A number of today’s ad campaigns, perhaps even most of the bigger brands’ efforts, don’t have much need for a banner click. I’m talking about the countless interactive video ads, rich media banners that expand to form microsites in-page, and comprehensive branding efforts that occupy (and often enrich) today’s sites. When we enlist units like these, time spent watching a clip, the number of actions taken within a rollover ad, and the like are the valuable actions. But measuring clicks has become so ingrained in our minds (not to mention our clients’ and sales reps’) that we go out of our way to play them up, however unnecessarily. Planners and creative developers focus on campaign aspects that can be measured this way, and they work tirelessly to drive visits to a brand’s product page or costly microsite when there’s little reason for the users to immediately go there once they’ve interacted with the ad. Heck, even when the metrics that mean something are being tracked and reported on, the click-through can hang like a dark cloud over a campaign, suggesting failure where there very well might only be success.
