New web ads target floating readers

Web advertisers continue to look for new ways to punt their products to an increasingly indifferent public.

Advertising.com has been looking into how to give new vigour to web adverts. Apparently, the company's 'Intellisource' brand measurement and research tool has gleaned the following significant intelligence:

• Banner ads created with the objective of leaving an impression on the viewer generated three times the rate of viewer recall than average Internet banner ads
• Ads with consistent and prominent placement of a product or company name generated recall rates 20% higher than those advertisements without such placement. In addition, ad graphics and color played significant roles in establishing brand recall, affecting consumer recognition with twice the impact of other variables, such as call to action

All well and good. But how do you get across your message to an audience now largely immune to traditional banner advertising? Answer: the 'floating' ad.

Well, advertising.com has created such a floating ad product "designed specifically to generate and retain brand awareness online. Floating ads appear in the center of the browser then float to another location where they remain until clicked."

According to Scott Ferber, co-founder and chief executive officer of Advertising.com: "Floating ads meet all of the criteria for successful brand recall outlined in the Intellisource research. They maximize logo placement, delivering unmatched impact in their ability to prominently and persistently appear before the consumer without interrupting viewer action on the site, and are created with the objective of leaving an impression. With the addition of sound and movement effects, these ads take online advertising ?beyond the banner,? providing the multi-sensory stimulation not afforded by traditional banner ads."

It remains to be seen whether punters appreciate such multi-sensory stimulation, or (as in the case of Flash), floating ads will become just another source of immense irritation to web users. ®

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