The Case for Display Ads Online

In his Adotas article last week (1/7/2010), Timothy Hawthorne questioned the appropriateness of the Internet for branding campaigns claiming that “the Internet is a lean-forward medium.  People click purposefully, focusing so intently on the objects of their search, that they don’t take their eyes off the road… nobody seeks out display ads.”

It’s true – people don’t seek out display advertising, and it’s also true that the Internet is a place where a lot of people ‘seek,’ but that doesn’t mean it’s not suited for display advertising. I don’t seek out advertising in my magazines, movie theaters or TV shows – but it impacts me.

The Internet is increasingly becoming the main source of media for many – I read magazines and newspapers online, watch TV online, and even watch movies online. Display campaigns have long been comfortable in these traditional mediums – so why wouldn’t they translate online to audiences participating in the same activities?  According to Harris Interactive, Americans now spend an average of 13 hours per week online, up from 7 hours ten years ago.  If most Americans are like me, they aren’t spending all this time intently searching for things, unable to keep their eyes off the road.  We are consuming media by reading, watching, exploring, and enjoying – just like we do with TV, magazines, and newspapers.

Certainly, there are places online where people are intently searching, like search engines, and for that reason direct response ads text ads are more appropriate in search results.  But there are increasingly more and more true online destinations that people don’t search for.  We don’t visit them to because we want to find some kernel of information.  We visit them to spend time, entertain ourselves, be enlightened, share opinions, etc.  Isn’t this when brands want to reach people?