Bread means better advertisements.
You see them glaring from every street corner. They're peering through those dusty windows at your local market. When you're in the car, they're standing on the side of the road -- staring down oncoming traffic. You'll find them in metropolitan cities and even in the most rural of towns. We see a few of 'em right now -- they're practically omnipresent.
And no, we're not talking about some super-secret underground mafia that's stalking you. Unless, of course, that's something you've been worried about for a while. In which case, make sure to keep your ear to the grindstone and don't stay in one place for too long.
We're talking about advertising. Advertising is absolutely everywhere and, for the most part, unavoidable. You didn't need AMC's hit show, Mad Men, to tell you that, though. While the ad world has changed considerably since the day of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (the Internet has a little something to do with that, we think) a few things still remain the same.
As the online market continues to be saturated with popups and banner ads, the best creative will win out.
Take this scene from the first episode of Mad Men's second season:
Peggy Olson, trying to convince Don her idea is worthwhile, says, "Sex sells."
And Don, with his trademarked Don Draper smugness, replies, "Says who?"
"Just so you know, the people who talk that way think that monkeys can do this."
Today, it's no different.
It's easy to add a flashing, "click here to win an iPad," in the corner of your favorite website. It makes the browsing experience a little less enjoyable, though, don't you think? When you're flipping through this week's Esquire or watching a big event on television, you'll find there's a certain level of creativity present in those advertisements. Occasionally, they even add to the experience. When your team isn't in the championship game, the commercials can be the best part of the show (unless you've bet the farm on the underdog).
Until recently, the Internet's been left out of the space of aesthetically appealing advertisements. The online universe is cluttered with ads that are there just because. There's an opportunity to get in front of millions of eyeballs, and everybody wants a piece of the action.
But what if the Internet could be more like print, where advertisements are more for brand recognition than a quick cash grab?
A more beautiful web with a better advertising experience
There's a movement (which Bread's proudly a part of) to make online advertising less intrusive and a better experience for the viewer. Like Mr. Draper says, there's more to good advertising than putting a pretty lady on a piece of paper.
A recent study from Comscore touches on the evolution of the online ad space. Now, online ads are being considered a branding opportunity rather than something advertisers cross their fingers and hope you click on -- which means we're all in line for prettier ads.
Just a few streets away from our office in San Francisco, Say Media is fighting for a similar cause. Their "Clean" campaign video clearly demonstrates that.
Last week, TechCrunch reported on a company called 955 Dreams that's hoping to spruce up the mobile ad experience, building "glossy, full-screen interstitials." That's something we're focused on, too.
We're repeatedly hearing new initiatives to make the mobile browsing experience better. Online radio giant, Pandora, touches on this in a recent white paper about mobile.
They're streaming for a highly passionate audience (music tends to do that to people) with a broad reach. On Pandora's applications, there's "only a 10 percent overlap of people using online and mobile." They're making mobile ads more interesting and interactive for users. And they have to, mobile ads account for at least 50 percent of their quarterly ad revenue.
Clearly, creative matters.
Making sure there are high-quality advertising platforms for that creative is just as important. That's what we're aiming to do at Bread. We want to make browsing the 'net more like flipping through your favorite magazine and less like walking out of a music festival -- shoulder to shoulder with people you don't know, talking about things you've never heard of.
Your favorite destinations on the Internet put lots of thought into the design of their site -- don't you think that much brainpower ought to go into the ads?