HOW TO GET NOTICED ONLINE
1. Encourage the visuals to stand out and be visually aggressive
Similar to print, ads emphasizing the contrast between foreground and background often get the most attention. Bright colors on a black background tend to receive much higher scores as they give the graphics a three dimensional effect versus ads with monochromatic tones. Graphics and text that come towards the viewer (in your face) versus those that recede also result in higher recall.
2. Avoid exaggerated cartoons
Tech savvy audiences and gamers in particular are accustomed to seeing high quality animation and images. Ads containing static images or those that simply float across the screen in a visually incompatible way, do not appeal to this audience.
3. Emotion (a.k.a. sex) still sells
Knowing what types of emotional elements appeal to your target audience is vital to making your advertising relevant to them. The GameSpot study demonstrates ads that contain images and themes with sex appeal outperform ads that do not -- especially when targeting young, male gamers.
4. Follow the flow -- give them something to look at
The eye wants to see clearly. Ads that do not have a clear focal point have a harder time getting noticed. Make sure that your images and text don't compete for your consumer's attention. Images that move too quickly, or fade in and out too rapidly, leave the eye without much to see. And be kind to your models, images that are severely cropped or not featured into to result in low notability.
5. Beat them up with benefits first
The consumer always wants to know, "What's in it for me?" Ads containing specific, immediate benefits (price information, new features) and accolades (third party endorsements) resonate very strongly with consumers. For lesser known products, this may be the difference between advertising success and failure.
6. Keep it simple
Don't make the consumer work too hard to understand your ad. The study showed that clear, singular images without a lot of clutter had the most impact and highest recall.
7. Brand early and often
In the technology/CE category, communicating the brand in the first frame is critical to establishing a clear association of the brand with your audience. Time is of the essence. In the game space, by contrast, products and brands are one and the same, often identified by a unique character that makes the brand association easier to communicate.
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» Reasons to use interactive advertising
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