Just checked my Google GMail Inbox and saw this ad from Reunion.com :
Sure it’s highly untargeted, but Reunion.com does very broad advertising and given the was the ad kind of camoflages itself into the GMail Inbox (I’m thinking that they targeted the term inbox for this ad or did some page targeting deal) AND the Google Sponsored Link disclosed is all of the way on the opposite end of the page, the click thru has to be inexpensive and amazing.
Well done Reunion.com (or whoever your Search Marketing firm is). This is very intelligent Google advertising.
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Comments
21 responses so far ↓
Tyler Banfield on Mar 3, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Not that it would ever be possible, but I would love to be able to see the detailed statistics (conversion rate, spend, etc.) for this campaign.
rishil on Mar 3, 2008 at 3:49 pm
What an awesome bent on a classic spammy pop up - you know the ones I mean - with the windows look alike pop ups that ask you to check your mail, security etc…
bizwriter on Mar 3, 2008 at 4:04 pm
I think this is a misleading, almost spammy, advertisement. This is not intelligent advertising; this is b-class advertisement. Maybe against Google’s advertising policies too.
smurf on Mar 3, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Sneaky and it looks like spam. Boo Google!
steve haar on Mar 3, 2008 at 5:22 pm
“Well done Reunion.com (or whoever your Search Marketing firm is). This is very intelligent Google advertising.”…
Really? “intelligent”? Terms like deceptive, spammy, waste-of-time, frustrating come to mind. But, not “intelligent.”
Loren, with 4817 unread emails, I am surprised you have time for this kind of junk-ad deception. ;)
nguyen on Mar 3, 2008 at 5:57 pm
I don’t quite see the point of having such a misleading ad if you’re going to pay each time someone clicks on it. Companies want to avoid “click fraud” as much as they possibly can, and having false clicks registered is really just as bad.
If it were simply spam where the costs are already sunken, and you simply want as high a CTR as possible, then okay that works–but by trying to mislead users into clicking onto your site, not only does that bring you negative publicity, it can end up costing you a lot of money.
Fred Hopkins on Mar 3, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I think that it was pretty clever. If you have been using Gmail for a while you know that that line is for ads and spam recipes.
I think that people will click on it out of sheer curiosity. If you are offended by it. . .Why? It’s just an ad. It will disappear after 2 impressions.
You must hate Geico ads, LOL. Car insurance and the Beverly Hillbillies? Call the spam police!
Scott Fish on Mar 3, 2008 at 6:39 pm
That’s pretty cool. I bet they have a 98% bounce rate and a big bill at the end of the month with a small # of conversions.
Loren Baker, Editor on Mar 3, 2008 at 8:25 pm
@ Scott Fish : Can’t be much worse of a bounce rate than their mass advertisements on MySpace, Yahoo, Advertising.com and other various remnant campaigns and email ad drops :)
@ nguyen : This isn’t really click fraud or fraudulent traffic. Since almost everyone who uses GMail in the US is a high school graduate, then the demographic targeting is on point. Whether or not the user is tricked to clicking is a whole different story. However, the domain is quite branded in the text and a lot of display ads are meant to look like they are part of the site.
@ steve haar : Yeah, lots of emails to catch up on but most are deceptive spam. I mean intelligent in a thinking outside of the box way.
@ Tyler : Since Reunion.com has been doing this kind of mass broad advertising for a long time and Google lets them target by demographic AND I can’t really see to much Inbox targeted ads working for others than yes, I’d like to see those numbers too … I bet they’re working somewhat, if not bringing in assists for their post click behavioral ads.
Jaan Kanellis on Mar 3, 2008 at 9:30 pm
We have to remember some of these advertisers are looking for eyeballs to the site. Once that happens they rely on the website to convert the visitor. Sure I think it is a dumb way of going about advertising, but they must think (know) it works internally. It is kind of like ebay buying every keyword under the sun.
Hawaii SEO on Mar 3, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Awesome! - I just hope their goal is CTR
Mani on Mar 3, 2008 at 10:53 pm
In gmail, some time, I do see ads comeup on my name in the title (right side banners). It looks like adevertizers can target based on person’s name too.
Blogation on Mar 4, 2008 at 4:04 am
Loren,
I blogged about this yesterday - my sentiment was the same - give Reunion a lot of credit for basically using AdSense to circumvent GMail’s email spam filter! Here’s my take on it: http://www.blogation.net/2008/03/awesome-adwords-ad-text-part-i-of.html
Logan on Mar 4, 2008 at 10:38 am
This is the kind of groupthink that separates marketers from real people. If I accidentally clicked on the link, I’d be angry over the deceptive practice. I might go so far as to find a way to block those ads from showing up in my browser. And if Google/Gmail continued to allow the practice, I’d find another email provider.
I understand there’s no such thing as “free” services, and I don’t mind advertising that’s present without assaulting my senses or deceiving me into further investigation. But tactics like this are why tools like Firefox AdBlock exist. I personally don’t use it, as I’ve found instead it’s effective to just not visit sites that employ advertising techniques I don’t care for. But I can’t promise that I’ll never use it, and ads like this nudge me a little bit closer.
Well done? I don’t think so.
Search Engine Optimization Journal on Mar 4, 2008 at 11:28 am
As a frequent GMail user, it is almost impossible to be fooled by that ad as it is nowhere near where you would click to get your new emails anyhow, nor does it even have the same verbiage as the Gmail inbox so it is not fraudulent at all. It is a clever little idea and may spark curiosity (although after seeing it this morning myself, I did not click on it) but for those Gmailers, they know what that section is for anyhow and it blatantly says Reunion.com.
Brian White on Mar 4, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I coaxed the same out of Gmail and the link goes to a URL on affiliates.reunion.com, which doesn’t suprise me. I don’t think a company that cares about its reputation supports this kind of behavior from its affiliates.
Loren Baker, Editor on Mar 4, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Brian, I didn’t actually click on the link so was not aware it was an affiliate ad.
But today I noticed that the same advertiser as an “Inbox (4)” link in the ad instead of “Unread Messages”
Pretty sneaky.
Lazy Man and Money on Mar 5, 2008 at 11:15 am
I would have thought people would have developed blinders when checking e-mail. It’s good, but I only click on ads that give me breaking news about my local sports team.
Neil Matthews on Mar 5, 2008 at 3:30 pm
It works on gmail, but what about the other x hundred google search partner properties? I bet it doesn’t look so clever there.
Paul Burani on Mar 5, 2008 at 9:07 pm
…and Google will take care of that VERY soon.
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