Out with the old, in with AdCamo

Web banners function the same way as traditional advertisements are intended to function: notifying consumers of the product or service and presenting reasons why the consumer should choose the product in question. -Wikipedia.

With the maturation of the internet as a productivity and entertainment resource, a profound problem for brand marketers and agencies has surfaced. Consumers are facing what can only be described as sensory overload, and marketing and technology experts alike have come to one major conclusion; internet advertising is not effective.

Can this be true? Are consumers not the jelly-minded, easily molded objects we once assumed them to be? It appears as though they may be rebelling against the system; easily sliding over static advertising images, tuning out the obnoxious, flashing banner ads and product promotions, and hastily closing out pop-ups ads before they even finish flying across the screen.

So if this theory that internet advertising is a lost and archaic form of reaching a consumer, and that like a consistently dosed prescription the mass majority of the public has simply become immune, then what will happen to the $2.9 billion that was spent on display advertising in the first quarter of 2008? (TechCrunch; June 11, 2008)

Well, in the words of the highly regarded essayist, internet programmer and language designer, Paul Graham - we must FIX ADVERTISING.

In an excerpt from his YCombinator.com essay "Start Up Ideas We'd Like to Fund", he provides this seemingly simple, yet profound, statement. "Advertising could be made much better if it tried to please its audience, instead of treating them like victims who deserve x amount of abuse in return for whatever free site they're getting. It doesn't work anyway; audiences learn to tune out boring ads, no matter how loud they shout. What we have now is basically print and TV advertising translated to the web. The right answer will probably look very different. It might not even seem like advertising, by current standards."

He continues on to state perhaps his most important point, ".....the way to approach this problem is probably to start over from scratch: to think what the goal of advertising is, and ask how to do that using the new ingredients technology gives us. Probably the new answers exist already, in some early form that will only later be recognized as the replacement for traditional advertising. Bonus points if you can invent new forms of advertising whose effects are measurable, above all in sales."

As it turns out, he was right. New answers do already exist, new technology has been formed, and to top it all off - you can track it in ways you never thought possible. It all stems from a innovative group called AdCamo. Unbeknownst to most, AdCamo has been quietly, yet forcefully challenging the argument that online advertising is on its way out. With a dramatic Tour de France style breakaway, AdCamo is touting growth and innovation in the midst of extreme economic doubt and consumer selectivity. It has surfaced with multiple patents pending on a variety of technology applications, as well as mind blowing capabilities that retain and track internet ad campaigns.

With such dramatic leaps on the technical side of internet display advertising, it is sure to change the face of internet advertising as we know it. They boast a new type of interface; superior in both its usability and capability, in addition to multiple styles of background ad formats. Say goodbye to the days of traditional banner ads and standard leaderboards, and welcome with open arms a new wave of powerful, synchronized ad campaigns. AdCamo is providing technology options that marketing and advertising professionals have been scrambling to find, and it is clear that these innovative opportunities embody all the positive changes needed in advertising.

For months people have spouted theories and mere suggestions about what to do with the decrease in click-through rates and lack of action in internet campaigns. Meanwhile, AdCamo was observing quietly - and aggressively preparing the most advanced interface to date. It seems that all along AdCamo has been operating by a similar motive to that of Paul Graham, and quite simply: are doing it different.

Photo courtesy of niallkennedy.