Marketers, as we know, are always seeking for new and impactful ways of engaging the audience with their ads. This is why the OPA is opting to offer these new ’standardized blocks of space’ for advertisers and marketers to send their messages more effectively and a lot more visibly. We’re talking oversized boxes that can reach over 900 pixels wide.

Websites such as the New York Times (NYT), Wall Street Journal (NWS) and CNN.com are amongst the 37 publisher sites that will begin running super-sized ads in July.

This is what a super-sized ad would look like on your desktop:

This new ad format will effectively ensure the ads will not go unseen by anyone and it’s mainly thanks to their unusual presentation. However, and judging by the size, advertisers will most likely come up with some really creative pieces. Question is, are they adaptable for all kinds of brands?

One true fact that’s worth pointing out is that they will definitely increase users’ attention particularly if the ads have any relevance to the viewers.

Here are the exact specs of the new ad formats as presented by All Things Digital:

• The Fixed Panel: 336 wide x 700 tall, remains constant as the user scrolls to the top and bottom of the page

• The XXL Box: 468 wide x 648 tall, opens for seven seconds to 936 wide x 648 tall with 1/24x frequency

• The Pushdown: 970 wide x 418 tall, opens to display the advertisement and then after seven seconds rolls up to 970 wide x 66 tall, with 1/24x frequency.

I guess we can all agree it is quite a quest to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time. It’s officially the biggest challenge for all advertisers.

The segments that came relevant to this study include:

Ads on emerging media vehicles- ads delivered using new media channels (ie: mobile)

Ads on the road- billboards, outdoor advertising, etc.

Ads in mass media- ads that have the highest reach, vehicles include magazines, TV, Internet.

Ads on paper- ads delivered through print.

Ads at events- product placement ads at shows, events, sports or through TV programs.

Ads averse- or plainly ‘ad blinded’.

I’d like to highlight the 9% of US citizens pertaining to the ‘Ads on Emerging Media Vehicles’ segment. This is a reflection of the individuals who have been hit with the new ways of the Internet and advancements that enable users to access the online world from devices other than a personal computer.

Traditional advertising seems to be preferred by 17% of US adults, while 13% get driven by product placement in public environments or over TV shows.

A high percentage of US adults, however, seem to just ‘tune out’ the advertising.

The chart above also shows you which statement, 9% of US adults who fall under the ‘Ads on Emerging Media Vehicles’ category, mostly agree on.

Andrea Casalini of Buongiorno! gave us his opinion on the current market for mobile advertising.

Quote:

‘In mobile marketing there is a fine line between the innovative use of a new medium and invasion of privacy. If you are able to target well, the advertising will be appreciated.’

We did a video interview with Stefano at the Everything but Advertising Forum in Milan 2007. Stefano is an expert on mobile advertising and told us what to expect in the near future.

‘People want to be reached through different marketing channels. Also brands have the habit to use all the tools available. With the new techniques brands will have the possibility to reach the users one-on-one. There are very interesting niches that brands can reach through the many marketing channels.’

Online competitive skill games have gained in popularity immensely lately and at 77 we expect this to be a good move in order to (re)gain popularity. We suppose their aim is to come up with games that are more professional than Facebook’s Applications. This will cost a bit of cash, but increased popularity will also add advertisement revenue that is not directly linked to the games.

Game advertising is about to take a flight over the next five years, and we expect these types of social games to be leading in this field. The challenge will be to connect types of games with types of audiences, and social networks like MySpace – that have an array of personal information on all its users – will be first to make such connections.

MySpace seems to be working hard to regain ground on Facebook; recently we reported that they will introduce ad-sponsored video channels in – at least – the UK market. All in all, it seems MySpace is taking the professional road in content, where Facebook is now relying mostly on home-made applications.

“Manpower restraints” – 51.1%

“Fear of loss of control” – 46.9%

“Inadequate metrics” – 45.4%

“Culture of their organizations” – 43.5%

“Difficulty with internal sell-through” – 35.8%

‘Fear of loss of control’ and ‘Culture of their organizations’ are basically other ways of saying ‘we don’t think that we have good enough a product to let the public decide for themselves what they think of us.’ Social conversations should be the means to separate the wheat from the chaff, and in general marketers think that it is very well able to do so. They are even slightly nervous to have an (online) community talk about their products. We think, therefore, that the prediction of huge ‘conversation marketing’ spend will not come true. The issue is, that when you need make a lot of effort to affect social conversations in your favour, then a mere increase in social marketing spend is probably not going to solve your problems.

Positive social conversations about a product happen, because people like your product, and not for any other reason. As an example, take Starbucks. The valuable observation that companies and marketers should take from this research, is that they should invest in having a true conversation with the customer themselves, and listen to their needs.

As you already knew, Google allows you the same control since a few months ago. See here for the official instructions. We at 77 regard it as a good option to look into if we yield poor results from a certain domain, and to make sure we are not advertising on a competitor’s domain.