Banner ads are close to meaningless because the average consumer is online mainly to search for information. As you try to find something, imagine that every once in a while somebody jumps up and shouts the name of a product. You resent it, and then you don t pay attention. Every time I typed in 1968, Amazon offered me the best music of 1968 and books from 1968. I did not appreciate it.
Customers resent ads on the Internet the way they resent advertising in movie theaters.
They didn t mind if they were told to go to the stand for a Coca-Cola. But people would boo and hiss at other ads. I am desperately looking for that one agency out there that has figured out a way to use the Web to sell more stuff for traditional companies. If you go to the Elle magazine site and you advertise facial creams, I think you have a pretty good chance of getting a solid response. The problem is that that may be the only type of advertising that will work online.