Ad creep

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A Valio advertisement on an envelope Valio PSE Russia 2006.jpg
A Valio advertisement on an envelope
A Renault advertisement covers an entire Stagecoach Manchester bus Stagecoach in Manchester allover advert bus.jpg
A Renault advertisement covers an entire Stagecoach Manchester bus

Ad creep is the "creep" of advertising into previously ad-free spaces.

Contents

The earliest verified appearance of the term "ad creep" is in a 1996 article "Creeping Commercials: Ads Worming Way Into TV Scripts" by Steve Johnson for the Chicago Tribune , [1] however it may have been coined by a subscriber to Stay Free! magazine, according to another source. [2]

While the virtues of advertising can be debated, ad-creep often especially refers to advertising which is invasive and coercive, such as ads in schools, doctor's offices and hospitals, restrooms, elevators, on ATMs, on garbage cans, on vehicles, on restaurant menus, and countless other items. In Steve Johnson's piece referenced above, he criticizes product placement and "creative advertising enhancements" as "one more manifestation of an environment in which the commercial assault is almost nonstop". [3] Commercial Alert, a nonprofit organization founded by Public Citizen "to keep the commercial culture within its proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity and democracy" also characterizes "ad creep" as an assault, with ad companies fighting a "relentless battle to claim every waking moment, and what one executive called, with chilling candor, mind share". [4] A 2017 Daily Express story in the UK suggests "the creeping incursion of adverts in Windows 10" has been an issue. [5]

On the other hand, modern advertisers are compelled to react to changes in consumer habits. An article in The New York Times notes that "consumers’ viewing and reading habits are so scattershot now that many advertisers say the best way to reach time-pressed consumers is to try to catch their eye at literally every turn." And, the article suggests that ad agencies believe that as long as ads are entertaining, people may not mind the saturation. [6] As people have turned from traditional media, advertisers have not only struggled to create brand awareness, but there is also a move to "microtarget people at precisely timed moments" as well, according to an article in Stay Free! . [7]

Occasionally, the term "ad creep" has been used to describe a process of slowly infusing more ads into places where ads have been expected (television shows, for example) such as in a 2011 Advertising Age article describing the increase in both the time devoted to ads and the number of ad messages in the Super Bowl. [8] This is not a standard use of the term, but it is related. A 2017 blog post by the chief global analyst of Kantar Millward Brown, a marketing firm, notes "that average ad loads on national television in the U.S. continued to creep upwards from 10.4 minutes per hour in December 2014, to 10.9 minutes in December 2016". [9] Although the increase is less than 5%, he suggests "marketers should be concerned because the evidence suggests that more clutter is a bad thing for brands." [10]

Examples

Organisations fighting ad-creep

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Television advertisement</span> Paid commercial segment on television

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex in advertising</span> Use of sex appeal in advertising

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Advertising in video games is the integration of advertising into video games to promote products, organizations, or viewpoints.

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Pay-per-click (PPC) is an internet advertising model used to drive traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher when the ad is clicked.

Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising that uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. Online advertising includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of display advertising, and mobile advertising. Advertisements are increasingly being delivered via automated software systems operating across multiple websites, media services and platforms, known as programmatic advertising.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fine print</span> Text in a small size

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Advertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom)</span> Advertising regulation authority in the United Kingdom

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Virtual advertising is the use of digital technology to insert virtual advertising content into a live or pre-recorded television show, often in sports events. This technique is often used to allow broadcasters to overlay existing physical advertising panels with virtual content on the screen when broadcasting the same event in multiple regions; a Spanish football game will be broadcast in Mexico with Mexican advertising images. Similarly, virtual content can be inserted onto empty space within the sports venue such as the field of play, where physical advertising cannot be placed due to regulatory or safety reasons. Virtual advertising content is intended to be photo-realistic, so that the viewer has the impression they are seeing the real in-stadium advertising.

Native advertising, also called sponsored content, partner content, and branded journalism, is a type of paid advertising that appears in the style and format of the content near the advertisement's placement. It manifests as a post, image, video, article or editorial piece of content. In some cases it functions like an advertorial. The word native refers to this coherence of the content with the other media that appear on the platform.

An annoyance factor, in advertising and brand management, is a variable used to measure consumers' perception level of annoyance in an ad, then analyzed to help evaluate the ad's effectiveness. The variable can be observed or inferred and is a type that might be used in factor analyses. An annoyance effect is a reference to the impact or result of an annoying stimulus, which can be a strategic aspect of an advertisement intended to help a message stick in the minds of consumers. References to annoyance effects have been referred to as annoyancedynamics. While the words "factor" and "effect", as used in the behavioral sciences, have different meanings, in casual vernacular, they have been used interchangeably as synonymous. A more general or umbrella term would simply be advertising annoyance.

References

  1. McFedries, Paul. "ad creep". Word Spy: The Word Lover's Guide to New Words. Logophilia Limited. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  2. Lombardi, Tom. "The Creep that Won't Quit". Urbanite Magazine. Retrieved 8 October 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. Johnson, Steve (March 24, 1996). "Creeping Commercials: Ads Worming Way Into Tv Scripts". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  4. "Ad Creep". Commercial Alert. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  5. "Windows 10 is spamming Chrome users EVEN MORE ads". 20 January 2017.
  6. Story, Louise (January 15, 2007). "Anywhere the Eye Can See, It's Likely to See an Ad". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  7. McLaren, Carrie. "Ad Creep - Ambient Advertising". Stay Free Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 January 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  8. "Super Bowl Ad Creep Gave Viewers Nearly 48 Minutes of Commercials Last Year". 18 January 2011.
  9. "Home".
  10. "Home".
  11. "Sand stamp puts ads on the beach". 23 July 2010.
  12. http://www.staradvertiser.com/business/20100730_New_advertising_company_could_have_sand_thrown_in_its_face.html?id=99609124 [ dead link ]
  13. "DDB marking 'virgin thighs' with advertising".
  14. "This Japanese Firm is Advertising Where?!". HuffPost . 13 March 2013.
  15. "Japanese Agency is Paying Girls to Put Ads on Their Thighs". Business Insider .
  16. "Marketplace".