Is there a difference between a banner and a site?
In short: no. Where a banner is relegated to a physical size, like 300 x 250, a site is also constrained to a size, like 800 x 600. That's it. That's the only difference. And brands are finally starting to grasp how important this is to their equity.
The conventional thinking with banners is that they tease users to click through to go to their site. But with Flash, is there really a need for users to leave the page they're on to gain real value from your brand? Absolutely not.
Coke Zero has recently done an excellent job of showcasing this use, with a series of scrollable "scenes" in a Flash fly-out that allow users to download movie clips, send clips to friends, and more, without ever leaving the page they're on.
Why force someone to come to your site when Flash banners allow you to bring the site to them?
A problem that continues to persist today is getting users over the hump of registration. And a lot of this has to do with the always-shrinking meter of patience and goodwill that users are willing to give an experience within a site.
But what happens when you put your site registration on another site via a Flash banner? You've taken this perceptually daunting task and made it accessible outside of the context of that brand's site experience. Filling in a form on a branded banner feels less cumbersome than being forced to fill one out when a user wants content on that site.
Once the user has filled out the form, an auto-response email can provide her with a username, password and link to start interacting with the site right away without any of the barriers she may be used to.
I phrase it this way because shifting a tedious process out of the typical context and timing creates a completely different position for the brand and its users to start from. None of the components to the experience have changed, only the order in which they are interacted with. And that is a huge difference that can't be underestimated.
Wow. Where to start?
When it's laid out in a column like this, it can feel like there are so many ways to leverage Flash for your campaign and site that you don't know where to start.
Luckily, it's only your job to know that these possibilities exist. It's up to people at good interactive agencies to be up on the technology and advocate for solutions that create unique, brand-building experiences.
All you need to do is get that good agency brought in while you discuss your brand goals, and not only present your ideas, but also discuss how to leverage them dynamically for the users' -- and the brand's -- ultimate advantage.
Michael Leis is VP of Publishing Dynamics. Read full bio.