Comments on a Classmates Post.

I recently read a posting from Ben Gruber's blog about an article he read on the Devaluation of Online Advertising. I thought his choice of article was very interesting, as well as being extremely pertinent to the subject matter we discuss in class. Ben discussed his opinion on this article, written by Dorian Sweet, and I must say I agree with his points. The idea that media consumption has become more of an addiction than a choice for most people is such a perfect portrayal of the current state we are in. It is a simple fact that those people who have become accustomed to computer access on a daily basis would feel a sense of disconnect with out it. I personally remember not having Internet for a few days because Comcast was changing my cable plan and I felt somewhat lost not being able to check my email or talk to people online so I knew everything that was happening.

As far as the essentials for online advertisers, Sweet has created a list of four essentials: keep a close eye on what your customer is doing online, make sure to track your ads, to trust and use the information you get from tracking the ads, and to remain creative. I believe all these are important points to ensure success in online advertising. Ben makes special mention of creativity of ads to be probably the most important. I must agree with him that from a consumer attention standpoint, creativity is the key factor. After all, consumers are bogged down and overwhelmed by tons of online ads every single day. This fact suggests they have seen pretty much everything, so it is important for advertisers to think outside of the box and make their ad stand out among all the competition. I do however also agree that Sweet's other points should not be taken lightly. Attention, gained by creativity, is obviously important because without gaining the consumer's attention one has nothing. Yet in order to maintain a long lasting advertising campaign online involves receiving and analyzing data about one's ads and how the customer base is responding to them. Overall, an excellent article by Dorian Sweet and a great blog posting by Ben Gruber.