When your eyes happen upon a web banner ad, do you ever think, “man, I wish I could save that for later!” No? Well, AdKeeper thinks you might…if you could. Because, you know, people love Super Bowl ads! And some time in the recent past people used to clip coupons! AdKeeper is hoping its system will revolutionize the way you view those pesky boxes altogether.
A typical banner would include a small button on the lower right giving you the option to “Keep this ad.” Users can then view a repository of their favorites on AdKeeper’s main site. Ads can be updated and saved in a manner not unlike how one would clip a magazine or newspaper. The idea is that customers will come back to it again if they can expect some future perk, says AdLab’s Ilya Vedrashko.
They’re betting that if online, banner-based advertising becomes less about clicks and impressions, and more about retention and a continued experience — what they call “keeps” — the dynamic of the content will change all together.
“We give users a new way to control their online experience,” says the company on their home page.
Think it’ll work? Watch the brand explain it in their own words:
AdKeeper prez Scott Kumit, in an article on AdWeek, predicts “The keep rates are going to be off the chart compared to click rates.”
But is it progressive enough? Or is this the same old eyesore, with one extra button? Banners are disruptive and ugly, but, if consumers are trained to interact with them in the same way they might have with websites in the past — and how they do currently with Apps — advertisers could entirely reinvent the space. Google is certainly trying to (or, at least trying to tell us they are).
We think it could very well work, but it’ll take more than just coupons and cash incentives. That’s still just a way of temporarily baiting the consumer. But if it turns into a platform and means to make the experience more rich and immersive, we’re all for it.