Larsen Idealog

Why It Works

A busy professional and avid reader clicks on the link to America’s top online literary magazine. She reads the intros for five articles and selects the one she would like to read. She scrolls down to a flashing button that reads: For a free site pass, click here. And she does! A traveling line of text cruises across the computer screen, then another, and another. . . . In all, she spends 15-20 seconds absorbing messages from a paid advertiser before reaching the story about famine in Africa that she originally set out to read. And she does this nearly every day.

The site is Salon.com, a decade-old literary and news site — one of the most successful and longstanding web publications in the world. Their most recent ad is for Al Gore’s film about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, and features a quote from Roger Ebert: “You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to.” The words are in startling red and white type against a black background, followed by an image of a power plant spewing smoke. Why does it work, when even a novice web user probably could bypass the ad? Because it is narrative and emotionally appealing. And because Salon, a left-leaning publication, matches its sponsors very carefully to user tastes: those who come for articles about famine and columns by Garrison Keillor tend to be receptive. Other advertisements feature espresso machines, bookstores, and luxury cars. The spots are beautiful and entertaining. But more important, they are tailored specifically to the audience: Generation Xers and young Baby boomers with disposable income, expensive tastes, and a desire to see themselves as enlightened. Advertising becomes, in this case, entertainment: the trailer, if you will, before the main event.