billboards to advertise the brand and increase brand awareness. However, this is waaaaay too expensive.


So I was thinking:

Banner ads are cheap these days because you usually only pay for clicks, and hardly anyone ever clicks a banner ad.

I can easily identify sites (blogs, forums etc) that talk about my brand or about my richer and more successful competitors and are therefore my target group.

1. place banner ads
2. have them function as "digital billboards"
3. profit!

I'd love the clicks, but am perfectly happy with views and eventually -possibly subconscious- brand recognition.

My plan may be brilliant, it may also be fatally flawed: exactly how blind are people to banner-ads?

Opinions?
 
This window is surrounded by the rest of my screen. The screen is set against a wall with notes, pictures, and other items on it. Right now I'm only seeing this editor box. When I"m on forums with banners I really couldn't tell you what they were promoting after I scroll down. It may be in there somewhere, but it doesn't have much power when it comes to making any kind of selection.
 
Eddie Dane said:
Maybe this is the wrong sub-forum. this question is about human psychology


Some background:

I market a small fashion brand with a limited budget.
I'd love to use nation-wide billboards to advertise the brand and increase brand awareness. However, this is waaaaay too expensive.


So I was thinking:

Banner ads are cheap these days because you usually only pay for clicks, and hardly anyone ever clicks a banner ad.

I can easily identify sites (blogs, forums etc) that talk about my brand or about my richer and more successful competitors and are therefore my target group.

1. place banner ads
2. have them function as "digital billboards"
3. profit!

I'd love the clicks, but am perfectly happy with views and eventually -possibly subconscious- brand recognition.

My plan may be brilliant, it may also be fatally flawed: exactly how blind are people to banner-ads?

Opinions?
Click to expand...
I notice them if they have GREAT graphics or for something I was already planning to get, otherwise they are just holes in my line of sight.
 
I don't know if I represent any sort of demographic other than having a lot in common with others who've already responded, but I'm sort of immune to them. Web browsing has taught me to ignore them unless I have to click to get past them to an article, and the ones I have to click past (notably on my Thai newspaper site), I can honestly say that I remember the subject matter (it's almost always condominiums) but I'll be damned if I remember the brand.

ETA: This thread is in its infancy, though. If you get so much as 2 out of a hundred people who post that they always notice good banner ads, then you're getting a 2% return, and if they're really cheap and on sites with hundreds of thousands of views, it could well be worth it.
 
Last edited:
Eddie Dane said:
Put naked chicks on banner. Noted.
Click to expand...

Does not always work - My wife has occasionally seen near naked girls in banner adds on my computer, I have not even noticed them till she points them out lol
 
10 Shocking But True Display Advertising Stats
You are more likely to complete NAVY SEAL training than click a banner ad. (Source: Solve Media) Tweet This
Only 8% of internet users account for 85% of clicks on display ads (and some of them aren't even humans!). (Source: comScore) Tweet This
You are more likely to get a full house while playing poker than click on a banner ad. (Source: Solve Media) Tweet This
The average person is served over 1,700 banner ads per month. Do you remember any? (Source: comScore) Tweet This
You are more likely to summit Mount Everest than click a banner ad. (Source: Solve Media) Tweet This
The average clickthrough rate of display ads is 0.1%. (Source: DoubleClick) Tweet This
You are more likely to birth twins than click a banner ad. (Source: Solve Media) Tweet This
About 50% of clicks on mobile ads are accidental. (Source: GoldSpot Media) Tweet This
You are more likely to get into MIT than click a banner ad. (Source: Solve Media) Tweet This
You are more likely to survive a plane crash than click on a banner ad. (Source: Solve Media) Tweet This

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/horrifying-display-advertising-stats
 
I don't block ads but I don't really 'see' them, either. If there's a pop-up, I immediately look in the upper right-hand corner for the X button and close it without ever looking at the content. If they fool me by putting the close button elsewhere, I scan quickly for the button and don't retain anything - it's kind of a blank scan. If there are too many ads on a page, so that it loads slowly or messes up the scroll, or if the page forces me to reload it and the ads every time I want a new segment of the article, I don't return to that site.

I have never clicked purposefully on an ad, although there have been a few mistakes. I have never bought anything through an ad. I may be an anomaly, but I'm not so sure about that.

I have some ad experience myself, as I advertise (or have advertised) my books through ads on Goodreads. I have noticed that I eventually use up my click-throughs, but it doesn't seem to be correlated with sales. I'm thinking banner and other Internet ads may have run their most profitable course...
 
Never clicked on one in my life.

But then I usually have everything blocked unless I want to see a specific image
 
Eddie Dane said:
Maybe this is the wrong sub-forum. this question is about human psychology


Some background:

I market a small fashion brand with a limited budget.
I'd love to use nation-wide billboards to advertise the brand and increase brand awareness. However, this is waaaaay too expensive.


So I was thinking:

Banner ads are cheap these days because you usually only pay for clicks, and hardly anyone ever clicks a banner ad.

I can easily identify sites (blogs, forums etc) that talk about my brand or about my richer and more successful competitors and are therefore my target group.

1. place banner ads
2. have them function as "digital billboards"
3. profit!

I'd love the clicks, but am perfectly happy with views and eventually -possibly subconscious- brand recognition.

My plan may be brilliant, it may also be fatally flawed: exactly how blind are people to banner-ads?

Opinions?
Click to expand...

I use an ad blocker so I would certainly be blind to the ad - I would recommend making sure whatever you design complies with the Acceptable Ad Manifesto so as not to be automatically blacklisted by such products

https://acceptableads.org/en/
 
People don't generally think they're affected by tv and radio ads either.

So how would you know?
 
BTW:

Subliminal advertising (one frame in a film showing a logo or suggestion) has been scientifically proven to be ineffective.

But the public thought it was scary, politicians acted and it is actually illegal in the US.
 
Tsukasa Buddha said:
According to this infographic (which means it must be true), native adverts are naturally better, but banner ads aren't as ineffective as one might think.
Click to expand...

That's very good, thank you.

I'm actually quite shocked at how well banners perform according to this study.

Making native ads is a lot more work and I think it is much more expensive.
 
Generally, I'm not aware of them as I'm reading something from the page. However, it's always possible there's a subliminal effect.
 
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