PC pundit John C. Dvorak thinks Google-style “relevance” ads have failed, and he’s sick of them.
“Every move I make on my computer—and, for that matter, every channel I click to on my TV set—is monitored and used as a basis for “context relevance” advertising.”
Dvorak is tired of the loss of privacy as Google, Doubleclick and a dozen others plant tracking cookies on his computer (and yours). But his real gripe is that Google’s pay-per-click ads often don’t work. Sp^mmers are exploiting the system, ruining the results and turning PPC into just another advertising fad.
They’re only relevant, he says, when you actually want to buy something.
“Today’s advertisers try to trick us into buying when we might not want … This is acceptable up to a point, (but) we’ve passed that point. Relevance advertising came about because traditional advertising (failed) to do its job.”
Dvorak would prefer what he calls “intelligent” ads — the kind Madison Avenue doesn’t make any more because they don’t win Art Director awards.
“Personally, I prefer an advertisement that tells me something new… Intelligent sales pitches do not bother me in that context. But these sorts of ads are now gone as relevance advertising heads to the diving board to do its bellyflop.”
What do you think? Is Dvorak all wet? (Sorry, that swimming pool metaphor is stuck in my head.)
What’s your experience with AdWords? Is it working for you? Do you plan to do more, less or about the same? Post your thoughts in the comments.