Eye-catching, isn’t it?
I spotted this web ad on the US News.com site when reading an article about corporate blogging (a very good and well-written article, by the way: see separate post).
The ad certainly grabbed my attention. Not only this one – the page also displayed two banner ads, one horizontal the other vertical. No way could you miss this message!
So what is the message? Clicking on the ad takes you to Parents: The Anti-Drug website, part of a US government drug prevention campaign:
TheAntiDrug.com was created by the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign to equip parents and other adult caregivers with the tools they need to raise drug-free kids. Working with the nation’s leading experts in the fields of parenting and substance abuse prevention, the Campaign hopes TheAntiDrug.com will serve not only as a drug prevention information center, but also as a supportive community for parents to interact and learn from each other.
This is imaginative advertising. If the clear goal is for you to click on the ad, I would guess that the success rate must surely be in the high 90 percent range.
Once you’ve clicked through to the website, you’re then presented with an equally-imaginative and nicely-designed site with information presented in a way that’s easy to read. Not only that, the material itself is well-written, addressing the subject matter in a non-nonsense but objective fashion. The site offers its content in English and five additional languages.
Whoever’s responsible for this campaign, the website and the advertising – kudos!
Hey Neville,
Saw that ad too and was really impressed. Glad to see you blogged about it. It’s novel and unexpected. It makes you notice it because you can’t put in in that bucket of ads you have seen again and again.
It is impressive, Heather. And I agree, it’s unexpected. When you first see it, you can’t help but click to satisfy your curiosity.
Definitely a great example of original and imaginative thinking.