Advertising

It all stems from offline thinking. Many people think that the home page is just like the cover of a magazine, and therefore it gets the most "exposure", and therefore you achieve "reach".

One of the worst places to place your ads on is the home page, especially if it's a portal.

Here's why:

1. Targeting: Since the home page is usually the most general page on a website, you have no idea what kind of user is visiting it. Let's take an example of one big portal, MSN. Currently the navigation bar includes the following links: news, entertainment, sports, money, lifestyle, locals, autos. The purpose of that page is to route users to other pages. Even if they don't know it, there is nothing to do or read on the home page but links and very short teasers of articles, so the user will quickly end up going to another page to continue whatever task they came to do.
   A full discussion of the categorization of the different types of pages can be found on Semphonic's Functionalism, and in a more specific white paper.
2. Mental State: Since this is a spring board kind of page, and the user in a browsing mode, their hand is still on the mouse, and their eyes are moving quickly, scanning, and evaluating the different options. They are trying to find something interesting, and as mentioned in point 1, you cannot know what that content is, because it varies from cars to sports, and from entertainment to money. If you take a look at the submenus, you will easily realize that this page can be interesting to anyone on Earth!

Since the user is not identified to be interested in anything in particular, and since they are in a scanning state of mind, the home page is not where they would be most receptive.

The best place to be on is what some people call "deep pages", which are pages of articles, videos, or any content where the user sits back, releases their mouse and start reading. A quick correction, there is no such thing as a deep page. The web is a flat place, and since most traffic starts from a search engine or social media, you are usually sent directly to that article page or video page to immediately view and many times you continue on a journey in the website without even seeing the home page.

I previously wrote about the power of contextual targeting to inform us about the user reading the content, and following that logic, the home page is not effective at all.

Going back to our offline magazine advertising friend, I would argue that even in magazines, advertising on the cover would not be as effective as advertising a product next to articles related to that industry. The cover will definitely give you more reach, but at a much higher cost. Most of that reach is irrelevant audience, because everyone reading the magazine will have to start at the cover. The reduction in price, appearing next to your article, and using the remaining budget to advertise on more publications with a more focused reach would get you much better results, because you are reaching people who are in the market for your product vs. reaching the masses. Of course there is no way to prove it offline, but when done online and the cost-per-acquisition is calculated it is clear that the targeted option performs much better.

When might being on the home page work? Very rare cases where your brand is highly known, used by almost everyone, and depends on impulse. Carbonated drinks for example want to just remind you how thirsty you are, how hot it is, and how much you need that extra coke. Most brands are not like that, and you usually have a limited budget and you are much better off spending it based on performance.

Perfect simplicity and clarity! Everybody knows Apple's logo, with one bite taken from it.
This ad very cleverly shows "another" bite, showing the discount.
This is an example where the communication is very comfortable for the reader to get. It is as simple as possible, "but not simpler" as Einstein says.
More important than merely being cute, the ad is descriptive, and sticky. You already have the logo embedded in your mind, and this is a temporary alteration to it. This is the essence of the message; that there are temporary price cuts.
No clutter whatsoever, and the mutated logo raises the readers' curiosity to understand what's going on.
Brilliant!

via: Ads of the World

Many times I see meaningless ads formatted and written in a tone that does not touch any aspect of our lives. Often times, these are poorly translated ads, that were translated by the dictionary, not by culturally-aware human beings.
Not only do these ads fail at conveying the right message, they sometimes backfire in certain societies.
Here are some tips to take into consideration while translating an ad or any other form of copy, written, audio, or visual:

1. Don't translate!: yes, you read it right. The first thing you DON'T want to do, is take a dictionary, and go word-for-word, or sentence-for-sentence. While this might work well with normal prose, it is quite dangerous with ads. What makes this process more delicate, is the limited space usually provided for advertisements. You usually don't have enough space to go around idioms and phrases, and you have to create something that fits. Don't translate, transcreate. Here is an article that sites different instances of successful transcreation in literature and art.
2. Think culturally: Thinking about the cultural implications while you write the new copy is necessary to make sure you get your message to the people. There is a website that talks about similar stuff, but the name of the website is the key for this tip: Don't make me think! This site talks about the Internet users' experience and how it must be improved by being simple, to the point, and easy to understand. When you write a transcreated ad, don't make your audience think.
   
3. Find the corresponding idiom: Many times, smart ads make us of certain idioms or puns on certain words. This is where you are really transcreating. The pun cannot be translated, and the idiom might and might not have a counterpart in the target language. In this case, you should find the idioms that are used in the target language and find ways in which they can click with the audience.
4. Test: You should always ask regular non professionals to see the ad and check their reaction. This is also a tip for writing regular ads for your own audience also. Many of us get swayed with the greatness or beauty of a certain pun, or fall in love with a certain idea, that we forget that we are writing to certain people, and even forget that they need to understand! This is an example by Olay.
   
5. Check the positioning: An American diapers brand had a commercial showing how easy it is to use their diapers, and how much it saved time. The same ad was adapted for the Far East, and it backfired, as those mothers came through as uncaring. "Why would a mother want to spend less time caring for her babies?" If you don't take this into consideration, you will do the opposite of what you actually want.
6. Let the people decide: Another safe (and free) method of doing this, is by passing the concept to your target audience and seeing how they deal with it. Post a thread on a forum, and discuss your brand or message. Observe what words people use to describe certain concepts. You will be surprised at how differently people use words for concepts. Try to check if they are using any cultural references or similarities. This is the language they are most comfortable using. Use it in your ads.

The main idea is that you should take the concept, and work with it. Giving it a fresh and local touch, and making sure your audience understand and like it at a glance.

As advertisers globalize, they will need to focus on local partners who understand the culture, instead of just copying and pasting their offices to new locations.