Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

It’s for IKEA and it’s really fun. Link.

The ad was awarded Gold by AdsOfTheWorld for best online ad.

We are happy to offer you “25 best practices in banner advertising”, a short ebook that will help you to dramatically improve the way you advertise online, and eventually create successful banner ads.

The book can be downloaded for free here:

Download ebook

Why you should read this book:

• The ebook contains dozens of practical pieces of advice that you can apply right away
• It comprises all the basics of banner advertising
• It’s short and easy to read
• The book is based on the experience that we, the people here at BannerSnack, have accumulated interacting with the banner advertising business
• It’s free

Feel free to post this ebook on your blog or share it with whoever might benefit from reading it. Thank you!

Tweet this!

It’s known that WordPress won’t allow users to post flash content on their platform, unless they host their blogs elsewhere. However, there are a few exceptions; WordPress allows you to post *some* flash content, things like YouTube or DailyMotion videos.

What I’ve discovered is that WordPress allows you to post many other kinds of flash content on your blog.wordpress.com blog, including SnackTools widgets like banners and music playlists. You only need Gigya.

Read more here.

A playful banner ad for BannerSnack. Let’s see if you can make it ’til the end.

You can share or comment on this banner here.

ActionScript 3.0 (AS3) replaced ActionScript 2.0 (AS2) back in 2006. Ever since then, the new language proved to be a great success, for many reasons. I will especially name the ones that are relevant to us, the end users:

1. ActionScript 3.0 is faster. Because for AS3 code, Flash Player 9 & 10 use the video card directly, AS3 flash animations use less CPU power. In other words, your computer works better with AS3 flash.

2. Smoother graphics. As a consequence of using the video card directly, ActionScript 3.0 can render smoother, video game-like graphics.

3. 3D effects. In ActionScript 3.0 you can create 3D animations like those you can find in the BannerSnack app. In ActionScript 2.0 it’s virtually impossible to do that.

4. Complex effects & custom tweening. ActionScript 3.0 allows programmers to create more complex, movie-like, spectacular and eye-catchy animations than ever! Look at what BannerSnack or FlashEff can do – 90% of what these apps can do would be impossible with AS2. Moreover, AS3 allows you to use custom tweening (ease-in, ease-out, ease-in-out/strong, back, bounce, elastic etc.) for better CPU resource management and more spectacular animations.

5. Better text animations. ActionScript 3.0 allows for more complex text effects, improved readability and faster & better text rendering. Like with all effects you can find in BannerSnack, most of the text effects can’t be technically developed in AS2.

In spite of Flash Player 9 & 10 having a 99% market penetration, Google AdWords still require your flash ads to be created for Flash Player 4-8, which only can play AS2.

We want to change that, so we started this Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/as3petitionadwords. If this cause resonates with you, please become a fan or express your opinion on the Wall.

BannerSnack is getting better!

We’ve listened to you and taken many requests into consideration for the past 6 months. That was easy, because we feel we speak the same language. What wasn’t that easy instead was to decide what features should we implement first. And, of course, actually implementing the features we agreed on…

What are those new features? I can’t tell you that right now. But you’ll be able to see them sometime next week.

Anyway, the new application is more powerful than ever and simpler to use. I can’t wait to see your feedback on it!

A very good way to engage internet users with your message is to insert mini-games in your banners. See the example below:

(more…)

They fail to give you a recipe for success.

You know why? Because there isn’t such thing.

So why do we read them? Why do we spend so much time reading All Marketers Are Liars, Predictably Irrational, The Irresistible Offer,  Buyology or even Buzzmarketing? The answer is: because we love stories. All these books contain dozens of stories about successful brands, interesting people and smart advertising. That’s the primary reason we buy them.

But why do we love stories and what do we learn from them? Well, stories give us inspiration. Stories make us find the right attitude. And, most importantly, stories help us shape our own story.

So there’s pretty much an abstract benefit of reading marketing books; they won’t tell you exactly what to do next. If you feel they do, then you’d better not read them at all, because most likely the “recipes” you find in them aren’t right for your business.

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“?

(more…)

When you say “banners” or “flash banners” people tend to think of banner ads. That’s because usually web banners are by definition a form of online advertising. And you too probably use them to advertise…

But how about placing your own banners on your own website? I’m talking about banners that lead to another page within your website. This way you could “advertise”…

• a promotion or a special offer,
• an article or any content you’d like your visitors to read
• a new product
• a newsletter or subscription
• your blog
• etc.

(more…)