Posts Tagged: iAds

advertising / app store / apple / creative / iPhone / observatory / strategy — 7 Comments
7
Apr 11

Thanks for the ads, but no thanks

Confession: I’m an advertising guy who doesn’t like advertising.

Don’t misunderstand. I love great ads. I get that advertising is what keeps the Internet humming — and I’m kind of attached to the Internet.

What I’m saying is that if I had a choice between seeing a page with ads or no ads, I’d go for the clean look. That’s only because the really great ads are few and far between. The rest, we mostly endure.

I thought Apple was right with me when they added the Reader feature to Safari. Now I can make the ads fade away with a click. It’s a nice way to read.

Over the years, we’ve achieved a level of balance. Ads have proliferated, but people generally accept the necessity for them. I’m fine with that.

What gets me steamed is when a company acts like they’re doing me a favor by putting ads in front of me. Trust me, I have yet to wake up in the morning eager to see today’s ads.

The people call Google to the witness stand.

Google is now testing ways to improve the relevance of ads they serve up in Gmail. A friend of mine recently reported that when she made a joking reference to a mustache while composing an email, she saw an ad for the Shick Hydra.

Google may call this “increased relevance.” I call it creepy. I’d feel like I was being stalked.

As I understand it, you can turn off the relevance thing. Nonetheless, Google serves up this type of thing as a “feature” rather than a new way to annoy you.

Relevant or irrelevant, it’s an ad. You live with it to get free email — you don’t get free email to see the ad.

Sit back down, Apple. You’re next.

iPhone was a revolution — and apps were the revolution on the revolution. Apps also gave Apple the opening to get into the advertising game. With iAds, they could sell ad space inside their apps, where Google could not go. iAds are more interesting than typical ads, because Apple enforces creative standards.

Having built up a number of advertisers now, Apple has now seen fit to introduce the free iAd Gallery for iPhone. Technically, it’s an app. But it’s really just a collection of the iAds intruding on people in various real apps.

Over at Scoopertino, we sometimes invent imaginary products from Apple. We usually start with something Apple-like, then exaggerate it into an absurdity. When I first saw the iAd Gallery, I was crushed that we hadn’t thought of it first. I could just see the headline:

“Where’s the app? Apple releases new app that’s 100% ads.”

The only thing that could have made the story funnier would be if Apple was offering an ad-free version for $2.99.

Obviously, the iAd Gallery will be useful as a tool for agencies and developers to sell their clients on the idea of putting iAds in apps. But one can’t help but get the feeling Apple thinks they’re doing us a big favor by letting us see the fabulous iAds.

So thanks, Google and Apple, for doing your part to bump up the relevance and quality of ads. But if I pay you, can I just turn them off?

advertising / strategy / technology — 4 Comments
17
Jun 10

Welcome, iAds … maybe

One juicy part of the new iOS platform is iAds. Presented with much fanfare, iAds let developers put ads inside their apps, so people can plunge into an ad without leaving the app. Apple owns a burgeoning new in-app ad market, and developers own a new revenue stream.

Only one flaw with this plan: we have to look at the ads. In the frenzy over all the money this will make — for developers and for Apple — it’s easy to forget a basic fact of marketing. Nobody actually likes ads.

I’m reminded of the project briefs that were handed out to creative teams at one of my previous agencies. Every brief started with the same paragraph, which went something like this:

The customers don’t like you. They didn’t invite you in. They resent the intrusion. They wish you’d just go away. Now then … what were you going to say to them?

My point is, ads aren’t exactly the #1 draw in customers’ minds.

Sure, ads help make the world go ’round. But they’re also the number one cause of distraction and clutter. It’s not just you and me who think ads get in the way. Apple thinks it too. One of the coolest new features in Safari 5 is Reader — which allows the reader to strip the ads out of articles, making them easier to read.

So on one hand, Apple creates a whole new way to get ads into our lives. On the other, they create a whole new way to take ads out of our lives.

This gives my inner cynic a lot to work with.

First there’s the fact that Apple takes a cool 40% cut on every iAd, while they have zero financial interest in the ads Safari strips away. Second, there’s the perception that the iAd platform is so cool, the ads will be cool. Uh, right. And then there’s the idea that the added revenue from iAds will help developers keep their app prices down, or even make them free. Don’t hold your breath for that one.

Mind you, I’m not complaining — just pointing out some sobering truths. Ads are a fact of life, and Apple has done a great job of creating a rich platform they can control and profit by. I just don’t expect to be squealing with delight as iAds begin to sprout up across all my favorite apps.