Survival Guide

I’m not always a big fan of online banner advertising. They certainly have their place in the mix. But display banners often try to entice people to stop doing what they are doing on the page (reading content, checking email, interacting with other users, etc.) and click through to an advertiser’s web site. And depending on the audience trying to do anything more invasive, like over-the-page ads, can be found to actually annoy and frustrate users. That’s not really what advertisers should be setting out to do. We need to strive to be more innovative and relevant.

There are a couple of web sites that have taken new — and somewhat revolutionary — approaches to online advertising. These sites, Pandora.com and ABC.com have turned the standard online ad on its head, creating advertising formats that move well beyond the rather limited banners found on most sites. These innovative ad formats seem to truly take both the advertiser and the audience into account, which is far more than can be said for the digital real estate purchased in most media buys. If I were a fan of online advertising, these would be my new favorites.

Pandora.com

If you haven’t visited Pandora.com yet, you need to. Not only will you find perhaps the best, most perfectly customized online radio station on the web but also some of the best use of online advertising technique anywhere. When users sign up with Pandora (for free) they select musical artists and songs that they like, group those together into stations, and then Pandora provides a steady stream of similar music. It’s a great tool and an excellent model of user-controlled content, but that’s only the half of it. Pandora sells advertising on the site, but offers an option to its clients that goes well beyond just a standard leaderboard or skyscraper: advertisers can actually design the entire page that holds Pandora’s music player. So the full page essentially becomes branding for Heineken or Honda or Chase. In addition, advertisers often provide users access to music stations which fit their brands as well, so when the page switches to a theme for Heineken Draft Keg, for example, you can add the Heineken dance electronica music station to your profile. Pretty cool.

Basically, Pandora has separated their site content from any particular web page visual design style - apart from the music player interface itself – allowing the site to sell the design of its home page to advertisers. It’s a great model that a lot of content providers could adopt. Why do sports scores on ESPN or CBS Sportsline need to sit on a page that looks like the station identification for these networks? Why not sell the page design to Nike, Gatorade or Ford instead of offering just a few little easy-to-ignore ad spots?

As advertising online continues to evolve, and as users continue to ignore banner ads, I think we’ll see more sites adopting models similar to what Pandora is doing now. It would be a great way for sites to offer more value to their advertisers and for brands to more fully connect with the content - and the audiences - on the sites where they buy advertising space.

Check back for Part II of My New Favorite Online Ads, where I’ll discuss how ABC.com is offering a new take on the :30 second spot and TV advertising moves to the web.