Generally speaking, Internet users will see a variety of advertisements when they first log in to a website. These ads are cluttered and therefore, most slogan users tend to see and forget about them. Behavioral tracking is one way to prevent this from happening, making ads more likely to be relevant to the user’s life and current state of mind. Alternatively, you can take a less sensitive approach and promote your brand on the homepage of your site by making your ad more recallable.
Many homepage ad campaigns are this simple: They place key elements of the advertiser's brand so prominently that they are impossible to miss and unlikely to be forgotten. This is particularly effective for well-known brands such as Coca-Cola. This type of brand has a certain advantage. They can use their brand logo as the skin (or wallpaper) of the website background, so the brand can be facing users all day long. However, many ads take a more creative approach, such as choosing to tell a story. Today I am going to talk about the best advertising solutions for most website homepages, which are aimed at companies whose brand awareness is not high enough and who tend to innovate advertising. They need to strengthen publicity efforts to increase brand awareness and highlight the role of the product.
Sync ads
Synchronized ad units are one of the more popular forms of homepage advertising campaigns. Its technological sophistication allows marketers to create more engaging advertising experiences (think surround sound versus stereo), and if consumers see the ad before other content (i.e. website content), the consumer will readers are more likely to be attracted by this.
Take this week's Mac ad on the homepage of NYTimes.com, for example. This advertising campaign uses three units: a notice board, and two vertical banner units. The notice board is still static and mainly highlights the latest data from market research firm Forrester Research that Apple has been awarded the "Best Customer Experience" brand. The other two ad units use video formats that respond to each other and complement each other with static banners. Three banner ads are the only ads on the screen.
Comprehensive advertising coverage
Synchronized banners that coordinate interaction can capture a user's attention so completely that for a brief period of time, the user may not notice other content on the page. Full coverage ads have the same effect without giving users any chance of distraction. Because overlay ads prevent users from viewing web content, marketers ensure that users see the ad in its entirety. However, this approach may offend Internet users who are not browsing the site to experience this all-encompassing advertising.
Still, although this method of advertising is nearly a decade old and has evolved somewhat in recent years, it continues to remain popular with advertisers. It was reported in January that Ford had teamed up with ESPN.com to create a video overlay on the homepage of its F-150 truck. In the ad, the SportCenter host is splashed with mud by the truck, thus associating the car brand with the publisher. And the video will run in the background overlaid with ads. In addition to being irresistible (both good and bad), the ad also successfully showcased the relationship between Ford and ESPN. ESPN claims that it has a large and loyal audience, so this will definitely have some positive effects on the car brand.
Videos, ads and skins
This combination is quickly becoming the trifecta of web advertising. Advertisers put the video front and center, alongside a banner ad unit or two, to create a backdrop for a campaign that can have a profound impact.
SheKnows.com, a publisher of women's content, has attracted advertisers such as Electrolux and Mott's. Both brands have been advertising on the site's homepage in recent weeks, using a combination of these ad units. Both brands used background skins to showcase their products: Electrolux showed off eco-friendly washers and dryers, and Mott's showed off apple crates. Both advertising campaigns successfully attracted users' attention as soon as they logged into the SheKnows homepage, and did not interfere with users' online activities or delay their browsing of website content.
Next week, we’ll focus on roadblock advertising and the challenges advertisers face when using this ad format. As more and more unique advertising concepts are created, these types of carefully crafted ad units will make media buyers think, "Homepage ads are better."