

How Not to Advertise on the Internet - emontero1
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001286.html

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dpifke
Not knowing more about Evony's business model, I think this is likely an
example of optimizing for the wrong metric - in this case clicks versus
conversions. The creator of the last ad is probably thrilled that it's
"performing" better than the earlier ads, although I'll bet the actual return
on investment is the same or worse.

On the other hand, if the site is ad-supported in addition to the freemium
model mentioned in the article, this _is_ a way to drive up the number of
unique visitors in their traffic stats.

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vaksel
for all we know the clicks are translating into sales. I mean why else would
they slowly optimize it for more boobs?

I imagine it worked something like this:

"check out this civilization like game" = 20 clicks, 1 signup

"BOOOOOOOBS!" = 500 clicks, 2 signups

It may not be targeted advertising, but if it gets them twice as many signups,
you can't say it doesn't work.

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quizbiz
Dealing with 500 clicks can be a lot more expensive than 20, especially at
that conversion rate. Bandwidth, support, contact, etc.

~~~
vaksel
500 clicks for a landing page costs pennies

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GavinB
Their target audience is probably

a) Male

b) Bored

c) Not so jaded that they won't click on ads or try something new

d) Interested in rts gaming

So yeah, that’s how you reel in that audience. You control for their interest
in gaming by placing the ads _on gaming sites_.

Additionally, your ad stands out because the gaming sites are clogged with ads
for games that involve swords.

Once you’ve got them on your homepage you have the opportunity to show them
fullscreen art, shots, animations, etc to actually sell the game.

~~~
Periodic
Yup, these ads really do make them stand out. In the long term the press might
be bad, but it's better than no press at all.

Also, yet another online free game with swords doesn't really bring in many
clicks. Adding some breasts will bring in people they wouldn't have been
reaching otherwise. Even if they have a low conversion rate they are getting
customers they wouldn't have otherwise.

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w1ntermute
No matter how much Jeff and many other people might take the moral high
ground, they have to admit that this is nothing more than an appeal to the
true nature of an average human (male). The "problem" is not with the
advertisers; they are simply doing their job in the most effective manner
possible.

~~~
trezor
Not really sure that applies in this particular case.

First one looks like an ad for a game. I might have clicked that if bored.
Second one? The text is kinda _odd_ , but maybe?

Then it just goes downhill fast. Last one looks like I'm signing up for porn
site, with free spam until the end of times. I would have _never_ clicked
that.

~~~
w1ntermute
But are you their average target customer? That's my real point: people who
look down on these sorts of things are not the intended advertising targets.

~~~
mquander
I don't know, but consider: Their target customer who will actually pay them
money is someone who is going to sign up to play a Civilization-like game in
their browser, and likes it so much that they're willing to buy in-game perks.

Are those people the sort of people who click on softcore porn banner ads?
Could be, but my intuition would have suggested that they aren't.

~~~
Tichy
Maybe that "nerd" target customer does not exist, so they settle for the
softcore clients (who might be more willing to pay for whatever, too).

~~~
gabrielroth
But so that's an admission that they're in the wrong business. They should
trash the game and start a softcore porn site.

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cellis
As a game developer, I find myself clicking on a lot of game ads...both for
fun and "research". Out of all of the game ads I've seen, Evony fr. Civony are
the only ads out of all of the game ads i have ever seen that I _haven't_
clicked on. And I see them a lot.

Because I see them a lot, it makes me wonder if this means they are actually
profitable? They've been running these ads net-wide for at least a year.

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die_sekte
I spent a lot of time looking for something akin to "we made the last ad up".
And I was shocked to find out that it is real.

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mixmax
Sex sells. Every marketer knows this.

~~~
jrockway
Not necessarily true:

In Buyology [1], the author claims that sexual ads cause the person seeing the
ad to remember the sex object and forget whatever was being advertised.

Of course, if you're advertising porn, then a picture of some boobs is
probably a good way to get people to click through. But most people aren't
advertising porn.

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Buyology-Truth-Lies-About-
Why/dp/03855...](http://www.amazon.com/Buyology-Truth-Lies-About-
Why/dp/0385523882)

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TrevorJ
This is hardly a new development, but it is a particularly ironic example.

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csomar
"To be clear, these are real ads that were served on the internet."

And they were served by Google, I saw them a lot of TechCrunch.

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onreact-com
Sorry, but apparently these ads managed to gain some extra attention. I don't
believe the sex sells mantra (most wankers don't buy unrelated products) but a
well known blog like this spreading them is not a bad thing in today's tight
attention economy. Displaying sexist ads as "bad" is like beating someone up
to show how bad it hurts.

