Banner Advocates
Text by John Lampard
If asked, how would you rate banner ads? Do you think they are the greatest thing since sliced bread, or a nuisance to be avoided at all costs? Would you vote them off the island, or might you instead launch a website singing their praises?
And were you to go down the path of the aforementioned complimentary website, would you go so far as to call banner ads, those miniature and often animated billboards, adorning many of our favourite websites, an art form?
For Ashley Ringrose, a designer at Sydney’s Soap Creative agency, that is exactly what they are, and more.
His work on numerous banner campaigns with Soap has lead to an appreciation of the form, and prompted him, together with Ashadi Hopper of RMG Connect in Sydney, to establish BannerBlog, a website that celebrates, and occasionally, shames banner ads.
“Having worked on many banner campaigns from concepts to production you start to appreciate that it is an art form. There are so many restrictions in this medium that to pull something off that’s nice is an achievement in itself. So I wanted a resource where these little works of art could be displayed,” says Ashley.
BannerBlog which was launched in 2005, is supported by an editorial team currently made up of five international contributors. Ashley is hoping to add more members to this team, not only to spread the word of the site itself, but also to obtain different perspectives on the work that is around.
Banner ads are probably one of the web’s most recognisable and enduring features. According to Wikipedia, the first commercial banner was sold by Global Net Navigator (GNN) in 1993. Early banners were often simple animated GIFs, while today’s more complex versions are most likely to be Flash powered. Despite their longevity though, they are still regarded with ambivalence.
Much of the bad press attributed to banner ads relates to their design and execution, says Ashley, with banners that irritate or deceive, usually causing the most offence.
“Flickering and auto sound are probably the most annoying features. You can imagine people with headphones on being annoyed by a banner bleating out a jingle,” he says.
“I also personally think trick banners, things like click here to win an I-pod, or you are the 10 millionth visitor, should be illegal. It’s false advertising and once a person is tricked they will be less likely to get involved with a legitimate banner in the future.”
Ideally banner ads should inform the user and also be interactive, says Ashley. He cites banners for Japanese HIV/AIDS awareness, Volkswagen’s GTI, Picture Magazine, and the 9-hour gesture, as examples of what he considers to be outstanding and unique work.
“I prefer the ones that don’t annoy the user and allow them the opportunity to interact somehow. Not having the user interact is a waste, as it’s then just an animated billboard. A banner should inform or entice you.”
He points to the work of Ogilvy San Francisco, DoubleYou in Spain, and Glue UK, as consistent producers of good banners.
And while Australian agencies, such as Webqem, Visual Jazz, and George Patterson Y&R are also producing good work, there is a perception within the industry that local advertisers are not prepared to take the same risks as their overseas counterparts. And this may be hindering the creative initiative locally, says Ashley.
“A lot of ideas tend to be shot down by clients, and there is a feeling this could be hurting the Australian interactive industry. The international agencies seem to have clients that will take risks and trust their agencies online, but this is not so much the case in Australia.”
Related links and references
- BannerBlog
- Soap Creative and a selection of their banners.
- Wikipedia
