A (More) Complete Internet Advertising Solution

Last month, Paul Herring wondered out loud whether paid advertising was getting too much credit. Contrary to what Jakob Nielsen and others say, he speculated that banner ads can work well, in spite of the fact that contextual links get clicked more.

Today, Seth Godin cited a study that seems to lend weight to Paul's theory. He says,

If you run banner ads ... you can increase your brand awareness about 7% after a reasonable buy of banner ads. ... The kicker? In the study, Harris did the banner buy and watched the number of clicks to their contextual ad (you know, the text ads) go up by 249% over the next week.

As Paul asked earlier, which ad worked harder? Perhaps this is a reminder that we need to take a more complete approach to our Internet advertising, and that there is no "Holy Grail" solution that applies equally to everything. - Cam Beck