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Happy Birthday, Digital Advertising!
27th October, 2009 17:09 PM
The Banner Campaign that Started a $24 billion Business, and Got
a 78% Click-through Rate
Oct. 27 marks the 15th anniversary of the industry's first banner
display ads, which appeared on Hotwired.com. To the many of you
reading this who weren't in the business back then, that's not a
typo; I'm not referring to www.HotWire.com, the travel site, but
HotWired -- the first commercial digital magazine on the web and
the offshoot of Wired magazine.
Its launch in 1994 was not without debate internally as to whether
the ad units offered to the advertiser community should be simple
text links or graphical ad banner units. Graphical ad display banners
won out and the rest is history. And take a look at the hilarious
come-on AT&T used to generate a click-through: "Have you
ever clicked your mouse right HERE? You will!"
The reaction ran from enthusiastic to somewhat leery. MCI, as one
would expect, was truly supportive of our proactive initiative.
Their corporate culture encouraged exploration. Volvo, on the other
hand, understood the value of our experimenting with the new medium,
but did not want to push/urge any interaction with the consumer.
They didn't know what to expect, did not know how to handle responses
and was concerned legal implications were involved. As a result,
you see the first Volvo ad banner was nothing more than the Volvo
logo and photo of an auto. No call to action or direction to click
was to be incorporated into the Volvo banner. In fact, if someone
clicked on that banner in October of 1994, it would take them to
a simple questionnaire that could be emailed by the consumer on
what kind of Volvo they might be interested in.
HotWired was the first commercial web magazine to attract blue chip
corporate sponsorships dollars on the web. The site launched shortly
before Netscape's browser, and the advent of such other new media
such as Pathfinder.com (Time Inc.'s commercial web content offering)
and Cnet.com.
Looking back at the birth of this industry and the first simple
graphical banners, I am still amazed at how much has been achieved
in the first 15 years. That said, I anxiously await the further
advancements coming our way in terms of new ad technologies, ad
forms and ad measurement capabilities (e.g. attribution modeling).
The issues surrounding display banners and online brand measurement
are many and have been well chronicled (see the recent special eMarketer
report entitled The Online Brand Measurement: Connecting Dots for
example).
Research suggests we have a long road ahead in terms of measurement
-- and I don't disagree; however, I'm not convinced we're that far
off. I don't believe there will ever be a "silver bullet"
to solve all of our problems, as our industry is constantly evolving,
becoming more complex and proving to be a moving target. But all
that said, from what we have learned through the use of fundamental
building blocks of acquired knowledge, industry and case studies,
the use of traditional media metrics, the use of existing best measurement
practices for digital and a quest to continually "test and
learn," we will ultimately be successful.
Has any one item in our industry been encased with so much debate
-- at times even disdain -- as to its true value, role and contribution
to marketing communications from its inception in 1994 to this day?
Yet the display banner is the impetus to the creation of the online
advertising category that will reach beyond $24 billion in 2009,
according to eMarketer. Perhaps more important, no other development
since has advanced advertising measurement, effectiveness and accountability
than the display banner.
So on Oct. 27, I hope you will join me in toasting the birthday
of the banner display ad -- whether you are a "cup is half-empty"
or "cup is half-full" type of person. Some days I love
the business and others day... well, not so much... but I have to
admit: it's been an unbelievable 15 years.
I leave you with a challenge... Can you guess the two-word copy
from one of the original banner ads that generated 78% click-through
rate? I look forward to your answers.
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