you're doing it wrong · 2008-10-07 14:22
It’s interesting to watch Google start rolling out advertising to Google Maps. It seems to be travel related websites – I’ve noticed activehotels, hotels.com and Expedia so far, and this careful selection of ads seems to make sense.
On the web, little square boxes pop on the map as well as the search results.
I suspect that activehotels either didn’t have a logo that fit well in the square, or my adblocker blocked it. I thought it looked like a speech bubble, and expected a comment or some other geo-encoded content.
Now it’s gone mobile.
It’s the same deal; adverts on the map added as square pushpins.
However, there are two obvious problems and a bigger dilemma when turning this mobile.
The first problem is screen size.
On the web, a banner is 1-5% of the page; on a mobile it’s close to 30%, and it isn’t like Google search, where the ads are carefully positioned in a separate part of the page – they’re first. You have to parse it before getting to the place you were actually looking for.
The second is interactivity.
Clickthroughs make less sense: the links aren’t mobile-optimised (in fact, it’s an 800k full, heavy page) and it isn’t just opening another window. Multitasking is hard. In this particular example, it’s even weirder – they’ve pre-filled in that it’s for a hotel tonight, for 2 nights, leading to an error in this case. Saving the link as a favourite (which makes more sense) only contains the hotel name – there’s not even the full address or phone number.
The big dilemma is that needs are different. I’m normally on Mobile Google Maps when I’m frantically trying to find a place, often the hotel I’ve booked. I’m lost, I want to sleep – I’m not exploring the possibility space, and I don’t want to wade through marketing garbage. Note that this doesn’t make sense for these kinds of advertisers either: I’ve booked already, and I don’t want alternatives.
It’s good to see Google experimenting with this. It’s a hard problem, and I hope everyone learns what’s good and bad, and changes and optimises accordingly. It’s weird that marketers just want to copy techniques from other media, that people will be willing to have to make the decision to pay attention in these new spaces, and that advertisers will think this the best way of promoting themselves.
comments
Big dilemma indeed. Intent of the user needs to be taken into consideration in order for an ad to be ‘useful’. I have the same problem when I’m watching internet TV and a pre/mid/post roll ad comes up – it totally disregards my intention at the time (searching a map, entertainment) and it’s potentially damaging to a brand. It is good to see experimentation though and when they get it right, people will pay with their attention.
— harlan talbot 7.10.08 #