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2/5/07
Tech Trend II - Does the Web 2.0 Ad Model Really Work?
2/5/07
2/3/07
2/2/07
Monday, February 5, 2007
Continuing the February Tech Trend posts, tonight I wanted to discuss the ad model that we* have employed in Web 2.0.
If web 1.0 advertising was all about popups and banner ads (if you look at the top of the blog you can see AOL is still employing the latter), full of dot-bomb companies you would hope that we would have all learned from this experience and written a much more immersive advertising model for web 2.0. Oops...this is definitely not the case IMO.
It seems we are missing the point with advertising on the web. If web 2.0 is truly the read/write web, then advertisers should know what I am interested in. One of the biggest problems or challenges has been the major advertising networks, Google, Yahoo, AOL, Fox Interactive, MSFT, do not present easy access for "mom and pop" retailers to advertise their wares. Google's ad network gets us closer, but falls short in some key areas, namely, custom text/graphics (logos are important in product recognition) and updating messages.
Basically we have two distinct challenges, 1) advertising I want to see and 2) how do we provide advertising for local businesses like the cable providers do.
So here is my proposal. All of the dollars the local shops spend on Clipper Magazines and mailings that I always throw away should be spent on the web. On the AIM team we go out to lunch everyday. Why don't these same businesses take their 50 cent off coupons they put in print, and send me an alert in AIM 30 minutes before lunch? I can set up the places or the categories I am interested in, we already have location nailed down using the Open AIM API, and over time AIM can get smarter in delivering ads that interest me based on feedback. For local service providers they would get their ad in front of more people and actually could get better feedback on who finds their product/service interesting.
So why are we not seeing this today on AIM or any other web page? I believe it's because it is cheaper for AOL to walk into Proctor and Gamble and sell them $100 million dollars in advertising then it is to Five Guys Burgers here in DC. At some point P&G will realize that the flash adfor Herbal Essences they run on Yahoo.com, is ignored by 99.99999% of the visitors, they will start to question how they are spending their ad budgets.
Talking with college kids last month at MashupCamp, I realize that they do everything possible to avoid advertising, Tivo, AdBlock, Pandora. Yet when I asked them if they could get alerted when Hi-Fi Pizza in Cambridge is running a discount on pizza, would you like that, and they uniformly said yes.
Now I am not saying AOL should go out and sell door to door, but it seems to me that when we figure this out we get to web 3.0 or at the very least web 2.5.
Just some food for thought.
* When I say "we" I am not just referring to AOL or AIM, but everyone.
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Tech Trend II - Does the Web 2.0 Ad Model Really Work?
Watching the Syracuse - UConn Basketball Game
Continuing the February Tech Trend posts, tonight I wanted to discuss the ad model that we* have employed in Web 2.0.
If web 1.0 advertising was all about popups and banner ads (if you look at the top of the blog you can see AOL is still employing the latter), full of dot-bomb companies you would hope that we would have all learned from this experience and written a much more immersive advertising model for web 2.0. Oops...this is definitely not the case IMO.
It seems we are missing the point with advertising on the web. If web 2.0 is truly the read/write web, then advertisers should know what I am interested in. One of the biggest problems or challenges has been the major advertising networks, Google, Yahoo, AOL, Fox Interactive, MSFT, do not present easy access for "mom and pop" retailers to advertise their wares. Google's ad network gets us closer, but falls short in some key areas, namely, custom text/graphics (logos are important in product recognition) and updating messages.
Basically we have two distinct challenges, 1) advertising I want to see and 2) how do we provide advertising for local businesses like the cable providers do.
So here is my proposal. All of the dollars the local shops spend on Clipper Magazines and mailings that I always throw away should be spent on the web. On the AIM team we go out to lunch everyday. Why don't these same businesses take their 50 cent off coupons they put in print, and send me an alert in AIM 30 minutes before lunch? I can set up the places or the categories I am interested in, we already have location nailed down using the Open AIM API, and over time AIM can get smarter in delivering ads that interest me based on feedback. For local service providers they would get their ad in front of more people and actually could get better feedback on who finds their product/service interesting.
So why are we not seeing this today on AIM or any other web page? I believe it's because it is cheaper for AOL to walk into Proctor and Gamble and sell them $100 million dollars in advertising then it is to Five Guys Burgers here in DC. At some point P&G will realize that the flash adfor Herbal Essences they run on Yahoo.com, is ignored by 99.99999% of the visitors, they will start to question how they are spending their ad budgets.
Talking with college kids last month at MashupCamp, I realize that they do everything possible to avoid advertising, Tivo, AdBlock, Pandora. Yet when I asked them if they could get alerted when Hi-Fi Pizza in Cambridge is running a discount on pizza, would you like that, and they uniformly said yes.
Now I am not saying AOL should go out and sell door to door, but it seems to me that when we figure this out we get to web 3.0 or at the very least web 2.5.
Just some food for thought.
* When I say "we" I am not just referring to AOL or AIM, but everyone.
gregsblog at 9:24:00 PM EST Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | digg this
This entry has 3 comments: (Add your own)
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Nice idea!!! And to figure out a way to add something like the Clipper magazine on the ads... provide downloadable coupons for the local ads :) Some automated web forum where local businesses can "register" themselves and grab slots to display their ad's and deals?
Gowri -
I agree, and this seems to be starting to happen to some extent.
On my campus, group food ordering at night through www.campusfood.com is pretty popular. The site is already location-aware, so when I logged in, an ad for Sicilia's Pizzeria's $7.50 stuffed pizza special appeared.
Guess where we decided to eat last night ;-)
2/9/07 5:34 AM
I did find one site which is for all mediums of advertising both user specific and general its www.adsbay.co.uk It's a good idea, i just it get up off the ground!