When ads go wrong
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For this figure: ...well...we're not sure. The content is incredible. The author is intelligent, lucid, knowledgeable and conversational. Although there's no image given, we're sure he's also handsome, stunning and virile. This figure is also the first demonstration we have of a "box" style advertisement on a web page. What is good is that the banner colors are so completely different from the rest of the page that the eye is naturally drawn to it. Not so with the box, and this is an example of conflicting ad composition. The banner is so overpowering a visual signal that the box is effectively ignored. Lastly, there is no indication that either ad is keyed to the page content, thus people coming for the content may simply ignore (defocus from) what's being advertised (best case scenario) or won't come back because the ads are too off-putting to validate the energy required to focus on the content (worst case scenario). This last figure is -- to me -- an example of the worst kind of banner-box advertising, design and combination: Two horizontal menus stacked vertically separated by things that might or might not be banner ads. This design is a navigational maelstrom because visitors are visually challenged to figure out what to click on to find what they're looking for. Also note the small, gold colored, right most box near the bottom of the screen. This is one of three action items, the first two of which are for site-relevant content (sports). This right most item is an ad. This is a clever method to get visitors to investigate a screen target once. Unfortunately, it's a "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me" type of thing. Visitors looking for relevant content will quickly become jaded and either not return or will have learned to ignore that area of screen content. Next: Tarred by the broad brush
Ad Placement #5
Joseph Carrabis is CRO and founder of NextStage Evolution and NextStage Global and founder of KnowledgeNH and NH Business Development Network. Read full bio. He was recently selected as a senior research fellow and board advisor for the Society for New Communications Research.