The Future of Advertising - Make them Fun!

If I had to write a manifesto for the Future of Online Advertising it would be pretty close to this (from Microsoft of all people - Y-Jian NGo):

Since time immemorial, consumers have widely regarded advertising as a necessary evil they have to endure in order to get access to the media they want, be it newspapers, radio or television. And as advertising began its inexorable march online, a constellation of startups have tried using ever more sophisticated technology to try to make online ads more relevant, more interesting, more palatable. However, that same old attitude still continues to prevail.

Tellingly, in a 2008 consumer survey conducted by Razorfish (an online marketing agency), consumers declared that banner ads were their favorite advertising format for online video. That may seem a little odd, until you realize that banners, which are typically wrapped around the video-playing window, are the only ad format that can be easily ignored. All others – pre-rolls, mid-rolls, post-rolls and the various flavors of “bubble insertion” or product placement – directly disrupt the viewing experience.

I rather doubt that technology in and of itself will ever make consumers like ads, any more than painting elaborate flames on a car will make it go faster. Rather than trying to hatch new schemes to more efficiently cram ads down consumers’ throats, perhaps it may make more sense to create ads that they actually want to consume?

Absolutely! (though everybody knows cars go faster if you paint them red and put in large bass speakers). He goes on to say:

In short, I believe that the locus of advertising will gradually shift towards the creation of valuable and compelling content. There is, however, a relative dearth of professionals or companies that can provide such content creation services. Perhaps advertising agencies might evolve in this direction, or perhaps this may an opportunity for forward-thinking individuals?

I was having a conversation with one of our clients today (we helped them spin out a real time online Ad placement business 2 years ago) and he and I had pretty much come to the same view at the time.