The race between online display advertising and paid search ads to acquire ad dollars (and advertiser attention) is heating up. “A new report”:http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3550221 from JupiterResearch is predicting that paid search revenues will “outpace” display advertising by 2010.
With its pay-for-performance model and reliability where delivering a positive return on investment is concerned, we all knew search engine advertising was going to be huge. There’s some concern, however, that advertisers are relying too heavily on their paid search campaigns. The pay-per-search industry (as it was once known) got its start supporting display campaigns, after all; if banner placements were the jabs thrown at a fellow boxer for show, then the paid search placements were the uppercut that ensured a knockout performance. Increasingly, though, advertisers are forgoing display ads, choosing instead to rely almost entirely on the more dependable search variety. Is this a wise decision?
Category: Rich Media
“Kaboose Inc.”:http://www.kaboose.com is one of the world’s leading online media companies focused on kids and families. The Kaboose Network, including award-winning sites like “Funschool.com”:http://www.funschool.com, “Zeeks.com”:http://www.zeeks.com and “Kidsdomain.com”:http://www.kidsdomain.com, is a top 10 global Internet destination for over 6.5 million kids and families a month looking for entertaining, interactive and educational content. Jonathan has over 8 years Internet industry experience and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario.
*One Degree: Kaboose is geared to kids but makes aggressive use of advertising throughout most (all?) of its sites. Is there a right way to market to kids online without raising the ire of either parents or the government?*
Kaboose is a free site for kids and parents and is thus supported by advertising. Kaboose is the intermediary between millions of kids and parents and some of the largest brands in the world. We have many parents who bring their kids to Kaboose and they observe their kids interacting with our site, and thus are very aware of the advertising on it. So, the first thing an advertiser and publisher needs to constantly be aware of is that in the online world, where there are kids there are parents. Our most important role as a provider of ad supported content is to be a responsible publisher. That means accepting only ads that are suitable for a child of any age, approving the creative and messaging of every ad that goes up on the site.
*One Degree: You’ve got some pretty in-your-face interstitial ads on the site. The Pillsbury Doughboy just drew a “StrudelDoodle” all over my monitor! I’ve heard reports of technical horror stories with poorly coded ads on some Canadian sites. How do you guard against technical faux pas damaging your brand and your advertisers’ campaigns?*
On Monday “Marketing Daily”:http://www.marketingmag.ca reported that Sears Canada had just launched a new “online shopping channel”:
bq.. Sears Canada is pioneering what could be the future of shopping: an e-commerce platform that combines TV-style shopping programs and online click and pay methods. The new website, “searswebtv.ca”:http://www.searswebtv.ca, features an on-demand webcast, which links highlighted products directly to online shopping on “sears.ca”:http://www.sears.ca.
The program, still in its pilot stage, offers consumers online informercial-style videos in eight different categories, from women’s fashions to fitness equipment and electronics. The 30-minute videos are hosted by Sandra Gayle, of HGTV’s Design Challenge and include appearances by category personalities like aerobics champion Sharon Mann.
While Gayle talks about the benefits of shoes and laundry machines, the products appear on the right side of the computer screen (outside the video), along with prices and details. Each product name is a link to its featured page on sears.ca.
Frank Rocchetti, Sears’ senior vice-president of merchandising and marketing, calls the initiative “a key differentiator” for the mass retailer.
p. I asked a few of the One Degree team a simple question: “What can we learn from Sears Web TV?”