Over the years, I’ve heard prospective clients and colleagues say, “online advertising doesn’t work.” They say it with such bitter indignation that you know they don’t want to hear anything to the contrary. I bite my tongue. I mute my “Does so!” Because let’s face it, we’re both right.
There’s a lot of ineffective banner advertising that doesn’t get clicks. It gets ignored. I’m also willing to bet that little (if any) concepting time went into those ads that didn’t pull. But when a banner ad assignment is treated with the same deference as a billboard, you do get good results.
According to Google’s research, “As with any marketing campaign, the success of a banner campaign comes down to creative quality.”
I was reminded of that the other night when I watching my Red Sox play on MLB.tv.
When I saw these banners, my first thought was ‘Well done Jet Blue! Well done!’ Then I wished I was a kid or had a kid. Who wouldn’t want beloved future Hall-of-Famer Big Papi over for a crazy piñata-smashing birthday party?
To fully appreciate how smart this ad is – check out the spot that has been airing on TV for the past couple of weeks.
Jet Blue is covering all of their marketing bases with a holistic campaign that supports its overall brand. It’s the sort of creativity I’d expect from an airline that comes up with playful names for each of its planes. (Wouldn’t that be a great gig? Whenever my sister and I fly on Jet Blue, we get a tad silly and come up with our own.) It’s also the inspiration we could all use to hit it out of the park with online advertising.