Features

Digital advertising
AIM banner, more than just a click.

It’s official, we're terribly demanding! Internet users no longer want to be compelled to click through your online ad and navigate through your website to find a PDF. They want to download it directly from your advert and get on with their day.

We have witnessed many trends in online advertising – beginning with simple animated gifs through to intrusive media (the wretched pop-up!) and now we’ve arrived in the world of rich media.

The saturation of broadband combined with enhanced rich media technologies means online advertising is a great platform for embracing what is commonly known as the WEB 2.0 phenomenon.

So what does this actually mean?
Put simply, web users no longer expect to have to hunt around your website for content, they expect to have the information they need delivered to them on a plate.

In the world of expandable formats, and well-sized MPUs we see online ads as mini flash websites, the perfect space to:

• deliver content, whether it’s video, audio, brochures or even content that needs to be updated every day through dynamic feeds
• capture user data, whether it’s brochure requests or event registrations it’s simple to build your database

Here’s an example
The London Stock Exchange was looking to increase awareness of AIM as an option for German companies wanting to raise capital. We reviewed the information available to us and worked with them to create a simple MPU to show how this could be done.

Our advert:

• explains the benefits of AIM
• delivers a webcast about one company’s journey to listing
• provides a brochure about joining the market
• has a data capture form which generated leads for the German sales team

All this from an MPU! See how it’s done here.

So what does this mean for traditional metrics?
The basic question is whether cost per click as a measure of success is still applicable? The answer? It’s becoming less and less relevant. Instead we see ad-servers adopting a number of other criteria to help you evaluate the success of your campaign:

• Most ad servers can show you how many times your video was played and what percentage of the video was watched.
• Brochure downloads can be measured.
• Captured contact details will be placed in a database for you to download and emailed directly to your inbox.
• Post impression analysis becomes more relevant, if someone is served one of your ads and they then visit your website after the event (this time period can be variable) their journey and interaction with your website can be measured and evaluated.

So are you harnessing the power of rich-media or are you still running simple flash advertising?

Why not chat to Paul or Dave about taking the next digital step to ensure you are making the most of your online space.