Comments on: Why Non-Standard Ads Should Be The Exception Not the Rule http://www.usableclicks.com/2009/04/why-non-standard-ads-should-be-the-exception-not-the-rule/ Thu, 03 Mar 2011 14:38:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Mike Bohn http://www.usableclicks.com/2009/04/why-non-standard-ads-should-be-the-exception-not-the-rule/#comment-53 Mike Bohn Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:30:28 +0000 http://www.usableclicks.com/?p=363#comment-53 Agreed, there are a bunch of great executions out there. The reason they're great, in my opinion, is that the executions were non-standard or custom. They are one of a kind and special. It all boils down to scarcity and the demand it creates. There are a lot of great analogies, but professional sports is a good one. There are a huge number of prospective players, and a finite number of teams/spots. This scarcity, and abundance of demand creates competition among those prospective players, pushing the cream to the top (unless you're in Detroit). If you created 100 more teams, every Joe Schmoe could get some playing time. Would you really want to watch football then? How many games, watching horribly out of shape wannabees, could you watch before you burned out of the sport all together? Agreed, there are a bunch of great executions out there. The reason they’re great, in my opinion, is that the executions were non-standard or custom. They are one of a kind and special.

It all boils down to scarcity and the demand it creates. There are a lot of great analogies, but professional sports is a good one.

There are a huge number of prospective players, and a finite number of teams/spots. This scarcity, and abundance of demand creates competition among those prospective players, pushing the cream to the top (unless you’re in Detroit).

If you created 100 more teams, every Joe Schmoe could get some playing time. Would you really want to watch football then? How many games, watching horribly out of shape wannabees, could you watch before you burned out of the sport all together?

]]> By: Jeremy Sanchez http://www.usableclicks.com/2009/04/why-non-standard-ads-should-be-the-exception-not-the-rule/#comment-41 Jeremy Sanchez Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:33:04 +0000 http://www.usableclicks.com/?p=363#comment-41 This post is spot on. I was just having a conversation with a designer a couple of days ago about how, if abused, these new formats are going to be a UX nightmare. In a lot of ways the giant pushdown ads are worse than popovers and interstitials. At least those are modal and can be dismissed. It seems like a no-brainer to me that the higher CTRs are fleeting. Like Kevin said, as soon as publishers start to treat these placements as commodities, and we see them filled by the freecreditreport people, those numbers will certainly take a dive. I like what some properties (like Pandora) are doing with integrated creative, but standardization of these larger ad sizes is almost a tacit endorsement for their abuse. Why innovate when you can get a gigantic above the fold placement. This post is spot on. I was just having a conversation with a designer a couple of days ago about how, if abused, these new formats are going to be a UX nightmare. In a lot of ways the giant pushdown ads are worse than popovers and interstitials. At least those are modal and can be dismissed.

It seems like a no-brainer to me that the higher CTRs are fleeting. Like Kevin said, as soon as publishers start to treat these placements as commodities, and we see them filled by the freecreditreport people, those numbers will certainly take a dive.

I like what some properties (like Pandora) are doing with integrated creative, but standardization of these larger ad sizes is almost a tacit endorsement for their abuse. Why innovate when you can get a gigantic above the fold placement.

]]> By: Kevin Skobac http://www.usableclicks.com/2009/04/why-non-standard-ads-should-be-the-exception-not-the-rule/#comment-39 Kevin Skobac Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:38:09 +0000 http://www.usableclicks.com/?p=363#comment-39 There are a lot of great thoughts here. I agree that brands and properties need to tread lightly and with respect. If larger ad-space drives more interesting creative and less ad-clutter, then it seems like a good experiment worth testing. I love the Pandora model with 1 integrated creative only around the player at any given time, but I know Pandora is a specific case (BTW Pandora performs very well). The work that Apple has done with these ownerships has been fantastic, in terms of subtle but interesting creative (I'm thinking of the Washington Post ad where the guy climbed the ladder). However, I don't want to see sites overrun with large bland ads all of the time, where I can barely focus on the content I'm there to digest (I agree with some of your ideas on regulating this). Mashable is trying something interesting. They're reducing the number of ads per page, and (supposedly) being more picky about which advertisers they allow target their community. Through this they expect to provide more value to their users, generate higher CTR's, and be able to increase CPM's. One personal peeve - I kind of hate push-down ads. There are a lot of great thoughts here. I agree that brands and properties need to tread lightly and with respect. If larger ad-space drives more interesting creative and less ad-clutter, then it seems like a good experiment worth testing. I love the Pandora model with 1 integrated creative only around the player at any given time, but I know Pandora is a specific case (BTW Pandora performs very well). The work that Apple has done with these ownerships has been fantastic, in terms of subtle but interesting creative (I’m thinking of the Washington Post ad where the guy climbed the ladder). However, I don’t want to see sites overrun with large bland ads all of the time, where I can barely focus on the content I’m there to digest (I agree with some of your ideas on regulating this).

Mashable is trying something interesting. They’re reducing the number of ads per page, and (supposedly) being more picky about which advertisers they allow target their community. Through this they expect to provide more value to their users, generate higher CTR’s, and be able to increase CPM’s.

One personal peeve – I kind of hate push-down ads.

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