Welcome to the world of digital media where ad placements are driven by numbers, CPM, click throughs, and gross impressions...people not so much. When things get automated weird juxtapositions come up. Did Toyota actually sponsor Detroit's unemployment? Obviously not, but they did sponsor the ad that ended up above a news story about it. The positive community theme of the ad is out of place on top of a photo of a run down Detroit neighborhood.
Sorry Toyota, not your fault. It's impossible to predict what content will appear where on any news site and with automated ad placements you can never be sure where your ad will end up. It's just how these things get done in digital on Madison Avenue these days.
Automation can be part of the problem, particularly when you are looking at contextual, performance based activity. It's not just digital though. Having worked in press sales, we have had airline ads appear on the same page as crash coverage on more than one occasion. Increasingly clients are putting clauses in contracts to make sure they are not put in these situations, but there also needs to be accountability and awareness on the part of the person who has sold it in. Being consious of the news piece or potential environment that what you have sold is appearing against, to ensure relevance and avoiding situations like these, is all part of efficient customer service and account management.
Posted by: Ben Shute | January 05, 2010 at 09:39 PM
Ben, you are right. This is problem did not start with digital advertising. But I think digital advertising has made it worse by increasing the sheer number of variables. Back in the print only days there were simply fewer ads running in fewer locations. A sharp media rep who knew both his publication and client well could anticipate most problems. (for example if you were working a news magazine and had a Japanese account, look out for Pearl Harbor stories around December 7th). But in today’s digital environment it’s not just the ads that are automated, some content is as well. Many editors do not know what stories the bloggers featured their home page will be sending in until they show up on the website.
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