LOVE

What was here - it did not embed properly.

Go and see it here. A-MAZING.

http://www.vimeo.com/9194146

Again, c/- Dan from MSN

People can't remember web ad's...

Bless. Have just been sent a link to this article by John Burbank, CEO of Nielsen Online by a colleague, who had been sent it by a client. Awesome.

I have nothing really against what John is saying in this piece, my issue is, online isn't the only medium where this is a problem. The general public also have trouble recalling their favourite radio/adshel/busback ad. The only medium where this isn't a problem, is typically television.

In fact, in testing a campaign where the ONLY medium used was busbacks, when asked where they saw the campaign almost all questioned answered 'on television'. They knew the campaign, and what it was promoting, but instinctively answered TV because it is the medium that has the most resonance with most people. It doesn't mean that the advertising is not working - and the brilliance of online is that you can see immediate results if the offering and placement of the ad is correct.

In addition to the value online proves with CPC's and CPA's I believe that the brand awareness from online is also worth recognition. For a couple of clients (retail and government) the increase in both search and direct traffic is impressive, much of which I attribute directly to advertising online. Its amazing how much we pick up without really looking.

So that was a little off topic, but I think what advertisers (in particular agencies who are trying to see this medium to their clients) need to do is focus on the advertising working - whether it is tv, radio or online - and lose the egos about memorability. Did it work (drive traffic, generate enquiries)? Yes? Freaking awesome. Did they remember the ad 3 months after it was was live? No? Sweet, put it online again and milk it for all its worth.

For the record, this is my favourite online ad for quite some time. It was beautifully timed to coincide with the NZ elections and when you tried to get your mouse on one of the men, they moved out of the way. Easy, fun to play with and timely.

Love elections

It's amazing what comes out around election time, but having the US election run so close to ours, I feel as though it shows how different a presidential campaign is to a priministerial campaign. To start with, how to get people to vote. In the states, they seem to go to quite extreme lengths to get one to vote, including enlisting massive celebrities. The first '5 friends' video


has been viewed almost 3.1 million times, with 5 more friends,
the second video over 1.4 million times. Here in NZ we have some orange guy who we have seen for years trying to get us to vote. Now, granted, different budgets, different countries, different populations and different overall outcome, but surely we can have some interesting/clever/relevant/inspiring creative in the advertising that is forced on us, and not an envelope on screen for (and I am guessing) 8 seconds with a voiceover. Boring!

As an aside, I also like the online that they are rolling out... way to work in your audiences line of sight.

Bless advertising

I love how blatant some people can be about their opinions these days.

Whilst doing some research for a client I stumbled upon this. How funny is the skyscraper on the right-hand side? To be fair, I was SO afraid that there would be a nasty surprise at the end of the click through that I decided to be neutral and not have an opinion (for once) and not vote. What amazes me about this is that this site which draws a good deal of Middle Eastern traffic, I would think that this ad could polarize a few people.

At any rate, it made me look twice, and want to click (even if I didn't) and isn't that the point of online? Capture attention, provoke curiosity and give a user a good enough reason to move away and click on your advertising. Pity we I can't really use this kind of in-your-face message for my clients.