Don't be distracted by advertising myths

Don't be distracted by advertising myths

Advertisers sometimes attribute the location of their ads as the main influence on its performance. But according to the results of Readex Red Sticker Studies from 1999 to 2007, the old real estate adage, “location, location, location,” might not hold true for advertising. The results of the study suggest that these claims divert focus from the true influence over getting an ad read: an ad's creative.

In fact in the front versus back debate, a study of 3,684 1-page, 4-color ads located in the first or third section of the publication reveals that ads located in the first third of the publication were read by 24 percent of respondents, while the ads in the back were read by 23 percent. Need more proof? In 277 studies that measured whether or not readers remembered seeing editorial items or advertisements in a publication, 93 percent recalled seeing an item in the last fifth of the publication when compared to the 96 percent of readers who recalled seeing an item in the first fifth.

As for the right versus left debate, the results show that ads on the left page were read by 22 percent of readers, while the right-page ads were read by 25 percent of readers. The averages hover around 24 percent, the average for all ads analyzed, further indicating that location does not affect an ad's success. So don't be distracted by advertising myths, instead focus on your ad's creative to grab the readers' attention.

Source: August 2008 Readex Research AE Memo 5, Front or Back, Left or Right-Content, Not Location, Drives Readership.