Role of Creative
Industry leaders’ insights on the role that compelling online creative plays in driving brand advertising dollars online.
“Publishers have to change the ad units to enable advertisers to have a better brand presentation on their pages. Ultimately, low-interest brands need a chance to tell a story.
“There’s something very magical about television—that consumers remember the story and the characters and recall a positive image of a brand is incredibly powerful. One good example is Charmin (with Mr. Whipple saying, ‘Please Don’t Squeeze the Charmin!’) which hasn’t been on television for 25 years. Contrast that with what you see on the Internet today and there’s nothing like it.
“Why is that? You’d think that online ads deliver sight, sound and motion. Why is it that the Internet is not delivering that kind of impact?”
“I don’t think the measurement issue is holding back brand dollars online. Some people are very concerned about that, but the bigger concern is that the Web still hasn’t found a way to create the kind of emotional involvement that television creates for people.
“So that when you’re selling, say, Folgers Coffee, and you’re creating this fantastic commercial with a bunch of people doing an Irish jig and it makes you feel good about the coffee, it’s memorable. And when you go into the supermarket, you say to yourself, ‘Oh, yeah. Folgers Coffee.’
“It’s going to take a truly concerted effort on the part of publishers and other intermediaries to create inventory that is truly attractive to the creative community and can be exploited by the creative community effectively.”
“Creative is a big issue. We’re trying to spur a creative renaissance, so to speak, to show the opportunity for online advertising to deliver a rich experience, tell a unique story and a brand-oriented message.
“The Web is a great branding platform. We’ve heard that consumers want to experience whatever it is that they’re looking for wherever they are. The idea is to deliver the brand experience right on the pages of these rich content sites so people won’t have to click away.
“The new ad units for OPA sites are much larger. One of the units is called a fixed panel—as the reader scrolls down the page, the unit remains static with the scroll. The marketer’s share of voice increases because the consumer is being exposed to a bigger ad for a potentially longer period of time.
“Another unit, called the XXL, starts out covering about half of the right-hand side of the page. As it opens, it covers the entire page. The third one is a pushdown format where the ad extends and then collapses up to a smaller piece. All three of the units are designed for branding in content-rich environments.”
“We’ve been working with publishers to encourage the development of new ad units to encourage better placement and less clutter. We are trying to figure out units that persist in front of the consumer. We are trying to measure the impact of the new units versus the old units. At the same time, we are working with brand advertisers to help them better understand the opportunity online.”
