In the non-stop search for ever-increasing exposure opportunities, Internet advertisers are contemplating the use of one of the web's newest tactics: the pop-under ad. In case you haven't seen or heard about it, the pop under ad pops onto the viewer's screen behind the currently opened page. Once the page is closed, the advertisement is still on screen - that is, until the viewer either clicks on it or closes it down. This development follows on the heels of the now familiar pop-up ad. Is the pop-under some new gimmick or can we really expect gains from this new device beyond that delivered by pop-ups? The answer seems to be a little of both.

THE POP-UP PUNCH?

Given what we know from academic research about consumer information processing, the pop-under has some distinct advantages over other web-advertising tactics, particularly pop-ups.

First, it is different from pop-ups as it is shown when you are finished viewing a web site not during the website visit. Lots of academic research in marketing shows that our attention is focused on whatever is goal relevant. If we are searching an Internet site, chances are our attention is focused on the information on that site that is relevant to what brought us there in the first place. If we've gone to a food site, it's likely to be a recipe; if a clothing site, it's likely to be some new clothes that will make us feel sexy, help us feel comfortable, or make us look stylish. Except for some highly targeted ads, it is unlikely that the pop-up ad's content reflects consumers' interests and the goal they are trying to achieve by visiting the web site.

Sure, pop-ups are attention-getting, and this is one of their purported benefits over static banner ads. Academic research shows us that movement captures attention, and pop-ups do "pop" up onto the screen. However, the real problem is that the movement of the ad just distracts consumers from what they want to do.

EFFECTS ON AD AND BRAND LIKING

So what's the problem with that? Isn't the goal of flashing ads and pop-ups to be attention getting? Sure, but the problem is that when consumers are involved in something and then distracted from it, they feel annoyed. How do you feel when you are in the middle of a great TV show and your phone rings?

So, what's the problem with a little annoyance as long as people attend to my ad. Plenty! Pop-ups run the risk of creatiing negative attitudes toward the ad and brand. This too has been verified by academic research. Theories like classical conditioning tell us that when a given stimulus (e.g., an ad or a brand) is associated with negatively valenced things (e.g., irritation that comes from a distracting pop-up ad) consumers' evaluations of that stimulus become increasingly negative. Hence, you are less likely to create negative feelings toward your brand by showing a pop-under than a pop-up ad. Less negative feelings toward the brand means greater likelihood of considering it on the next purchase occasion.

Maybe pop-ups will become so irritating that consumers just shut them down without looking at them. So, now you argue, if consumers don't look at them what's the harm in having them? Well, don't advertise if you think consumers' aren't going to attend to your ad. But just because consumers don't attend to your ad doesn't mean they aren't processing information about it. Lots of academic research shows that people can process information without ever being aware of having focused on it. It's called preattentive processing. What's more, once they process it, even unconsciously, it can affect their attitudes toward it. Consumers will still find the pop-up irritating, and even if they don't pay attention to the ad they will mentally register it and their feelings toward it in their brain. Pop-ups lose here too.

POP-UNDERS TO THE RESCUE

Pop-unders resolve some of these problems. They aren't nearly as distracting as pop-ups because they occur after, not during the viewing of a web site. Being less distracting, they should create fewer negative feelings toward the ad and brand. Furthermore, the pop-under ad may be the only thing on screen (unless the consumer has lots of windows open). This means that the ad is not competing with anything else for consumers' attention.

Furthermore, because consumers don't see the ad come on screen in the first place, they have to look at it to decide what it is and whether they need to shut it down or click on it. This means that consumers must process the ad more intensively. With all this attention, surely consumers will register the brand name consciously.

The bottom line then is that pop-unders are more likely to be attended to and processed and less likely to be regarded as irritating than pop-ups. Achieving brand name awareness, brand knowledge, and brand attitude objectives therefore appear more likely with pop-unders than pop-ups.

These outcomes also put advertisers in a better position to achieve a click-through - particularly if the pop-under has something relevant to say to the audience. An engaging picture, a catchy headline-all the usual tricks that get people to want to learn more -- can be utilized with ease with pop-unders.

So are you ready to invest heavily in pop-unders? Well, consider this.

THE UNDISTRACTED CONSUMER?

An important assumption of pop-unders is that once consumers close down their open screen they are ready for something new and hence open to internet ad content. This is a big assumption. Chances are, consumers have multiple screens open at the same time. Closing one might reveal a pop-under, but that ad is annoying and irrelevant to viewing the screens beneath it. Even if they have no other screens open, consumers are off to other things. Looking at your ad is simply not likely to be an important priority. Even pop-unders run the risk of annoying consumers (and creative negative brand and ad attitudes) though admittedly their annoyance potential may be less that pop-ups.

A NOVELTY EFFECT?

Pop-unders may also outperform pop-ups today for another reason - the novelty effect. Consumers' are not yet sophisticated in methods for avoiding them. But as their novelty wears off, consumers will develop unarticulated yet highly sophisticated methods of discerning what material on screen is an is not a pop-up. Can't you tell very quickly just what is and is not an ad from an article or a sign from a billboard? An important principle in the information processing research is that consumers' attention is selective and that we develop very sophisticated systems for discerning the relevant from the irrelevant. Pop-unders will be no different. You'll see.