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This is the personal blog of John F. Morton. It's where I talk about the stuff that interests me. Primarily technology, marketing and pop culture. If you are looking for my portfolio of work, visit johnfmorton.com. Thanks for stopping by!
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How Turning Off JavaScript Changes Advertising
I’ve mentioned the danger of browsing the web with JavaScript turned on before. (See the previous post here.) I encouraged you to turn off your JavaScript in that post.
To review, why exactly is JavaScript dangerous? I’ll quote a recent article I read. “The fact that JavaScript can be used… to capture keystrokes or upload files should be cause for concern and reason to disable JavaScript whenever possible.” Basically, having JavaScript “always on” allows anyone who posts a web page to the internet to run code on your computer when you visit their site or even someone else’s site that has a reference to the original site. I know of a person at my office who recently had the log in to her MySpace page stolen through a JavaScript-based phishing attack.
How does the growing awareness of the dangers of JavaScript effect us as advertisers? Just like I’m encouraging you to do here, I think fewer people will be using it in an “always on” state in the future. Since the ad industry makes great use of JavaScript — to serve ads, to track visits to our sites, to start a Flash movie, and more — we need to adapt.
Try installing NoScript and simply go surfing around the web. You’ll notice many few ads, probably no pop-ups, and no advertising page take overs. I’d bet you’ll see much less Flash animation in general too. Some of the best micro sites we see out there simply show a blank screen if you don’t have JavaScript turned on. That can and should be addressed when we build sites for clients. (See what Pigs Anonymous, one of my sites, looks like if you have JavaScript turned off by clicking the thumbnail image in this paragraph.)
Another problem we’ll run into is how we show the effectiveness of our campaigns without JavaScript. Much of the code counting visitors to sites is JavaScript based, like the popular Google Analytics. Suddenly the success of your next campaign is in question simply because we haven’t been able to count users correctly. That’s assuming we were able to get them to see it at all without JavaScript.
The solution to many of these JavaScript problems can be addresses with the concept of progressive enhancement in the web design process. Basically, you write a basic page that gets better automatically, based on the abilities the user has enabled on his or her web browser. I’ll write more about this in a later post, but for more than preview, check out DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript and the Document Object Model by Jeremy Keith, which I wrote about here.
Not convinced of the problem with JavaScript? Read the following articles.
- Internet Explorer 7 Is Still Not Safe Enough - PC World
- Ongoing interest in Javascript issues - Internet Storm Center
- Tips for Protecting the Home Computer - New York Times
- 10-Step Security - PC World
I sent a different version of this post as an email to my friends at work. If you end up reading it twice, my apologies. 
Internet Radio May Be History On May 15.
Click the banner above to visit SaveNetRadio.org. The RIAA has managed to increase the fees internet radio must pay to an extent that most experts don’t believe any internet radio station can stay in business. These are fees over-the-air stations don’t pay at all. You can kiss the brilliant Pandora service goodbye if this doesn’t get changed.
When You Stick an Ad in My Game, It Better Be Good.
Can you imagine Mario trying to save a big can of Pepsi for Princess Peach? Maybe if you complete the whole six-pack, you get a rare bonus Crystal Pepsi!
If you’re reading this at some distant point in the future, I sure hope you don’t find Mario World invaded by Pepsi, but the video game landscape has finally caught the notice of big advertisers. I recent read Is In-Game Advertising About to Take Off?, an article discussing how ripe video game players are for reaching with advertising. Gamers can’t really change the channel, TiVo a game to skip an ad, or take a bathroom break from a game so they can skip ads if they are incorporated into a game. They not only have to “watch” the ads, they have to participate in them. Reaching gamers “in game” is like shooting fish in a barrel. These gamers are also a highly sought after demographic.
I do work in advertising and I truly believe that advertising does not ruin everything it touches. When done well, advertising can be really enjoyable and that’s why Very Funny Ads is a great place to spend time. The thing I fear are the bad advertisers fumbling into gaming with arm loads of cash (thus getting their way) and ruining the gaming experience. The article does mention this as a challenge, but it’s one of the last things mentioned.
Another challenge is the need for advertisers to focus on the players’ experiences. “Advertisers have to be creative and provide gamers with tangible benefits from the ads; if they are just interested in displaying their ads, their efforts will eventually fail,” Parks Associates’ Cai told the E-Commerce Times. Techniques now being tested to tighten the bond between player and advertiser include special promotions, rebates, coupons, newsletters and text messaging follow-ups.
Getting advertising and video game integration right will take time and quite a few stumbles. If you take the typical number of commercials you see watching one hour of TV as an example, only a small percentage of them are actually good. Is this the same ratio we can expect from advertising integrated into video games?
Some thoughts come to mind in this area.
- Instead of integrating an advertising message into a game a person has already paid $50 for, a better solution is probably having extra levels or optional areas of games sponsored by advertisers, complete with parental controls to give parents the ability to block advertising from their kids if they choose.
- Perhaps the advertising can actually offset the price of the game. This was the promise of advertising invading movie theaters, but the hoped for discount never materialized for movie goers.
- I thought the Burger King XBOX 360 games were a really nice examples of gaming and advertising playing well together. The fact that they required you to purchase actual game disks made the delivery of the games a little clunky to me though. Now that digital distribution has come to consoles, this probably will cease to be a problem.
- Mobile phones, from a conceptual level, seem like an ideal place to let consumers spend some spare moments having fun while getting a brand message. The problem, at least in the US, is that the service providers and the phone manufacturers have so many different standards and restrictions, that reaching your consumer effectively becomes a huge burden.
Advertising • Gadgets • Games • Trends • (0) Comments • Permalink
Pigs Anonymous in the Webby Awards
I just found out that Pigs Anonymous, a site I worked on about a year ago for the Advertising Women of New York, is a Webby nominee under the “Associations” category this year. I’m really excited and honored. There are so many great sites nominated. The winners in each category are announced in June. I’ve got my fingers crossed.
Check out the Webby Nominees here.