Conference Reports: Rethinking The Online Attitude
It is time to rethink the attitude towards online advertising- this was the message hammered out during two seminars for the media last week. The media owners at Total Publishing’s Online Revenue conference on 24 May were anxious to dispel the myth that online ad spend is falling- last year saw an increase of 203% (according to IAB’s Quarterly Review, to be published August 2001)- and encourage advertisers that there’s more to the medium than low scoring click-thru rates (CTRs).
We are told there is life in the banner ad yet: indeed the negative press regarding the faltering online ad spend is misleading and due to the lack of understanding between dotcom advertising and online advertising. Andrew Walmsley of digital media agency I-Level, asked “I can’t be the only person to be pissed off with this.” Sure, advertising from dotcoms has virtually disappeared, but the job is now to convince advertisers how online can take a slice of the budgets of fmcgs, which traditionally prefer TV to any other medium. Research now shows a shift in consumption from TV to online.
Advertisers continue to show reticence as click-thrus and consumer acquisition fall short of expectation. Initial excitement over this new interactive medium, which is ‘so easily measured’ – has subsided as the industry standard 0.25% for CTR falls way short of the standard direct mail response of 1%. In fact the expectations of the Internet proved to be over inflated, based on projection rather than concrete evidence. Indeed the Internet has shown itself to be a very different creature than first supposed.
It has, it seems, fallen victim to its own efficiency. As Walmsley reminded us, just because you can measure direct response doesn’t mean it’s a direct response medium. He condemned the erroneous comparison with direct mail- the two just don’t compare. Advertisers need to look beyond the CTR and focus on the benefits of indirect response and the inevitable benefits of brand awareness. Fru Hazlitt, sales and marketing Director of Yahoo Europe produced figures supporting these benefits, the result of some research into users’ behavioural patterns, (for our benefit Geri Haliwell shopping online for a diamond ring at Tiffany’s) – whilst only 4% of visitors to the Tiffany’s site did so by clicking through from their banner ad 86% had arrived at the site as a result of delayed awareness.
So owners are encouraging the advertising community not to underestimate the power of brand awareness online (take note the Amazon/BOL example). The creative possibilities of this interactive medium are endless. At Net Imperative’s afternoon session on 23 May: How to get ahead in online advertising, Charlotte Nasser, UK MD of the Scandinavian agency Abel & Baker, showed some impressive examples of award-winning campaigns. Most notably was MTV Europe’s cross-platform campaign that encouraged every man, woman and child to plant MTVe stickers on each other’s backs. Radio and TV adverts drove traffic to their site where these stickers were ordered. Another banner ad for a Swedish recruitment agency depicted little animated people walking across the screen and into the ad with the message “Where’s everybody going?”. This achieved a phenomenal 12.5% CTR.
Cases like these are exceptional and successful due to truly great creative that encourages users to interact with the brand – surely the fundamental advantage of online advertising. Advertisers must grasp the potential of more integrated promotion, important in a climate of reduced marketing spend across all media. The Internet Auditing Bureau (IAB) will soon be issuing a series of case studies aimed at guiding the advertiser’s through this “period of uncertainty amongst advertisers.”
ISBA is working hard with the IAB to agree on standard trading regulations and billing processes as used by other media. Already in place are two main auditing bodies, ABC Electronic and JICWEBS, and the IAB aim to issue a number of research publications and standards programme over the next couple of months. They previewed some of the new banner ad sizes proposed, including the much talked about Skyscrapers.
Their aim is to clear up the confusion with this new medium and bring trading practices under greater regulation, reassuring advertisers that this is a safe platform. Bob Wootton spoke of the need for a singular representative from owners and agencies, putting forward his vote for Danny Meadows-Klue, chairman of the IAB, as a worthy applicant.
As well as their research bank and standards committee, the IAB presented their vigorous public affairs programme and hope to engage in Broadband consultation with the DTI and DCMS this June. With the co-operation of the owners and advertisers it seems we are on the way to repairing the reputation of what is actually proving a healthy ad revenue stream- last year saw a number of milestones in the ad spend figures. For the first time online spend overtook cinema, notching up £154m revenue in 2000, which accounted for 1% of total ad spend in the country.
This renewed fervour and enthusiasm from owners about the growth of the platform may help to pull befuddled advertisers out of the woods to keep investing in online campaigns. Even Neil Thackray, ex-CEO of the now-folded Industry Standard seemed optimistic. Though he advised us to charge premium banner ad rates as they did- $100 per 100,000 page impressions- and NEVER gave discounts, we must assume these are not enough, as he managed to mention that he was still looking for a job…
Report by Liz Strachan