You know those blurry and skewed little illegible phrases called CAPTCHAs you’re forced to regurgitate in order to get through an online registration? They prove you aren’t a robot, which is cool, but they’re such a pain in the neck, right? There are few things more annoying than a CAPTCHA code.
Luckily, one company has found a better way to prove you aren’t a robot while at the same time squeezing in some extra ad space. And for once, internet banners are making a typically frustrating process remarkably less painful. In other news, we’re living in a world where hamburgers eat people.
Solve Media (formerly AdCopy) is swapping out CAPTCHA codes for clean and simple images that feature a brand and a phrase. It’s a heck of a lot easier than guessing at whether that one wavy circle is an uppercase ‘O’ or a ‘zero.’ And for marketers, it’s a hell of a way to increase slogan recall. Everybody wins. Right?
Well…it does feel a little dirty to input a company tagline into this field. Question: Are you proving you aren’t a trolling robot by duplicating this corporate strapline, or are you in fact proving just what an automaton you’ve become by doing so? That’s the cynical approach. It’s certainly preferable to copying squiggly text so hard to read it can stymie an entire registration process (which should be as simple as can be).
The lesser of two interruptions is still an interruption, of course. But this change will be welcomed even by those weary of pesky online banners and pop-ups. The bigger question is whether this is a smart move for brand engagement or just more sub-par digital placement. While users may remember your chosen diddy a bit longer than usual (since they’re actually typing it in), it’s by no means an investment in the long term. As we all know, substantial, original content is what you need for long term recall.
Ultimately, it’s the lesser of two evils, and we can’t help but wish we thought of this idea! It’s just such a no-brainer. Kudos to you, Solve Media.
View it in action here.
Image via MediaMemo