The growth of Internet usage across the world has been astounding. Almost 2.5 billion people are using the Web, according to Internet World Stats. Although the number of users continues to grow, online advertising has not kept pace. Internet advertising giant Google wants to change that.
Flashing banner ads
Even as Internet usage has soared, the advertising showing up on user’s screens has made little progress from the old flashing banners Google first rolled out almost 20 years ago. Internet ads are now more targeted, thanks to Google’s data collection efforts, but they are still generally just an annoyance in the overall Web surfing experience.
Occasionally, a television ad will air that gets people talking – exactly what advertisers want. In contrast, it is difficult to think of a single online ad that has made such an impact. Perhaps this has something to do with the nature of web surfing and the limitations of advertising in the medium, but Google is not satisfied with the current status quo.
Project Re: Brief
Last year, Google decided to seek the help of some of television’s most celebrated ad men to demonstrate the possibilities of online ads. Google offered them the ability to re-imagine the ads that put them on the map for the digital age, and the company hired documentary filmmaker Doug Pray to film the process. Labeled Project Re: Brief, the end result shows how old advertising know-how could improve the quality and effectiveness of online advertising.
Buy the world a Coke
One of the advertising legends brought on to Project Re: Brief was Harvey Gabor. Famous for the “Hilltop” ad for Coca Cola, where a large crowd of people from all over the world sing about buying the world a Coke, Gabor had retired from the ad business. He was even quoted in the documentary, says the Washington Post, as saying that he barely used Google. Yet Gabor’s re-imagined work wound up being one of the most interesting of those presented.
Playing off the idea of buying the world a Coke, Gabor and his team created an interactive ad where people could buy a Coke for another person anywhere in the world. Special vending machines were installed across the globe, allowing the buyer to create a personalized message, and for the receiver to respond back.
A glimpse at the future of advertising
Television advertising had a captive audience, and it was a one-sided exchange of information. People still love it, as online retailers like GetDirectTV.org can attest to. The Internet, though, is different.
People online want interaction – either interaction with a company, or other people. They are not a passive audience. Gabor’s new Coke ad takes advantage of this. Thus far only ten or fifteen percent of video ads are interactive, says Innovid. Hopefully, the success of Project Re: Brief will help increase that number.
Google’s ad project was important because it helped demonstrate how good advertising fundamentals could be combined with the interactive power of the Internet. Because better ads generate more revenue, Internet users can expect more interactive ads in the future from any company serious about online advertising.