Welcome To A Banner Decade For Banner Advertising

The 2010 Brand Keys Customer Engagement Index is out and the news is good for banner advertising.  The brand engagement that online display is so well known for is more important than ever - and will stay that way for the entire decade.

Our 2009 findings predicted that value, not price, was the watchword in consumer behavior. And you can't have the value conversation without the brand conversation, as true brands provide meaningful differentiation in a world over-run by commodities," noted Robert Passikoff, Brand Keys founder and president. "That makes brands a surrogate for value, and more important than ever to consumers in every category. But [it is] real brands that have reached their highest level of consequence since the 1960's.

No online advertising format delivers differentiation like display.  It's what the channel is about.  But now we have to take seriously the follow-on effects the Index mentions: brands are a surrogate for value. Differentiation and engagement are only the beginning: the conversation a customer has with the brand is ongoing, moving from encounter to encounter, and the perception of value survives and extends with each brand encounter.  Pursuit of value is why customers do what they do online - and that goes for search as well as surf.  But the Brand Keys message is clear about the durability and importance of brands.