I have just been checking my Yahoo Mail, which kindly displays a skyscraper ad on the right side of the screen.
To my amazement, a banner has just appeared for American Express with a 'loading' message.
I was so surprised that I hit the refresh button on my browser and the banner reappeared, again with the 'loading' message.
After a few seconds, once the banner had loaded, it was just a simple animated ad for Travel Insurance.
No fancy video or interactive game that would at least justify the waiting time.
If I was using a slow dial-up connection I would understand. But I am using a high speed broadband connection which loads most sites in an instant.
I guess I am just surprised that the creative agency believe that consumers will happily wait for the ad to load.
Display ads need to work hard to attract user attention away from the main content of the page.
This is simply an example of poor design with little thought for usability.
Rant over.
Matthew Finch - view blog
Reader comments (1)
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9:50AM on 25th March 2008
This is actually a new and common trick at the moment. Falsified loadings which catch the eye and create anticipation. Remember the first rule of advertising is create abruption, unfortunately most people forget it needs to be relevant abruption, and choose to forget that brands should be synonomous with honesty and making someone take notice, then dissapointing them or even irritating them is not the way to win customers. Sadly, it is often the agency at fault here, as much as the clients.
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