It was recently revealed that General Motors pulled its $10 million advertising budget from Facebook because they wanted to run page takeovers instead of the more typical sponsored posts and display ads. Page takeovers and display advertising achieve different results, as do interactive rich media ads, or integrated options like advertorials and social media activity. The creative execution that is right for your advertising really depends on your campaign goals. Each method of advertising has its pros and cons that work with or against your goals. Understanding the results each type of advertising achieves is important.

DISPLAY BANNERS

How display banners work well: - Display banners can be a cost effective way to buy reach, and design costs can be low. - They can work well for specific brand messages out to a large number of people. - Depending on the campaign, display banners may click better on certain websites, but this can be an ineffective measure for branding purposes. - There are a variety of ad sizes available, allowing the advertiser more choice. - Smaller international creative can often be used in larger sizes (eg, a 728X90 ads can run in a 760X120 placement), which can cut reduce deisign costs. . Things to consider: - Make sure you’re buying placements based on the audience you want to reach (following clicks may not always get you the right audience) - For performance campaigns, it is important to have a clear call to action, otherwise the display banner tends to work better for branding. - Remember, banners influence people well beyond the click. Make sure you’re monitoring post-click activity in the form of sites visits and direct google searches for your brand - Because of their limited space, keeping to the essential elements in your banner design is important.

Read the rest of this article.

I saw this infographic on Adotas today, and while it certainly doesn’t represent the entire customer experience as the title implies, its points about moving customers online by creating relevant experiences is certainly worth thinking about.

Too often it seems that advertisers are online, simply because everyone else is doing it, but the point is often missed: customers want to be provided with relevant information online – information that is either easier to get, or that they wouldn’t be able to get offline.

Media Mind’s recent report on In-Stream video ads reveals some interesting results in comparison to standard banners. While standard banner click through rates average around 0.009%, In-Stream video ads average 2.15%. More importantly, the actual interaction of the videos are high as well, with 70% of In-Stream videos playing to the end, and 75% playing at least through the three quarter duration mark.

It’s not surprising then that Media Mind also argue In-Stream video’s usefulness for brand advertisers. While direct response advertising requires a quick message, designed to grab immediate attention, brand advertising tells a story. Because longer video ads are more effective, and have higher completion rates in comparison the shorter conventional TV-esk 15 to 30 second spots, advertisers have more time to get their brand across and tell their own story.

Adhub have released a standardised expanding video banner to take advantage of the high interaction rates that come with In-Stream video advertising. The 500X900 video ad expands out of standard ad sizes—either a 760X120 or 300X250—offering the advertiser maximum branding with a video player skin.

Battleship Expanding Video Ad on Get Frank

Pair this In-Stream video ad up with a site skin, and advertisers have premium branding around relevant content.

With over three quarters of the online population watching online video according to comScore, it’s a familiar medium for users, and with online video advertising increasing nearly 140% from 2011 Quarter 1 to 2011 Quarter 2 according to the IAB, it seems that advertisers are beginning to jump on board the online video ship as well.