Web 2.0 !

In my first post I couldn't resist myself from making a reference to Web 2.0! Talking of Buzz Words doing rounds - "Web 2.0" is the most fascinating one. Every one keeps talking about it!

We all know that in "some way or the other" it connotes a new Avtaar of Internet - rebirth of sorts, which passes on more control to the users. But users always had the control since the inception of the Internet!

I think the difference has come largerly from the way users have accepted these ideas. They are more open to collaborative environment now and have found Internet as a medium of expression & choice.

To me, web 2.0 is a way of looking at Internet as a platform rather than a medium. A platform where users are expressing, sharing, connecting & earning ( Google Ad sense & The complete network model ) ! It's like passing the complete control to the users - so the model is of decentralizing ( blogosphere ) and Trust ( Wikis ). Found a really interesting video which captures this evolution really well ! Have a look !

India Rising

Pretty thrilled to see this on one of the largest social networking site in the World - Another indicator of how Indian's are influencing the WWW with their sheer numbers and how seriously large players are eying this audience !

Advertising Intelligence

I have seen online advertising evolve since it's early days in 90's and thought it will be a good idea if I can put this journey into a story - A story coming straight from "web advertising" which has seen it all through it's journey - from a small button sitting somewhere "no where" on a web page to somewhere "over the top" of the page. It's a story akin to "The rise of the Phoenix" - Yes, it has seen the dot com burst and is now back with a bang!

And the story begins -

Hi, I represent an advertisement on the Internet and in the simplest of formats I have been given a generic name of "Banner" - though I come in many variants and names - display ads, sponsored links, text ads, buttons etc. but for the sake of simplicity I will call myself "Banner". I have come a long way since my early days where I was confined to pixel sizes which didn't even justify my existence to times where I can stretch myself over the content of the page - does this mean I have got supremacy over the content - at times yes, but that doesn't mean that this supremacy in size is my most effective Avtaar - I can be most effective if I am placed at the right place & under the right context - consider my Avtaar which comes across as sober "Sponsored Links" !

I have other cousins as well - most popular being "Print Ads" and "TVC's" but i wish my life would have been as simple as their's where the struggle for survival ends with the Big Dad's approval - that's the client - yes, our complete family stems out of this big daddy - we get a birth only if they give their nod otherwise we end up in the "recycle bin". In contrast I am put to scrutiny with every appearance ( they call it as impressions ) & I am evaluated with my performance rate ( they call it as click through rate ) - how many times I got clicked !

If that's not enough, at times I am also evaluated for things beyond my control - something called conversion rate - How many clicks of me lead to an end action - expression of interest, filling up a profile or buying something. Now, if the information being provided through me is not relevant in the context of the end action how can you blame me for something beyond my control! Basic premise of successful advertising is to sell more & that's exactly what I am enabling. Make the messaging through me a true representation of what you want your consumers to do and see the difference. I might get clicked less but then what do you want me to do? Get clicks or get results?

And, its getting difficult for me with every passing day! With things like behavioral targeting gaining ground I am set up to work harder - like chasing a suspect from site to site, page to page till he gives up and clicks on me. But you know what - I am loving it! I have given a completely new dimension to advertising. With mixing technology & advertising I am bridging the gap between advertising and results. I am accountable for every penny that you spend and will never give you chance to say "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half"

My story doesn't end here - It's just the beginning :)

- From "Ever Evolving Web Advertising" -

Through this post I am trying to touch upon the debate of whether putting emphasis on "Return on Investment" through web advertising is justified or not and to what extent. I am a firm believer of equating web adverting to any other form of advertising since like all other forms & formats it's also giving a certain "commercial message" to the consumer in a "branded environment" - tell me how different is an ad (when seen while reading an article in a magazine) from the ad ( with same communication ) seen while you are surfing the web. They both cater to curious eyeballs & impressionable minds. The difference is that in the print version one can not know how many eyes actually saw it and then passed on a message to the brain to act upon the communication where as in the online version one can know precisely how many times the ad appeared (attracted eyeballs), got clicked (consumers interested in your message) and lead to a behavior ( real-time consumer behavior! ). One can then accordingly act on this intelligence & make the advertising work better - I call it "Advertising Intelligence". Living in this digital age, can we ignore this advertising intelligence?