Ask HN: What advertising works on you? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What advertising works on you?

11 pointsresdirector15 comments

Over the past five years I have possibly clicked on about ten contextual advertisement, mostly for my own amusement (e.g., seeing how relevant the ad was). The only online advertisements that were even close to being effective on me were the ads for Bing, Evony, and Mail-Chimp (I like the latter's 60s-esque "lets get social" ad).

Of course, advertising on the internet works on some demographics, but what about the HN demographic? What types of advertisements have worked on you? And why? What are some important principles regarding advertising to the more learned crowd?

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One thing that people tend to underestimate is exactly how much advertising does affect them, even though many seem to adamantly claim it does not.

Effective advertising doesn't always = click throughs and action. But also in terms of name recognition and branding. Every "impression" is just that. Is GoDaddy the best domain registrar? No... but you likely know they are a registrar.

Ads from The Deck, Fusion Ads, Yoggrt, and other similar ad networks actually get my attention and clicks because they always have ads from quality services and companies. I even find myself peeking at The Deck ads just to see what new app/product/service is being advertised. When ads can actually be useful and informative, that's when they're really, really great.

That and affiliate ads. What person in the HN crowd hasn't given (MT) a thought after seeing all the high-profile sites recommending it?

I almost never see ads on the net (ABP for the win), so my reply relates to television/billboard/newspaper ads:

Consciously, very often in a negative way: Some ads make me less likely to buy or even consider the advertised brand/product. These include obviously fraudulent e.g. Enzyte (not that I needed, but if I ever did, I would never consider), to the we-assume-you're-an-idiot-and-have-short-term-memory ones like Ditech, and includes the we're-trying-hard-to-exploit-your-thought-processes-but-are-incompetent-at-it ones like Sprint's.

If an ad is smart, I'm more likely to be interested in the product e.g., Sony's '80s Trinitron 5 second genius ad: A man stands by a turned off Trinitron and says "This is the new Sony Black Trinitron. But I can't show you how good it is. Not with this one" (and knocks on the screen of the TV you're watching from the inside)

I think 99.9% of the advertising I see leaves no impression at all, though.

I can't measure my unconscious response (duh), but I suspect it's nearly non existent -- I have so few brand name items that it's unlikely to have had much effect.

A lot, I bet. Not sure if you're referring to web ads, or ads in general - but either way, you'll be effected by them more than you'd care to believe. Whilst you might not be clicking on ads, they will, subconsciously, be creating brand-awareness.

Have you ever watched Derren Brown's show? The human mind is incredibly susceptible to suggestion. The purchasing decisions you make in just about all aspects of your life will to some extent be determined by the advertising you have been exposed to. Ads create mind-share. When you next need a product or service, the provider that is likely to be the first you think of is likely to be the one to whom's ads you have recently been exposed - knowingly or otherwise.

Edit: we are, as Douglas Adams parodied with his Electric Monk, believing machines.

Every television food/restaurant ad I've ever seen.

I've never eaten at Red Lobster but oh MAN do I want to. That half lobster, flames lapping up and engulfing it, charry grill lines, being dipped in fake yellow butter.... mmm...

And Olive Garden. I have been and think its awful. But every time I see the commercial I want to go back. It just looks so good and tickles my brain in exactly the right ways.

I know that eating at these places will leave my disappointed, but somehow the rich visual imagery (planned by food stylists, not chefs...) just appeals to me on some visceral level that short-circuits the rational mind in me.

Lucky for me there's not "order now" button on my TV thats hooked up to a credit card.

I find that if the advert is non-intrusive, blends in with the design of the site that I'm reading and is relevant to what I'm looking for then I'm more likely to click an ad. Even more so if there's a discount offered.

Probably the biggest example is Amazon affiliate links. The other day I was looking for a new Bicycle pump, so I looked at different bicycle pumps online and visited a random blog where the author bitched about bicycle pump problems they had, then talked about a pump they bought that solved the problem. Sure enough, at the end of the post was a link to Amazon for the same model, so off I clicked.

There are many types of advertising that work on me, none have convinced me to buy a certain product, but i have learned of a companies existance I otherwise would have never learned about. I know that xobni exists and spells inbox backwards, due to massive radio/sky advertising campaigns in seattle.

I think the only internet advertising that has made an impression on me are Hulu/etc video advertisements (basically tv commercials, but generally more relevant to me). I can't think of any standard internet advertising (banner ads, google ads, etc) which has made an impression on me.

I can only think of one ad that I've responded to - a Reddit ad for the game Minethings. There are two reasons that I think I took the time to click on it: the Reddit ads appear like a normal post, but are at the top of the page and clearly labeled as advertisements, and for some inexplicable reason Reddit makes me feel warm and fuzzy. I've ignored countless advertisement, I have no idea why I'd be intrigued by the Minethings ad, but I've been playing Minethings ever since ;)

Ads that solve a problem and target the solution vs. ads that are all marketing mojo. Anything that has "best" "award winning" etc. I dont react to, but an ad that addresses a solution directly, often in a humorous "I understand what you need" kinda way I tend to respond to more, this is regardless if it is contextual or not. If a company is creative with this approach I tend to remember the product.

Old Spice's campaign with "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like", particularly the personalized videos that he made for random people on YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, 4chan, and others: http://mashable.com/2010/07/13/old-spice-gu/

It's the only ad campaign that has made me go out and buy a product basely only on that ad campaign.

Google search ads is one of the only ones I respond to, and mostly when I'm searching for a specific product or product type.

Something that's getting my attention lately is contextual and selectively targeted ads, but not in a good way. It's creepy to be pitched on something you looked at on Amazon, or something obliquely related to your interests constantly.

Ads like those will drive me to install ad blockers, which I've never before bothered with.

For online advertising, I generally (semi consciously, semi unconsciously) judge by "if this link came to me from a search engine, from a friend, or from a site I read [like HN], would I want to click it?"

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