Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

Editor's Note: For the entire month of September, the year of Google's 10 year anniversary, they will be marking the occasion by asking their experts, "What's going to happen in the next ten years?" Since their philosophy is that the best way to predict the future is to invent it, their vision of the future of the web comes very much from the flavor of the Google Kool-Aid.

So Organic felt that this would be a good opportunity for us to respond to Google's vision of the future as they tell it, with our vision of the future.

Ad Perfect by Susan Wojcicki, VP, Product Management

I feel search will continue to improve its effectiveness, but that at this stage of the game, it will be perfecting what is an already efficient system.

I believe the real area of opportunity is in display advertising. While the technology has unquestionably made great strides - rich media, streaming video...even shopping experiences within banners - I question its ability to truly engage - to inspire and motivate - consumers.

When I read any type of magazine or newspaper - whether GQ, Fortune, Giant Robot, Spin, WSJ or the New York Times - I look forward to seeing the ads. It's part of the joy of reading them. I know that Tiffany's most typically occupies the top right of page 3 of the New York Times, always with some beautiful product. I also know that in fashion magazine, such as W or Men's Vogue, the size and quality of the advertisements are going to be dramatic and cool.

Banners, by and large, have become "Flash-ier", but they have not necessarily become memorable. In fact, I avert my glance, even on high interest websites (for me, JoshSpear.com, NYT.com, TheSartorialist.com). They are not part of my personal site experience, as loud and glaring as they might try to be. They are miniature Times Square billboards with no impact. How do we become memorable?

Part of the answer is better targeting:

"I think a big part of the future is targeting and the ever-expanding options that we know have at our fingertips to address consumers based on where they are, what they are doing, and what they are interested in...and after all that tell our clients what they did. This can include Google but most likely will require broader reach Ad Networks and dynamic ads so that, as Advertisers, we are not stuck on just a few sites, with the same ad hoping a consumer will come our way."
Guy Schueller

But as marketers, I also feel we need to push for a large canvas. Interstitial banners are a start, but I would argue that even within web pages, banners should be far more prominent. If engaging and relevant, I believe consumers will ultimately have the patience and interest to navigate through such experiences. But, there will continue to be a push back, because ultimately we haven't given them the online equivalent of a truly great print ad...yet!

Jonathan Cohen