If advertising on the web doesn’t work (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), how come there’s so much of it about? How can so many people afford to support advertising that yields very little?
What’s the real issue here—is it just advertising on the web that doesn’t work, or is it just that the success (or otherwise) of web advertising is easier to follow? Does any advertising anymore? Is it just that there’s so much advertising wherever we look, are we developing a collective immunity?
I conducted a small survey of people I know. All professionals between 18 and 25. I asked them to name a product they had seen advertised recently that they had purchased or were intending to purchase. The responses followed a very similar pattern: people immediately assumed I was refering to television advertising, and nobody I asked felt that there was any advertisement they could recall that was of direct interest to them.
One observed that adverts on telly were for “soap powder or football boots”. All said they usually make tea or go to the bathroom during advert breaks. Everyone viewed advertising as a necessary evil—a means to an end.
Obviously, this is an incredibly unscientific study, and more substantial surveys have been carried out, but as an informal basis for thought there are interesting correlations.
Within the last fortnight, I read an article on the web on this subject—a study undertaken by a UK university on behaviour of TV viewers during advert breaks. Now, I can’t find it. Can you? Mail me at the most obvious place.