Re: UKNM: More webwashing

[jim smith]

glad to have you on board, Ray.


i think, however, you are missing the point of the argument

(understandably, given your position). no-one is arguing for less marketing

on the web (except for stef). the point about ad banners is that they are a

dead-end solution: they have failed to mesh with their medium in the way

that your other examples have succeeded to do.


let's take the situation of magazines. in many, if not most, cases ads in

magazines add value to the content. vogue wouldn't be vogue without

high-gloss fashion advertising, and computer shopper would lose its

compelling sales-point if it wasn't a telephone directory of PC prices.

when have ever seen an ad banner that added value to a site?


as for TV advertising, high production values help capture eyeballs (nuff

said there, i think) and the slots are paid for on the assumption that many

people simply won't see them (otherwise why are the first and last lots in

a break more expensive? - because people might catch them from returning

for a piss). add to that the entertaining spectacle of people paying for TV

channels that don't run ads during the football or the movie, and it's

clear to see that TV advertising has to struggle hard to keep our

attention.


<generalisation>ad banners by contrast make no attempt to mesh with their

medium: most don't even seem to have been designed by people who aren't

aware of what site(s) they're going on. they steal users from the site.

they have low production values. they slow down site access and they can

lead to crappy effects like reconnecting your browser unbidden. and, to

make matters worse, the industry is actively encouraging tiny banner sizes

and ad servers that just spew out untargetted ads to whoever

subscribes.</generalisation>


ad banners are the wrong solution to a fairly simple problem: how do we

market on the web?


i'm in favour of more web-based marketing - it, occasionally, pays my

wages. but the medium is just naturally shaped in favour of inclusive,

involving techniques like community and sponsorship.


you have to sell to the whole person, not just the eyeball...




At 5:57 pm +0100 on 17/5/99 you said:

>Yeah, let's ban all advertising on web sites. But why stop there?

>Advertising reduces TV viewing time by around 20%, takes up valuable space

>in a magazine, hides interesting building sites along roadways, and

>transforms an otherwise pleasant twice daily social experience for London

>commuters into a mind-numbing exercise in avoiding everyone's gaze in order

>to read the tube ads.

>

>Let's get back to wall-to-wall black and white TV, black and white

>magazines, and concentrating on the traffic jam, not the billboard. We don't

>need advertising to support media, we just need a state news agency and more

>BBC sitcoms (single camera, mono, sound and laughter optional).

>

>And as for newspapers, if everybody had to pay �10.00 a day for their daily

>read we would have less of those bloody awful recycling points popping up

>all over the place.

>

>Ray Taylor

>NMC/Adplan - the online advertising agency

>2,000,000,000 greenbacks can't be wrong


--//--------------------------------------------------------------------

jim smith -

jimflenser [dot] co [dot] uk

  -  http://www.flenser.co.uk  0961 319040

everything has been said, provided words do not change their meanings or

meanings their words                                         -- alpha 60 

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