Steve Rubel has been having some great posts lately. Here’s one that got me thinking about how we view online traffic.
Online publishers and online advertisers still seem to view traffic as the most important measure for media buying decisions. Often with good reason. The nature of today’s publishing models makes it that there is no alternative that could become the predominant metric for developing ad rates for publishers and selecting media buys for advertisers.
In this weeks Economist there is an article on the first ever major city to ban all outdoor advertising. The article, Visual Pollution states that the law known as “The “Clean City” law also bans ads on taxis and buses and imposes strict limits on shopfront signs”.
São Paulo is now ad-free. Many inhabitants of the metropolis of 11m think their city is prettier as a result. Inspired by its success, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília and Porto Alegre and even Buenos Aires, capital of Brazil’s neighbour Argentina, are discussing measures to reduce or ban outdoor ads.
This move will only serve to push companies into exploring other forms of marketing. This is where the internet and social marketing become so much more powerful. It offers things and spaces that conventional advertising will never have.