So many ads, so little time

Remember the simpler times, when what this country needed was a good five-cent cigar?

Me neither.

Still lack of necessity has long been the mother of a lot of the invention that goes on around here. The latest manifestation is AdKeeper, which will let us ad-loving online consumers save ads rather than stop in our content pursuing tracks and read them in the here and now.

I am, of course, not the target for this particular set of wares. When was the last time I did anything with an online ad other than click the “x” in the upper right hand corner of a pop-up. The thought of actually saving an ad to look at it later… Talk about a foreign concept.

Never say never, of course.

I suppose if I saw an ad for 50% off on LL Bean comfort fleeces, I might save that to go back to after I’d finished reading up on the Congressional candidate from Ohio who’d taken part in WWII re-enactments as a Waffen SS officer. (“Hey, let’s play Malmedy massacre. You be the Americans, I’ll be the Germans.”) 

And a banner ad for AirFrance that said “$200, no strings, anytime to Paris” would be worth saving  for a return visit. that is, once I’d finished browsing the comments on an article about a recent Duke grad who has put some sort of a serious dent in her career and/or man search by sending out a PowerPoint critiquing her sexual partners to a few friends, only to see if go viral. (On second thought, maybe someone will hire her. Sure, she’s demonstrated a callous disregard for the feelings and reputations of the men she’s bedded, but her PowerPoint skills are reasonably impressive.)

But mostly I don’t care about what AdKeeper has to offer:

• We give users a new way to control their online experience.
  A Keep Button™ on every ad allows them to continue doing what they’re doing and simply save ads for later.

I watched a video by AdKeeper’s founder, and he says he wanted to make it possible for us to save ads, in much the same way that we might tear one out of magazine or newspaper.

Other than a store coupon – and even those I don’t bother with, as the Macy’s clerks generally keep a supply by the register; and I don’t read the paper-papers anymore, anyway – or a big frequent flyer bonus for signing up for yet another credit card, I can’t remember ever tearing and ad out of a magazine. Unless I planned to blog about it for some reason. (Seldom positive, I’m afraid.)

• Users then interact with their Kept ads whenever they’d like, in their very own Keeper™. The Keeper is a dynamic and private web page that enables sorting, sifting, sharing, ranking, reviewing, clicking, printing and buying.

Ah, yes, “sorting, sifting, sharing, ranking, reviewing, clicking, printing and buying.” As if I didn’t already  have enough online time wasters, I need to ad sifting banner ads?

• AdKeeper is ‘on my time’ advertising that creates a unique channel for ongoing engagement between advertisers and consumers.

I know, I know, recession aside, we’re well down the path of consumerism becoming the highest and best level of citizenship. (Forget voting, go buy something.) Still, am I alone in not really wanting any ongoing engagement with an advertiser?

If I need want it, I’ll by it. If I need to find out about it, I’ll google it.

I have enough friends already, thanks. I don’t really need want to have much by way of engagement with a whole bunch of corporations that want to create needs wants, and then toss me by the wayside, once they figure out I’m not all that profitable to them. (Which, they probably already have.)

AdKeeper has a list of brands that are already using them, including Kmart, Kraft, Sara Lee, and Pepsi. Somehow, I just can’t see saving an ad for the blue light special, or for mac ‘n cheese. (Okay, I cherry-picked ones from companies I don’t buy from. They also have Best Buy and JetBlue on their list. I can’ see clicking on their ads either, unless it was for a 50% off coupon.)

I learned about AdKeeper from the Wall Street Journal (access may require a subscription; I’m sure an ad will pop up and let you know.). 

According to the WSJ, AdKeeper:

…bills its technology as "bookmarks for banner ads" or "TiVo for advertisements."

AdKeeper’s  founder, Scott Kurnit  – who has some Internet chops: he founded about.com in 1996 -

…says people need to be able to enjoy online ads more on their own time: "We have to figure out how to get people to want to engage."

Not that I don’t enjoy myself an occasional ad, but mostly I don’t acknowledge any of the ones I see (or don’t see) online. (As for TV ads, I’m scratching my head trying to come up with an ad  - other than the eTrade baby Wall Streeter ones – that I “enjoy.” More often than not, I dislike them. (C.f., the annoying young woman in the Progressive Insurance ads, and anything with the gecko.))

I am apparently not alone, and AdKeeper is supposed to cure all that:

The service is marketers' latest quest for a cure for "banner blindness," the fact that many consumers simply ignore graphical ads they see online.

But if we’re ignoring the ads now, what makes anyone think that – unless the content of the ad changes to make it more enticing (c.f., 50% off) – we’re going to save them. For what? To ignore them later?

I suppose there are plenty of consumers that so identify with a brand that they want to be part of a group of like brand idolaters. My quaintly old-fashioned affiliations tend to be with people and organizations I actually have a real relationship with.

I guess this longing to be part of a greater “other”, even if it is based on consumer tastes, is nothing new. Years ago, I was tootling up Route 84 in Connecticut, in a rental car, when someone in the passing lane started beeping and waving furiously. It took me a moment to realize that he was pointing out that we were both driving white something-or-others with dark red interiors. Oh, indeed, I do want to be in the club with everyone who has a mid-sized white Buick! (Confession: when the New Beetles came out, and I was an early adopter, we Beetlers used to give each other the high sign when we passed.)

AdKeeper’s fighting an uphill battle:

Only 16% of U.S. Internet users click on display ads, according to a 2009 study from research firm comScore. In 2007, 32% of users did.

Here’s another bit from the WSJ article:

…some advertisers say that articles and videos on a webpage distract from their messages, leaving an opening for AdKeeper.

Maybe this is an opening for AdKeeper, but isn’t the thing about distraction the other way around? I don’t want to see a distracting ad in the middle of an article – oh, that pesky content – even if the article’s only about some numbskull who thinks it’s cool to play let’s pretend as a Waffen SS officer.

It will be interesting to see if this idea succeeds.

I have been oh, so mistaken in the past about just what constitutes a good five cent cigar.