Everyone loves a good story. So is it any wonder that the most effective online advertising is the story that includes brand information? It leaves most other types of online advertising in the dust, particularly pop-up ads.
This finding is reported by a company with a vested interest, ARAnet, which develops and distributes articles about clients’ products. But assuming the Opinion Research Corporation did an honest job for ARAnet-and there’s no reason to think otherwise-the results are instructive:
- 67 percent of people between 18 and 24 say they are “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to read and act upon article-based advertising; and
- 56 percent of those making at least $75,000 per year said the same.
Overall, article-based advertising got the highest ratings (51 percent), followed by e-mail offers (47 percent), and sponsored search engine links (39 percent). At the bottom were banner ads (25 percent) and pop-up ads (13 percent).
Speaking of stories, one of my favorites concerns the garage where Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard first began tinkering in earnest in 1938. The garage is now on the National Register of Historic Places You can read about it (download the PDF “HP Garage in Brief”) or visit it in Palo Alto, CA
