Information Architecture and Advertising

Libby Peterek
libby@ischool.utexas.edu
LIS 385T
Information Architecture and Advertising
Assignment due: October 22, 2002
Assignment submitted: October 22, 2002

I. Advertising media and history

II. On-line advertising: the new medium

A. Banners and Pop-ups
B. Sponsorships
C. Microsites
D. Brand-based sites

III. The future of Advertising and IA

A. Wireless ad campaigns show results
B. Interactive
C. Location, Location, Location
D. IA - Pathfinder for the Future

IV. IA and Advertising

References

Information Architecture and Advertising

"I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information" (Ogilvy, 1983, 7)

Advertising informs current or potential customers about a brand or product through chosen media. Many disciplines come together to achieve this goal including, but not limited to, computer science, design, information architecture (IA), marketing, and psychology. This paper will deal primarily with advertising and IA's presence within it.

I. Advertising media and history

Technological media and advertising forge a dependent relationship. As each technological media marker emerges, so does its advertising counterpart. In the early days of print (c. 18th century), advertising was used primarily for real estate and political purposes (Admuseum, print). The rise of radio saw advertisers combine programming with product, e.g. Little Orphan Annie with Ovaltine. Television's first commercial ran in 1941, for 10 seconds, advertising a seven-dollar watch (TVhistory, first commercial). Advertising on the Internet proved harder to come by.

In 1994, a law firm by the name of Canter and Siegel posted an advertisement for green card application assistance to over 7,000 newsgroups. To this point, the Internet was a method for communication across geographical barriers only, so Canter and Siegel's posting marked the birth of spam. The law firm was quickly blacklisted across the Web (Zeff & Aronson, 1997, p. 16). "The Canter and Siegel spam wars occurred just before Wired magazine launched HotWired with an advertising business model" (Zeff & Aronson, 1997, p. 17). Among the forerunner advertisers featured in banner ads were AT&T, IBM, & Pepsi (Zeff & Aronson, 1997, p. 17). HotWired's success paved the way for the large-scale advertising campaigns of today's Internet.

II. On-line advertising: the new medium

On-line advertising provides benefits specific to the medium. Unlike print, radio, and television, the opportunities for 24-hour run-time, interaction, and tracking user interest to target a specific audience exist on the Internet. Additionally, Internet ad placement marks a company's commitment to current technology and the competition that lies within it. On-line advertising exists in several different forms, namely, banners and pop-up ads, sponsorships, microsites, and brand-based sites. The price, motivation, and success of each of these advertising techniques vary widely.

A. Banners and pop-ups

Banners and pop-up ads are perhaps the most popular advertising techniques most likely due to their relatively small price tag (Kania, 2001, p. 181). A banner is "a graphic that holds the image for a site or an advertiser, usually extending across the entire width of a page" (Whatis, 2001, Banner Webpage). Banner ads originally appeared at the top of every page following the print media principle that the first item seen is given the most attention (Veen, 2001, p. 43). However, the longevity and magnitude of banner use has conditioned users to simply pass over the top banner forcing the practice of new placement schemes (Veen, 2001, p. 196). Pop-up ads are more difficult to ignore because they must be actively dispelled. Pop-ups are small graphical user interfaces (GUI) that appear when a user chooses a certain page or link. They are programmed using JavaScript, allowing a separate window to appear in front of the viewing window (Whatis, 2001, Pop-up webpage). Although both banner and pop-up ads began as static images, the popularity of dynamic versions has grown.

Static on-line advertising consists of an image beckoning the user to click. Good IA ensures the destination page makes the same offer as the banner or pop-up in a manner clear to the user. "Web advertising studies have found about 20 to 30 percent of web users who click on a banner ad only to find out that they've been connected to a corporate home page hit the Back button almost immediately" (Nielsen, 2000, p. 77). A few bad experiences, i.e. clicking an ad to a meaningless page, teach the user not to trust banner and pop-ups ads as a whole, regardless of any future adoption of clean IA. This being the case, advertisers have turned to dynamic methods - prompting the user to interact. Dynamic banners and pop-ups elicit a response from the user, many times without forcing him or her to leave the current page, by means of fill-in and search fields. Dynamic advertising proves more efficient for both the customer and advertiser. The customer does not have to click through several pages to meet an end and the advertiser's user data is a real representation of interest in the product or brand.

Unicast's "superstitial" is a recent development in dynamic ad campaigns. "Superstitials combine Flash or other animation technology with Java programming to deliver video-like Web commercials…with a 'polite' cache-and-play delivery system…designed to load invisibly into the browser's cache…it doesn't appear until completely downloaded" (Whatis, 2001, Superstitial Webpage). Superstitials prove a great example of the evolution of on-line advertising. Users do not have to wait for an ad to load, a separate window appears, and the finished product contains movie-quality streaming media. As one might expect, these high-tech ads run for high-priced products, i.e. luxury automobiles.

B. Sponsorships

On-line sponsorships consist of the integration of an established web presence with the sponsor's brand or product (Kania, 2001, p.183). The site hosting the advertising may be established, the advertiser may be established, or they may both be established using the principle: two credible brands are better than one. Typically, the relationship between site and sponsor is logical and "very effective at building brand awareness and preference" (Kania, 2001, p. 98). Sponsorships deliver successful advertising in a seemingly non-intrusive manner by mixing content with advertising.

Yahoo and Claritin teamed up to present allergen counts for the entire country on the Yahoo site (Forbes, 2000, p. 83). In the competitive market of allergy pharmaceuticals, Claritin chose a sponsorship with Yahoo - a heavy traffic site. Yahoo benefited from the relationship through its ability to provide extensive allergy services to its audience. The direct ties between site and sponsor often provide functionality to the user that would have been lost if the two worked separately.

C. Microsites

As mentioned previously, effective banners and pop-up ads should link directly to the promotion or product each advertises instead of the corporate home page. In some cases, this means linking to a microsite. Microsites are smaller representations of a larger site that exist for special promotions or products. "Not only do microsites provide dedicated promotional messages, they can be used to track response to specific promotions, because marketers can track and analyze the traffic that is specific to the microsite" (Kania, 2001, p.185). Good IA allows for the user to reach the home site from the microsite and vice versa to accommodate all the paths that could lead him or her to the brand.

D. Brand-based sites

Many sites exist to advertise by means of establishing a brand image. The brand image is built upon the company's "up front value proposition" and the customers or audience it serves. The "up front value proposition" identifies the company's value and differentiates it from competitors (VanDuyne, Landay, & Hong, 2003, p. 238). "Try to find a promise which is not only persuasive, but also unique" (Ogilvy, 1983, p. 160). The differentiation and uniqueness may be found in the intended audience, itself. Honda and Cadillac owners are quite different, so should the brand image of each. Even if the company "knows" its audience, it is best to conduct research and testing to account for demographic changes. The style of the brand may depend on it.

The graphic design of the site should prove consistent. "Use the exact same fonts, colors, graphics, relative positions, and proportions for the brand image wherever it appears. Studies show that repetition helps customers recall information" (VanDuyne, Landay, & Hong, 2003, p. 320). Additional considerations should be made with regards to the speed of the site. Reusing graphics is one option for fast loading (VanDuyne, Landay, & Hong, 2003, p. 320).

When designing a brand-based site it is important to keep good IA principles in mind. Navigational flow and descriptors should not suffer because of flashy graphics. The site's brand means nothing if it is not usable, and consequently, effective.

III. The future of advertising and IA

The burgeoning new market of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smartphones bring new opportunities for effective advertising via new methods of IA. Just as the Internet was once an "untapped" resource, so is wireless communication. "The latest batch of handhelds indicates an ambitious preparation for the higher data speeds and impressive functionality that are supposed to characterize the wireless networks of the future" (Rodgers, Zachary, 2002). Many of the new devices don color interfaces and Java-enabled browsers opening the arena for more creative ad campaigns.

A. Wireless ad campaigns show results

Unlike the aversion to on-line advertising at its start, wireless advertising has been well received thus far. Avesair Mobile Marketing Network claims, "50 advertisers have run hundreds of mobile campaigns with exceptional results and response rates up to 5%, almost 10 times higher than traditional online ad campaigns" (Foreman & Bagley, 2002, ). Additionally, Link + Partner performed market research for beamgate in late 2001, "it's survey showed that this new form of advertising was not only well received, but also had very high recognition value: the information tended to stick in the recipients' minds and generated a strong impulse to make an actual purchase" (Bludszuweit, 2002). The caveat here is the brevity of the existence of wireless advertising. The results may be due to novelty; on-line banners and pop-up ads enjoyed much higher click-through rates at their launch than they do now. On the other hand, the new functionality of wireless devices, on both the front and back end, renders comparison to the on-line environment impossible.

B. Interactive

Placing an ad in the palm of the audience puts a new spin on "interactive". Avesair, alone, provides several ad formats for placement on the wireless network besides Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). "These formats include Short Message Service (SMS), instant messaging, chat, Multimedia Messaging (MMS), mobile email, and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to all major wireless devices including mobile phones, PDAs, and pagers" (Foreman & Bagley, 2002).

C. Location, location, location

One of the distinct differences between wireless advertising and traditional on-line advertising is a moving target. This affords advertising new opportunities for personalization. Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group (IC Mobile) has adopted such strategies "allow[ing] carriers and service providers to take consumers' present whereabouts into account when advertisements are sent over mobile phones" (Bludszuweit, 2002). Siemens offers an example of a vacationer atop a ski slope checking the local forecast, knowing his or her location allows for direct advertising about "discotheques or sport shops in the area" as well (Bludszuweit, 2002). Advertising proves more effective because it is reaching a geographically targeted audience. However, possessing the means to specifically target ads is only part of what makes the campaign a success, the other part lies in the IA.

D. IA - pathfinder for the future

The current state of the wireless market is a work in progress. When dealing with a new medium, new rules must be sought out and tested. Capabilities are useless if the message is not delivered effectively. Enter the Information Architect. The miniature and mobile nature of the computing device magnifies the concerns of IA. Some considerations include: the user's mobile or stationary position, distractions, the wide-range in device functionality, the absence of comforts like keyboards and mice, users unfamiliar with devices and clients, potential lack of color interface, and slow connection speeds (Smith, 2002). "IAs must abandon notions of point-and-click in favor of click-and-flow" (Smith, 2002). Principles of Internet IA must be pared down to support the smaller interface and keypad while still producing effective advertising.

IV. IA and advertising

The need for good IA in advertising is growing. The ever-declining click-through-rates of banners and pop-ups prove that traditional on-line advertising has become ordinary. New methods to bring the brand to the customer and the customer to the brand must be developed to continue to reap the benefits of on-line advertising. A major pitfall of on-line advertising is that, historically, the mappings to a direct payoff weren't correctly linked. After a couple false tries, the user grows frustrated, and ignores the easily recognized on-line ad gimmicks. A step forward may include owrking the advertising into the content of the site so it doesn't look like advertising. If linked to text the user is interested in, s/he may be more inclined to search futher.

References

Admuseum. (n.d.). The american advertising museum advertising timeline. Retrieved September 18, 2002, from http://www.admuseum.org/museum/timeline/timeline.htm

Bludszuweit, M. (2002, March). Location-based mobile marketing - more than advertising on mobile phones. Retreived October 16, 2002, from http://www.siemens.com/index.jsp?sdc_rh=null&sdc...

Cronin, M. J. (1995). Doing more business on the internet. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Forbes, T. (2000). Webworks advertising. Gloucester: Rockport Publishers.

Kania, D. (2001). Branding.com. Chicago: NTC Business Books.

Nielsen, J. (2000). Designing web usability. Indianapolis: New Riders Publishing.

Ogilvy, D. (1983). Ogilvy on advertising. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc.

Rodgers, Z. (2002, June). Handhelds in the summertime. WirelessAdWatch. Retreived from http://www.wirelessadwatch.com/news/2002/news20020617.shtml

Smith, S. (2002, October). Mobile: The state of the art. Boxes and Arrows. Retrieved from http://www.boxesandarrows.com/archives/print/002996.php

TVhistory. (n.d.). 1941 prices. Retreived on September 15, 2002, from http://www.tvhistory.tv/1941%20QF.htm

VanDuyne, D. K., Landay, J. A., & Hong, J. I. (2003). The design of sites. Boston: Addison
Wesley.

Veen, J. (2001). The art & science of web design. Indianapolis: New Riders.

Whatis. (2001). Retrieved September 23, 2002, from http://www.whatis.com

Zeff, R., & Aronson, B. (1997). Advertising on the internet. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.