Comments on: Where are the AdWords jingles? http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/hroberts/2008/11/12/sunny-jim-says-where-are-the-adwords-jingles/ watching technology Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:51:58 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: hal http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/hroberts/2008/11/12/sunny-jim-says-where-are-the-adwords-jingles/comment-page-1/#comment-71 hal Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:24:47 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/hroberts/?p=27#comment-71 These are all good reason that straightforward pitches work well on adwords. But the downside of this sort of advertising is that it's boring and no one reads it. Certainly that is an acknowledged problem with adwords stuff -- it's so prevalent and so unassuming that it's really easy just to filter it out completely. The traditional counterweight to this problem in advertising is jingle type advertising that does a worse job of the direct sell but attracts more attention. I think it's an open (and important) question we haven't seen (as far as I know) these sort of jingle advertising on adwords yet. The most obvious result is that the ads in themselves lack the cultural impact of the jingles. Traditional forms of advertising have effect not only through the content that they support but also through the content of the ads themselves -- encouraging consumers to associate cars with power, perfumes with beauty, and laundry detergent with a happy home life. These messages have historically played an important role in shaping our society but are absent from adwords. These are all good reason that straightforward pitches work well on adwords. But the downside of this sort of advertising is that it’s boring and no one reads it. Certainly that is an acknowledged problem with adwords stuff — it’s so prevalent and so unassuming that it’s really easy just to filter it out completely. The traditional counterweight to this problem in advertising is jingle type advertising that does a worse job of the direct sell but attracts more attention.

I think it’s an open (and important) question we haven’t seen (as far as I know) these sort of jingle advertising on adwords yet. The most obvious result is that the ads in themselves lack the cultural impact of the jingles. Traditional forms of advertising have effect not only through the content that they support but also through the content of the ads themselves — encouraging consumers to associate cars with power, perfumes with beauty, and laundry detergent with a happy home life. These messages have historically played an important role in shaping our society but are absent from adwords.

]]> By: Jim Morris http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/hroberts/2008/11/12/sunny-jim-says-where-are-the-adwords-jingles/comment-page-1/#comment-70 Jim Morris Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:02:48 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/hroberts/?p=27#comment-70 I think the genius of Google's model is that the ads on search pages are minimized so that one must click them to learn more. It seems to serve eveyone's interest: 1. The reader's screen is not crowded with undesired ads. 2. The advertiser is motivated to give an honest, short description so the clicker-through is genuinely interested. 3. Google is motivated to get a lot of likely ads on the page so that a click-through happens. Of course, this is an entirely ultilitarian viewpoint. I think the genius of Google’s model is that the ads on search pages are minimized so that one must click them to learn more. It seems to serve eveyone’s interest:
1. The reader’s screen is not crowded with undesired ads.
2. The advertiser is motivated to give an honest, short description so the clicker-through is genuinely interested.
3. Google is motivated to get a lot of likely ads on the page so that a click-through happens.
Of course, this is an entirely ultilitarian viewpoint.

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