Will the Adults in the Online Ad Industry Please Stand Up?

A few weeks ago, I wrote that the ad-blocking debacle is a self-inflicted wound for advertising industry stakeholders.

Ad-blocking, efforts to circumvent ad-blocking, and backroom dealings between ad blockers and publishers all stem from a flawed approach to advertising. An approach that ignores the needs and desires of the people whose money and loyalty advertisers so desperately crave.

The icing on the cake was last week’s statement from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) that made me want to simultaneously laugh, cry and punch someone in the face.

“We messed up. As technologists, tasked with delivering content and services to users, we lost track of the user experience.”

So let me get this straight.

When someone introduced the idea of ads that cover up the content people want to see or make people wait to see the content they want, nobody thought this might piss off some folks?

When someone demonstrated how such an ad would be delivered, nobody raised their hand to say it was more than a little annoying?

Nobody was capable of looking at this from the perspective of the people who would be forced to endure such an ad?

Where were the adults in the room when this technology was being developed?

We live in an age in which the user experience is priority one for the most successful brands. The user experience helps to shape perceptions, define brands, set expectations, and either strengthen or kill relationships between brands and their audiences.

How is it possible that an organization that develops advertising industry standards could lose sight of the user experience?

At a recent industry event, Brad Jakeman of PepsiCo bluntly offered proof of why the pre-roll ad, for example, is awful.

“I hate it. What is even worse is that I know the people who are making it know that I’m going to hate it. Why do I know that? Because they tell me how long I am going to have to endure it. 30 seconds, 20 seconds, 15 seconds. You only have to watch this crap for another 10 seconds and then you are going to get to the content that you really wanted to see.”

Mr. Jakeman referred to this practice as the pollution of content. Bingo. Even the most valuable content becomes much less appealing when you have to sift through garbage to see it.

The IAB statement continues:

“We messed up… we built advertising technology to optimize publishers’ yield of marketing budgets that had eroded after the last recession. Looking back now, our scraping of dimes may have cost us dollars in consumer loyalty.”

Ya think?

Maybe instead of building advertising technology for the sole purpose of creating more inventory and satisfying marketing budgets, you should have built advertising technology that even remotely considered the experiences of the people who would be forced to endure the ads.

And please tell me you’re not still using the recession as an excuse for anything.

More from the IAB:

“The fast, scalable systems of targeting users with ever-heftier advertisements have slowed down the public internet and drained more than a few batteries. We were so clever and so good at it that we over-engineered the capabilities of the plumbing laid down by, well, ourselves.  This steamrolled the users, depleted their devices, and tried their patience.”

Honestly, most people probably didn’t realize these ads were at least partially behind slower load times and a shorter battery life. I didn’t.

But I sure as hell noticed a million ads for kids’ coats popping up on my screen after I bought my 5-year-old a winter coat. Yes, it continues to try my patience.

And try not to strain your shoulder patting yourself on the back for being so clever and good at shoving ads down our throats. Online advertising is loaded with fraud and laughable viewability standards, and it may be impossible to overcome the ad-blocking phenomenon.

There’s not a heck of a lot to brag about. And your mea culpa is a few years too late.

More from the IAB:

“The consumer is demanding these actions, challenging us to do better, and we must respond.”

Well, not really. Most people have no idea what the IAB is or who works at ad agencies.

Here’s what we know:

When we go to certain websites, ads keep us from enjoying the content we want. Or if we shop for a product, we should expect to see ads for similar products at every turn.

Here’s what we’ve done:

We’ve found a way to block your annoying ads. Or we’ve looked for alternative sources of content that aren’t infested with intrusive ad formats. Or we’ve stopped clicking ads because we don’t want to be subjected to more of them.

By the way, these are behaviors that the advertising industry created.

Here’s what we won’t do:

Settle for a mediocre experience. Ever.

Although the statement was late and lame, the IAB isn’t the only guilty party here. At least they’re finally admitting what the problem is.

Nobody put a gun to the head of publishers and forced them to use certain ad formats. Nobody put a gun to the head of advertisers and forced them to buy these ad formats. Nobody forced publishers, advertisers and agencies to deliver ads that are annoying, irrelevant and forgettable.

There were plenty of adults in the room who could have stood up and said something along the way. But they didn’t.

You can call them users, consumers, visitors, audiences or whatever industry term you use in your sales presentations. But don’t forget what they actually are.

They’re people. Real people with jobs to do, families to take care of, and stuff that needs to get done.

If you want people to reward you with their money and their loyalty, you damn well better treat them to an experience that leaves them satisfied if not delighted.

Personally, I don’t mind ads. Ads that are relevant to me. Ads that don’t get in the way of the content I want to see. Ads that don’t prevent me from doing what I want to get done.

Those are the kinds of ads that work.

The adults in the room need to stand up and make sure the wants and needs of real people are being respected and served. Not just in advertising, but in all aspects of their marketing – online and offline.

When you run an ad, publish content, update your website, send an email, or post on social media, ask yourself a few questions.

Is this relevant and valuable to the people who I would like to buy from me?

Is this helping someone solve a problem?

Is this enhancing someone’s life or making it more difficult/annoying?

It may shock some people, but focusing on the needs of the real people who give you money for a product or service is the best way to get those people and their friends to give you more money.

It’s not rocket science, but it can be easily ignored or conveniently forgotten.