Ryan Dohrn breaks down a Chase Freedom ad on weather.com where animated dollar bills float across the page. The ad is 300 by 400-600 pixels, frequency-capped to once per 24 hours, and pauses the site's navigation while it plays. Dohrn argues Flash only works when it has a real purpose, not just for novelty.
Hey everybody, this is internet consultant Ryan Dohrn and I wanted to take a second. I came across a really cool Flash advertisement over on weather.com and a lot of times, you know, as I'm talking to folks and they say, hey Ryan, should I run or should I accept Flash ads on my media website? A lot of times I'll say, hey, no, don't do it, because typically the Flash ads are just really big. The extra things that the Flash ads do you can typically accomplish with an animated GIF file. And typically, the Flash doesn't add anything to the overall experience, meaning that it doesn't cause an advertiser or potential customer to click more or anything like that. People have just used Flash just to use Flash. Here's a really cool example. I want you to watch and watch the dollar bills float across the page and fill in this Chase ad. I'm just going to let this load. And the reason I have to kind of start over with it each time is, you know, because it's really important that the browser is only going to show this ad once, I think, probably every 24 hours or something like that. Okay, notice the dollars floating across the screen and they're going to go down and they're going to fill in to the ad on the right. You'll also notice that the navigation at the top of their website stopped for a second and now it's complete until the ad was actually filled. Now watch what happens if I refresh the ad. Something really important for all media website owners to understand is that when I refresh this ad, it's probably not going to play it in its entirety again, meaning the dollar bills— yeah, see how the dollar bills don't float across the screen, they just float and fill in this ad space. Now this particular ad that you're noticing here, that's 300 wide and in some cases can be as much as 400 to 600 tall, is actually an ad size unit that's becoming very, very popular. Why is that? Well, because it's so big and advertisers really like it and it's easy to design for. The clear thing to notice about this is that if you're gonna use Flash ads, use them for a reason, use them for a purpose, use them to draw in as an advertiser. Use them to draw in a potential customer's eye. Use them for a purpose and don't just use them just to use them. So a couple things to note here. One, this is a really cool example of how Flash can really, really work well to draw some active interest to a banner ad, especially if you have a potential customer that says banner ads don't work. Secondly, it's important to note what's happening with this Flash ad. It's being used— Flash is being used for a purpose. It's being used to draw in a potential customer's eye, to draw attention to some very clear calls to action here in this Chase Freedom ad. You know, when I come across things like this as an internet consultant, I like to share it with you because I really want to challenge you, encourage you to reach for the stars and always make sure that you're using internet technology to its fullest. Again, this is Ryan Dohrn. I'm your internet consultant. Always, my first 30 minutes with you is absolutely free of charge. So if we're not currently working together, please reach out to me. Happy to chat with you, 30 minutes, absolutely free to get you going in the right direction. Take care, and I hope you'll join us here at brainswellmedia.com.
