Would you click this?

Most people who visit music blogs are music fans looking for downloads. Which makes me think there is very little chance that anyone has ever ( and I do mean ever) clicked on this banner ad that's been appearing on the music blogs that I visit.

Become a DoGooder

I've been thinking a lot about green initiatives lately for one of our clients. So you can imagine how excited I was when stumbled across the DoGooder.

It's an ingenious plug-in that enables you to support green initiatives and charities simply by surfing the web.

How's it work? Glad you asked.

Once installed the DoGooder replaces the banner ads you're supposed to see with green, charity or cheeky DoGooder messages like those shown in the NY Times above.

Pretty clever huh?

According to the DoGooder website their plugin doesn't actually block the original banner ads. And any click related revenue agreement is unaffected.

To learn more about this very clever idea click here.

Where are the good banners?

I am a regular visitor to Bannerblog. Even the not so good banner ads they post there have some merit.

Which is more than I can say for most of the banners I see each and every time I go online.

I never see any decent banner ads.

In fact I can't remember the last time I saw a banner ad that made me think "I wish I'd done that".

I wonder why?

As a medium online offers unparalleled opportunities.

Yet most of the ads are shit.

It's been like that since forever.

Surely it'll have to turn the corner someday. Won't it?

Great idea bad ad

What makes a good banner ad?

Ask a variety of people that question and you'll get a variety of answers.

If the ad above was sitting on a website you would it get your attention?

I doubt it.

Would it be able to cut through all the news or info that surrounds it on a webpage?

Again I think not.

That headline is so insipid it's not funny.

As an ad it is, I believe, a failure.

And yet it is one of the best banners I've seen in ages!

To see what I mean go and see the actual ad on Bannerblog.

Click here to go there and be sure to click on the 'click' speech bubble.

Once you're done why not pop back here and let me know what you think?

Sad or bad?

This banner ad for Sydney agency The Furnace was on an advertising website I was looking at today.

I quite like the idea of making sad brands smile. I really do.

But this is an incredibly dull ad.

My biggest problem with it is the call to action - Call us.

Take a close look at the ad and you'll see there's no phone number to call.

That oversight made me smile. A lot.

Not sure it would help a sad brand though.