The Trouble with Advertising

I get frustrated when surfing sites nowadays which are a bit too gung-ho when it comes to advertising. Specifically, online streaming services, such as Hulu, Fox OnDemand, and most others.

The problem is, it's difficult for the older generation (particularly those involved in making large executive decisions) to understand how the modern twentysomething thinks (and it's only getting worse with the next generation). We are an impatient bunch, with piercingly-accurate detectors of product BS, and "fake-cool".

We don't want some guy rapping about the best deals in wireless prepaid cell phone service, nor do we need some 'clever' advertisement which is supposed to be 'funny' and purposefully stupid. We know what we want, and what we want is content. Especially when it comes to online video, we really couldn't care less about the ads, we just want the content. And, more and more, if it's too much hassle to deal with your site, and the steps it takes to get to the content, we'll just grab the content elsewhere (quasi- or il-legally if need be).

The Big Irritators

I don't care about some things at all

I'm not sure about other people, but irrelevant ads can go take a hike altogether. It doesn't matter how clever they are, or how fascinatingly awesome I, or anyone else thinks they are. There are just some products I'm never, ever going to buy. Relevant ads, on the other hand, tend to be half-decent (so long as the algorithms are up to the challenge). How they appear, however, is a different matter entirely.

Animations and Flash are distracting and annoying

Anytime an ad, wherever it's placed on a site, is moving or flashing at me, I get annoyed. It detracts from my browsing experience, and forces me into a state of irritation. Trying to get my attention by flashing or animating something isn't going to work, instead, it's going to make me angry.

The big files

Going along with animations are the ads which are either way too large (as in filesize), or way too complicated (as in CPU intensive). A simple three-to-four word phrase and a logo is all an ad needs to convey. "Product Y: It's awesome stuff" That's it, not a 2-minute long animation with HD audio or advanced AI simulator on its backend. It's not that people aren't on broadband (which a large percentage still aren't), it's that they're wasting my bandwidth downloading something I don't care about.

The neo-pop-up

It used to be that pop-ups were a big problem. Then, we figured out a way to block them. Then, they figured out a way of bringing them back. Then, we blocked them again. Then, out of spite, they've moved them into the actual page. It's an in-window pop-up, done with either Javascript or Flash. Some floating box or other such nonsense appears and blocks your ability to do what you want. Now, I ask you, if constantly getting people to click on the big 'X' in the corner is the behavior advertisers are instilling, won't that just teach us to ignore, or quickly pass-off the products being advertised? It's the same philosophy regarding dialog boxes and computers. Too many people just click 'OK' that UI designers have had to change up their language to make people actually read the darn things (which is only part of the solution).

The "your show will begin in XX seconds..."

This one is for me, the worst. I absolutely hate when a site will deliberately prolong the display of content to show me an intrusive ad. What they're really getting across is, "product X doesn't want you to watch this video". That gets really annoying, and really, really annoying over time. The easy fix to this is to simply place an ad below the content, and add the words "Brought to you by:" next to it. That way, I notice it, and associate my favorite content with the advertised product. Keeping it the content-prohibitive way it is now only makes me develop spite for the products. Seriously, there are a few products I will deliberately avoid because they've prolonged me watching something online.

The Shining Stars

The clever, "hey dude, have you seen the latest ad from ... " ad

These include ads like the wonderful Wario Land Shake It Youtube page, and the Apple / NY Times ads (of which there are many). These ads are fun to watch, creative, and non-obtrusive. Even the Apple ad doesn't interrupt with audio, and doesn't start until you click play (or at least they used to).

Google AdSense and AdWords

In what has become a recurring theme, I keep going back to Google for how to get things right on the Internet. When it comes to advertising, I think they've got a great thing going. On their main site, searching for something provides ads related to what you're searching for, clearly marked as ads, with easy-to-read URLs. This keeps you aware that these aren't 'search' results, but ads, and allows you to make a judgement call on their reputability based on who they're from. If I'm searching for "hotels in las vegas", chances are I want to find hotels to do business with, which is the perfect opportunity for advertising. If not, Google then provides all the (hopefully forever) bias-free search results below.

On the other hand, Google also provides contextual ads via AdSense. A few lines of text here or there similar to the text on your site. Have a Linux enthusiast site? Ads will appear relevant to the content, and without much flare or distraction. They appear as sort of a, "oh by the way, here are some places that do business related to your interests..."

Final Thoughts

My plea to content owners

Listen up content-owners: people will get your content however they want to, if they want it. You need to put yourself in their shoes to make sure that your site is the place where they get it. It isn't hard to design, just be respectful, relevant, and understand the power of brand and content loyalty.

Social networking = free advertising

It's weird nowadays. People love to advertise for free! It's called 'brand association'. I love company X, so I want to help them do well, and associate with the lifestyle company X is associated with. Take, for instance every clothing manufacturer ever. It's just a tee shirt. It costs less than $5 to make, distribute, and sell. Yet, people want to associate themselves with a particular brand or group because of the social impact. Now, take this logic online, where advertising is as simple as creating a Facebook page. I'll admit it, I do it. I'm a fan of a few things on Facebook, namely because I support whatever it may be. Did I get paid to advertise? No. Did the people pay to create the page? No. Did it spread virally like wildfire? Yes.

Beware the power of the intarwebs

This new-fangled technology requires much appreciation. Take a moment to realize that the theoretical sum of of human collective consciousness can be transmitted to and from any connected human, instantaneously. That's quite a thing to behold. Now imagine that a popular person liked your product, and decided to give you a 'bump'. Potentially, every person in the world could know of it. Now, imagine this person is fed up with your product. The same grand power can be felt, just in the negative. This is the power of the Internet. Just look at the Tweets during or soon after the latest Apple keynote which mentioned "AT&T". People were utterly pissed off. That kind of emotion will be very hard to combat with traditional marketing know-how. My advice? Focus on the customer, and quality of your product. The rest will always follow. Don't lie, don't PR BS, just speak the truth. An apology goes a lot further than does an evade.

Truth in advertising is a must

Maybe Wikipedia said it best: "[citation needed]". With the aforementioned instantaneous dispersal of knowledge comes the responsibility to make sure claims are substantiated with fact. It only takes one person to call BS on something for another person to agree, and so on. Pretty soon, whatever company wrought the fury of scrutiny upon them will soon have to address it, and this time get it right. Like Microsoft's hideous IE 8 "Get the facts" page. It's downright funny! Remember this, there may be people out there that will be fooled, but all they have to do is ask a geek what the deal with Safari, Chrome, or Firefox is to be convinced IE8 is a hunk of junk. Similarly, Wikipedia's got the inside info on so many BS products out there. It's surprising to see how many articles have a "Controversies" or "Criticisms" section. Like I said earlier, focus on the people, what they want, and then ultimately the product.

The Big Take Away

Respect your patrons.