Cho,CH . "Why do People avoid Advertising on the Internet?" Journal of advertising [0091-3367] 33.4 (2004). 89-97.

   In this study, the researchers theorize that internet users avoid advertisements because of “perceived goal impediment, perceived ad clutter, and prior negative experience.” They hypothesize a positive relationship between each of these variables and advertisement avoidance; for example, the greater the perceived ad clutter, the greater the advertisement avoidance on the internet. An online survey was used to collect data which suggested that people avoid messages because of perceived ad clutter; many consumers “choose not to click on ads because of an aversion to the amount of ads on the internet.” Clutter can be seen as anything which “impairs efficient interactivities, such as placement, timing, and size of ads.” The data also showed that prior negative experience as well as perceived goal impediment on the internet acted as a deterrent.
    This research builds upen previous studies of behavioral and cognitive ad avoidance by adding affective ad avoidance. An example of a measurement of affective avoidance would be an survey item saying, “I hate banner ads” (Appendix); i.e. a consumer’s emotional reaction. Delving into the world of consumers’ train of thought is able to provide a richer insight to my topic. One of the interesting things in this study is that while the results all point to how and why advertisements on the internet are ineffective, Cho and Cheon be sure to discuss how advertisers can use this data to their advantage, effectively remodeling their advertisements. For example, to reduce perceived goal impediment which was found to be the most significant factor affecting avoidance, internet advertisers might “utilize text-links displayed with keyword search results.”

Manchanda,P . "The effect of banner advertising on internet purchasing" Journal of marketing research [0022-2437] 43.1 (2006). 98-109.

 In this article, internet advertising is examined under the notion that exposure to banner advertising leads to increased advertisement awareness, brand awareness, purchase intention and site visits (as prior research has shown). Specifically, the authors use a “behavioral database that consists of customer purchases at a Web site along with individual advertising exposure,” and see how decisions are influenced by exposure to banner advertising. The main finding is “exposure to banner advertising has a significant effect on Internet purchase behavior, reflected as an increase in purchase probability as a function of banner advertising exposure.” This experiment was able to show the positive effect targeting can have on returns (purchases in this case), and as targeting options increase, the returns should become “relatively higher.” The data also shows that there was a temporal separation between advertising and purchasing behavior, and the authors speculate that the separation is present because the banner advertisements act as a “brandbuilding tool and/or a reminder.” One extremely relevant implication for managers, as indirectly suggested by this data, is “click-through is a relatively poor measure of advertising effectiveness,” because it is a measure of instantaneous behavior.
 While banner advertisements can play a positive role in the world of advertising and marketing, as evidenced by this article, it is important not to generalize this to all banner advertisements. Part of my focus is to provide examples of how banner advertisements can, in fact, be effective. The data from this article certainly suggests that if the creation and promotion of banner advertisements are executed correctly, they can be a useful tool to marketers, providing a crucial starting point for further research of my project.  Additionally, the use of click-through as a measure of advertising effectiveness is poor (to say the least), and I will continue to look for suggestions (in my other sources) to see how to more accurately measure effectiveness.

       

 

 

 

Menon,S . "Managing the power of curiosity for effective Web advertising strategies" Journal of advertising [0091-3367] (2002). 1-14.

        The authors discuss effective web advertising strategies, with their research mainly focusing on the power of curiosity. Specifically, they believe that curiosity can be “harnessed to design an effective advertising strategy that results in greater information acquisition, enhanced learning, and better evaluation of the advertised product,” and the results confirmed these beliefs. The authors hypothesize that there is an inverted U-shape relationship between the time gap and elaboration and learning. While the results show a significant increase in advertising effectiveness by incorporating curiosity into advertisements, there was a disproportionate effect on the clickstream data, which, once again, questions the use of clickstreams as the primary measure of advertising effectiveness. As an alternative, measures of elaboration quality and direction through protocols accounted for better results. The four elements to a successful strategy are:(1)Develop curiosity by creating or highlighting a knowledge gap (2)Knowledge gap should be created for the feature that represents the unique positioning of the brand and be accompanied by a cue that guides curiosity resolution (3)Consumers should receive information that will help them resolve curiosity (not immediately)(4) Use measures of consumer elaboration and learning to test for advertising effectiveness.
    This study is helpful because not only does it show that banner advertising can be effective but it suggests practical ways to accomplish this. The effectiveness of banner advertising has many elements, from developing a successful advertisement to accurately measuring the effects, which fits right in with my thesis. The setup of this study was able to highlight the weaknesses of click through and suggest alternatives. A limitation within this study is that only a technology product was used, making it hard to convince, say, clothing companies, that a curiosity based advertisement would be effective. However, being able to evoke an emotion out of the consumer makes the method more relevant to and adaptable across other products.

Dreze,X . "Internet advertising: Is anybody watching?" Journal of interactive marketing [1094-9968] 17.4 (2003). 8-23.

    In this study, the authors use an eye tracking device to investigate people’s attention to online advertising. While click through rates have plummeted, they believe that banner advertisements are, in fact, effective because they lead to brand awareness, which is more important in the long run. The authors acknowledge that internet surfers fixate on “less than 50% of the banners to which they are exposed,” and some actually “avoid looking at them.” The focus of this study is to provide advertisers with suggestions to improve their effectiveness, such as, concentrating on the message they send. What is said (content) and how often it is said (frequency) is more important than how it is said. This study also stresses the idea that click through rates may not be an accurate representation of actual effectiveness of an advertisement since a large part of consumer processing is done at the pre-attentive level, not leading to immediate action.
    When you think of an advertisement that might draw your attention, one would think of something colorful, shiny, and maybe incorporating some sort of movement. While this might be valuable for attracting initial attention, this study shows that the actual content of an advertisement / what is said is what leads to people remembering and possibly, in turn, affecting purchasing behavior. Additionally, frequency of a message is shown to affect unaided advertisement recall, brand recognition and awareness. While the statistics might show that people are avoiding or intentionally ignoring these banner advertisements, there are effective ways to reduce this occurrence. Therefore, advertisers and marketers should rethink their strategies of attracting people by focusing on a less obnoxious advertisement; maybe one that is not blinking and one that a consumer has seen over and over and gotten used to and stored some sort of image in their head about a brand.

Robinson,H . "Internet advertising effectiveness: the effect of design for click-through rates for banner ads" International journal of advertising [0265-0487] 26.4 (2007). 527-541.

    This empirical study investigates characteristics of banner ads and the role they play on online advertising effectiveness in the world of online gambling. The relationships between the click-through-rate (CTR) and seven design elements (banner size, message length, promotional incentive, animation, action phrase, company brand/logo and casino games) are examined, and although the author states up front that that the intention of the study is to see how these relationships differ between the online gambling industry and other e-commerce, this information can still be rendered useful. The study found design elements of effective banner advertisements include: “a larger size, long message, absence of promotional incentives and the presence of information about casino games.” The company/brand logo was found to be an “ineffective characteristic” in attracting a direct response.
    While it would not be accurate to generalize this data to all banner advertisements, the authors do say, “these results also suggest that the effectiveness of banner ad campaigns for online gaming (as measured by CTR) is governed by the same principles of artistic execution as those found in other, non-gambling-related sectors of the internet.” The inability of click-through rates to assess other effects such as emotion (which an ad evokes) or memory (of a particular brand on an ad) seems to be magnified in this study, for it is heavily based around the already faulty click through rates. Specifically, the finding that the brand logo is an ineffective characteristic in attracting a direct response seemed troubling at first because brands and logos play a major role in eliciting credibility. However, credibility can still be present, even if it is not evidenced by a click through (possibly a limitation of this study)

Burke,M . "High-cost banner blindness: Ads increase perceived workload, hinder visual search, and are forgotten" ACM transactions on computer-human interaction [1073-0516] 12.4 (2005). 423-445.

    The contradiction between “banner blindness” and complaints about distracting advertisements prompted the authors to conduct a study on multiple banner advertisements. Specifically, the authors performed two experiments to test whether the banners affect web users’ visual search speed, perceived workload, memory, and gaze patterns. The first experiment found that people do not look at animated banners more often than static ones, and they can search quickly under both conditions. There was a flashing banner too, which did increase frustration and perceived mental demand. One interesting finding was that animated banners (as opposed to static banners) made ads less memorable, and the authors suggest that it may even cost an ad’s success. The second experiment, which incorporated eye-tracking, showed that both animated and static banners decrease visual search speeds and found that people rarely looked at banners. On a practical side, some suggestions are made for web designers. First, ads posted should closely relate to the page content; by connecting advertising to viewers’ goals, ads may be more successful. Longer exposure time, animation, and the presence of images did not make the task irrelevant ads more conspicuous.
    These experiments support the idea that people intentionally avoid looking in locations where they expect banners and imply that banners degrade visual search and are quickly forgotten. This seemingly contradicts my thesis because if people do not see the banner advertisements, how can they be made effective. However, this information provides insight on how to improve their effectiveness: don’t “habituate viewers to predictable banner locations.” Additionally, the primary task of the web user strongly interacts with the attention getting capacity of the banners. Therefore it is important to make the content of the ad relevant. These findings are a cry for help from the world of personalization and targeting. It goes without saying that if a person is looking up cheap flight deals, and a banner pops up with a cheap flight to their destination, they are more likely to click on that ad than say, an ad about gardening. Although targeting delves into a whole other sector of effective banner advertising, the underlying theme is that the banners should contain content relevant to the web user. This supports the part of my research regarding content, and how it should playing a much larger role than say graphics and design on an advertisement.

Lohtia,R . "Evaluating the efficiency of Internet banner advertisements" Journal of business research [0148-2963] 60.4 (2007). 365-370.

    In this article, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) tool is introduced and is used to measure the efficiency of banner advertisements. On a technical level, DEA converts “multiple inputs and outputs into a single measure of performance, which is generally referred to as relative efficiency.” An input variable is advertisement related, such as incentives, emotional appeal, and specific graphic elements. The three output variables observed are click-through-rate (CTR), attitude towards the ad, and recall. The DEA produces “an efficiency frontier that represents the optimal levels of output for given levels of input.” The author stresses that DEA can be a “useful tool for pre-testing advertisements” as well as comparing individual advertisements. The authors found an inefficient advertisement in one banner that had “3 colors and a message length of 6 words. It had no interactivity, animation, incentive, or emotions.” Using the DEA tool, the advertisement could achieve efficiency with “ higher CTR scores, higher attitude scores, and higher recall scores.” Therefore, the advertiser could take this output information and manipulate the banner design as well as reconfigure the placement of the ad to improve these specific aspects. Inputs also have the ability to direct advertisers to evoke more of an emotional appeal or improve the graphics in hopes of elevating efficiency.
    Primarily, this study is able to show that banner advertisements are important. They are important enough to catch the attention of an analysis tool, and have someone adapt it to internet advertisements in hopes of increasing their efficiency. While specific characteristics do not seem to be involved (e.g. Change the color of the banner from brown to blue), the tool’s ability to focus on a certain element of an advertisement is unmatched.  In addition, the banner advertisements examined in this study lay the groundwork for identifying characteristics of effective and ineffective advertisements. One of the appeals of this tool is that it provides actual numerical information and data. Instead of creating banner advertisements from scratch with seemingly sophisticated graphics, advertisers are able to justify their decisions with a proven efficiency tool.

Moore,RS . "Banner advertiser-web site context congruity and color effects on attention and attitudes" Journal of advertising [0091-3367] 34.2 (2005). 71-84.

    These experiments were conducted in an online environment, considering “the effects of the congruity between the product foci of the advertiser and the web site, as well as banner color and banner color-text contrast on measures of attention (i.e., recall and recognition) and attitudes toward the ad and the Web site.” The first experiment found incongruity to have a “more favorable effect on recall and recognition,” and congruity to have a “more favorable effect on attitudes.” There were some inconclusive findings about color schemes as well and overall attitude toward the website was found to be “more positive for those who did not recall or recognize the ad.” Color was found to have a limited effect on the behaviors of the web users, and while some extreme manipulations of colors (such as red background and white letters) drew greater attention, the “color-contrast combinations did not differentially affect Web browsers’ attention levels.”
    Some important implications to take away from these experiments have to do with the locale of banner advertisements- specific sites they are located on and pertain to. Regarding my thesis, the authors stress the idea that sometime incongruency is needed to attract consumers’ initial attention, although the incongruency operates on a fine line. The environment in which these advertisements are placed are extremely relevant to its success. Another avenue, which I had not really considered to explore before reading this study is the effect that the banner advertisement can have on the host site. Can there be a symbiotic relationship that exists between the two? And in that case, can that maybe be a revenue source that the banner advertisement company can take advantage of? In these results, there is a hint that banner advertisement color may play a role and the authors suggest that further research should take place in this area. Specifically, I think that eye tracking devices would be useful to see how different color schemes are attended to and viewed.

Choi,SM . "Antecedents and consequences of Web advertising credibility: A study of consumer response to banner ads" Journal of interactive advertising [1525-2019] 3.1 (2002). 1-20.

    This study explores the effect banner ads have on overall online advertising credibility, specifically examining the effects of “ (1) website credibility, (2) ad relevance (the advertised product's relevance to website content), and (3) advertiser credibility on ad credibility, ad and brand attitudes, and product purchase intentions.” The final “best fit” model shows “source credibility perceptions and website/product relevance cannot be ignored in studying ad and brand-related outcomes and have merit to further our understanding of web advertising.” Specifically, the researchers suggest the credibility of site placement is important, and for brands that do not have well-known images, it would be a “good idea to place its ads on websites perceived as credible and relevant to the product category by target audiences.” They come up with a model illustrating the importance of the relationships between the following variables: website credibility, advertiser credibility, relevance, ad credibility, ad attitudes, brand attitudes, and purchase intent. Additionally, the researchers claim that using click through rates as an efficiency measure of banner advertisements is not wholly effective: “Consumer judgment of website credibility as well as relevance between website content and advertised product should be put into the media placement equation.”
    This study provides important data for my research. While adding another dimension to the creation of an effective banner advertisement- credibility- it is able to focus on multiple sources from which credibility can arise. Therefore, advertisers must be wary of not only how they present their advertisement, but also where the advertisement is seen and how it fits into the bigger picture of what a consumer is already searching for. Conveying credibility is imperative, and that can stretch anywhere from having accurate data to placing the advertisement in the right context. As consumers become increasingly accustomed to a world tailored to their every second wants and needs, it is imperative to capture their attention, and this research provides yet another means of doing that. Click-through rates are deemed an inaccurate measure of credibility, forcing advertisers to search for other methods to measure their success.