Rich Media Entices a Wealth of Customers
By Lexi Dwyer
In the past, advertising on the Web meant banner ads. Most agree that although banners are one way to build brand awareness, they aren't the best way, and shouldn't be a marketer's only method for getting Web users interested in a product. Let's face it, many banners are boring and don't utilize Web technology to entertain or enlighten potential customers. NetRatings reported last year that ad click-through rates have fallen to about 0.5 percent, meaning that surfers breeze by 199 out of 200 banners.
Unicast CEO Richard Hopple explains why interactive ads are the best tool for building brand awareness: "Banners were originally developed as a way to get people to go places where advertisers could deliver effective messages. So this type of click-through is important, but doesn't equal ongoing consumer interaction."
Enhanced banners, interstitials that appear between successive Web pages, and plug-in free audio and video software are some of the tools that shape the look and feel of the latest Internet ads. And it all seems to be working. Advertisers note that interaction rates—the length of time that viewers spend with ads—are higher for rich-media ads than for traditional banners.
Raise Your Banners
Despite all the speculation about what's "beyond the banner," these mini billboards we've become so accustomed to aren't going anywhere yet. They are, however, getting redesigned into small interactive programs. Marketers are starting to realize that if you build a banner with jerky GIF animation and some tiresome text, most people aren't going to bother checking it out.
