We’ve known for a while one of the keys to advertising effectiveness and acceptance is relevance. Users actually don’t mind ads as long as they help them with the task they are doing.
But how do you enforce relevance? Aren’t you at the mercy of what advertisers place (and what ad placement agencies sell)?
Not necessarily! Google recognised that serving up ads with low relevance actually undermines the value of their core offering, so they’re now charging advertisers more for less relevant ads. How cool is that. Nothing like using money to enforce behaviour.
Times are a changin’. This is a great video, humorously depicting the changing relationship between advertisers and consumers. Arrogant advertisers beware. Yeah, coupons, of course ;-)
This site’s like 70s porn for Mac fans. It shows all Apple’s print advertising from 1976 to 2002.
2 things particularly struck me:
Even in the early days, there was a clear focus on the end value and experience, rather than technical details.
The noticeable dip in the simplicity and clarity of the messages in the intra-Jobsian years. The contrast in particularly striking when you hit the iMac and iBook ads.
If ever the gap between existing mobile user experience and what’s hoped for has been clearly stated, it’s ironically in this Telstra ad for the The Age on mobile. The woman opens her phone and a virtual paper expands out in front of her. The reality is on the left. A dumb handset with 2 headlines.
Thank goodness for the iPhone, Android and beyond.
