The worst internet banner ads I’ve seen …
November 27, 2009
… are the “Fontainbleu” ads on the San Francisco Chronicle’s site. It’s just a purple background banner with “Fontainbleu” stretched across the ad with something about Thanksgiving and holidays special deals. Then, when it is clicked on, it just goes to a blank white “reservation” page. There is no way to tell if this hotel is in Miami or Las Vegas. BAAAAD! Whatever they paid their ad agency is too much. I smell a scam ad just trying to gather credit card info.
Update to post 11/28/2009: Apparently The San Francisco Chronicle, along with other major newspapers in the country, has rolled out self-service advertising for banner ad space on their website. The self-service advertising function they offer allows users to create banner ads from pre-made graphics or users may upload custom ad designs. According to information found on sfgate.com, the self-service banner ad campaign costs start at $250.
Obviously, some non-savvy employee at the Fontainbleu hotel in Miami decided to create an amateur ad campaign on sfgate.com, which resulted in the advertising mess I saw last night.
A word to the wise: if you’re going to go the self-service route for advertising, hire a designer to create a decent ad banner that reflects your brand. Also, don’t link directly to a page on your website (from the banner ad) that gives absolutely no information about your organization. And absolutely DON’T use those amateurish pre-made ads they offer through the self-service function. Everyone has seen those ad layouts used for other businesses and they’re just plain bad.
Posted in Opinions
