As I said in previous occasions, I’m not so convinced that banner advertising is dead or that at least it should be. The quick counter-argument to this is that banner ads serve well for branding purposes.

However there’s an often overlooked function of advertising which is to inform.

If you have something new to introduce to the market, something better or something that solves people’s problems in an innovative way, you must find a way to inform your audience about it! If your product is useful, you don’t need bells and whistles in your ad campaign; just inform correctly, and the product will sell by itself.

However, taking a short look over the creative output you find on general audience sites for instance, you can quickly come to the conclusion that most banner ads suck. No wonder why users install banner blockers or develop the so-called “banner blindness“?

“Advertising starts to fail when it’s no longer useful information” could be a reason, as Chris Brogan says. This rule applies to banner ads as well.

But there is hope!

Thing is, I think advertising is far from dead. Further, I think there’s the potential for a renaissance of quality advertising. I think the tools are here. I think the opportunities are powerful. All that’s required next are the minds and the passions to deliver the new (and by new, I might mean very old) advertising to people who seek to be informed instead of entertained. (Chris Brogan)

What about you, dear reader – what do you advertise for?

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