Online ads that are integrated into the content of a page, such as half banners and rectangles, are the most effective in driving online ad awareness and purchase intent, according to research released yesterday by Dynamic Logic.

Half banners (234 x 60) and rectangles (180 x 150) were more effective than ads that frame the page such as leaderboards and skyscrapers, according to the research, based on an analysis of 2,390 online display campaigns that took place over the past three years (from Dynamic Logic's MarketNorms database).

"We continue to believe that creative quality is the most important factor driving the success of online advertising," said Ken Mallon, Dynamic Logic's SVP of custom solutions, commented.

"However, it will be interesting to see how the new, larger ad formats that publishers are beginning to debut will rank next to the more traditional online ad formats. Based on the current data, bigger doesn't always mean better, but these new ad formats are quite unique and we look forward to testing them."

Rich Media Performance

The research also revealed that ad campaigns using rich media with video created the strongest brand impact (across most branding goals, including aided brand awareness, online ad awareness, brand favorability, and purchase intent) compared with campaigns using simple flash and rich media without video formats.

The worst performer was simple flash, the format used most by agencies and advertisers.

"One of the biggest problems in online advertising today is that, unfortunately, strategy and consideration of branding goals is often an after-thought in decisions about creative format," Mallon said. "Instead, the three factors that drive decisions are the fixed percent of media budget allocated to ad serving fees, which creatives can be developed in time to meet deadlines, and familiarity/comfort with flash ads."

Online-Ad Suggestions

Based on its own research and that conducted by DoubleClick, Dynamic Logic offered the following guidelines for advertisers and agencies:

• Establish branding goals and base format preferences on these goals early in the campaign planning process.
• Try delivering a rich media with video ad as the first ad exposure to your addressable online audience.
• When on a tight budget, switch to less-expensive formats and consider frequency capping to extend reach.
• Don't let arbitrary ad-serving budgets prevent you from running the most effective ad formats. Factor media fees and rich-media fees in together and optimize from there.
• For message association goals, consider adding the message to every frame of the ad for best results.
• Think twice before making simple Flash ads the centerpiece of a campaign. For every branding goal studied, a different rich media format was better than simple Flash at getting results.

About the data: Dynamic Logic's MarketNorms is a marketing effectiveness database. The results cited have not been adjusted for exposure frequency, demographics, ad size, websites, advertiser industry, and other factors that may contribute to brand lift. These findings are aggregate in nature, reflect past results, and are not a guarantee of future results for individual campaigns.