Bob Rinderle / Business & Beyond

Only 5% of Online Ads Are Rich?

I was surprised to read in Ad Age's Digital Issue that only 5% of online ads are rich (according to PointRoll).  That is far from the norm where I work, so I was shocked that rich ads overall are still in the single digits. 

With only 6% of people engaging these units, the whole experiential promise of online advertising - engagement, interactivity, affinity - is grossly underdelivered.  With all the focus on ROI and accountability - especially in these tough economic times - the ability to demonstrate real marketing value through deployment of rich media seems like a golden opportunity just waiting for the taking.

Do Ads Work?

 A few days ago Seth Godin offered simple yet powerful commentary on his blog regarding the effectiveness of advertising.  An edited version follows:

"If the local bank were offering a sale on dollar bills, ninety cents each, how many would you buy? 

Most rational people would say, "I'll take them all."

So, why, precisely, do you have an ad budget?

If your ads work, if you can measure them and they return more profit than they cost, why not keep buying them until they stop working?  And if they don't work, why are you running them?

The time-tested response is that you're not sure, that ads are risky, that you can't tell. And for some sorts of products and some sorts of ads, you'll get no argument from me.

Digital ads are different (or they should be). You should know cost per click and revenue per click and be able to make a smart guess about lifetime value of a click. And if that's positive, buy, buy, buy.

And if you don't know those things, why are you buying digital ads?

How often do you hear the marketing person say, 'that's a neat idea, but we don't have the budget this year?'  Shouldn't she say, 'We have an unlimited budget for ads that work...?'"