The online advertising wars just got a bit more interesting with the unveiling of “Twig”, VideoEgg’s new floating website adbar.

“Twig. Alwaaaays there when you need it” chants the catchy song in the promo video below. They’re not too far wrong and although I wouldn’t go so far as to say I NEED Ads, Twig IS always there, a floating frame at the top or bottom of your page. Contained in the thin frame is an interactive advertisement or video that becomes activated several seconds after you mouse over it. What I think is so interesting about this ad delivery mechanism is that it combines a number of simple elements, which when taken together, provide an advertisement that I believe will be more effective at getting “eye time” from website consumers, as well as produce better click through rates than ads embedded into specific locations on a page. Often advertisers try to achieve these results through using advertisements that are so big that you can’t help but see, be annoyed by, and raise mental walls to block out. There’s nothing that causes me to shut down and ignore an advertisement faster than when they get blown up and dominate my view of the content I actually went to the website to the consume. I think Twig is more subtle than that and as a result, will be more effective. Below is the promo video, and after the jump, a few reasons why I like Twig as both an advertiser and a media consumer.

1. Plenty of Face Time

Although you have the option of closing the frame, you have no major reason to, and I suspect that a lot of people will find the ads unobtrusive enough that they leave them up. This means that they are likely to get more eye time than traditional Ads that you ignore and scroll past on a page (or close outright). Having the advertisement on your screen does not obscure your vision of a page’s content or create clutter between text and images, but if viewers choose not to close the advertisement, then their subconscious will subtly absorb its presence throughout the entirety of the time someone is viewing the website.

I feel like having the ad always present will also provide viewers with both a constant stimulus AND the constant opportunity to click on the Ad. Further, when you mouse over the Ad, even if you don’t wait to see the larger version, it does create some visual movement on the ad, meaning that even if you’re ignoring it, you’re bound to look directly at the advertisement at least a few times. Here’s why: in order to click on any of the Internet browser controls (back, forward, URL etc.), you need to pass the Ad’s threshold, triggering motion and awareness. Although this Ad shows the motion on the right side of the page, a good redesign of the Ad would put it on the left side, to better expose the motion to the peripheral of a viewer’s vision when they interact with the browser.

2. Simplicity and User Friendly Design

Twig has a simple but elegant solution to online advertising. Rather than push Ads at you that you’ll likely close or ignore, they are attempting to attract your attention and pique your interest so that you’ll get involved with the Ad yourself. The Ad is slim and does not clutter up the website, meaning that there’s more screen real estate to devote to valued content, as well as a more friendly website viewing experience. This Ad format may be particularly well suited to long pages of viewing content, like blogs., and I imagine that it will do well as a launch pad for interactive games and videos. However, Twig also has the capability of providing a full-screen experience IF you’re interested in participating, meaning it is unobtrusive, while also carrying the capabilities of large Ads too. Ads that ‘blow-up’ to be larger when you mouse-over them are typically annoying because they try and get your attention by being unavoidable, a “boulder in the road”which may or may not also create noise. Although Twig blows up in size and has sound, it has one simple difference, a countdown on it to show that the “Ad will expand in…” three seconds. Providing this forewarning positions the ad as ‘opt-in’ rather than ‘opt-out’in my mind, and beyond that, when you do choose to view the Ad, it’s easy to see due to the grayed out background, and is easy to close if you’d like to return to where you were on the website.

So What?

So it’s safe to say that I like the demonstration of Twig. But as with anything, “it all depends” on the application of this tool. When it comes down to it, you’re still going to be stuck with an Ad that ‘follows’ you around the page you’re viewing and when confronted with a choice of ‘unobtrusive advertisement’ or ‘no advertisement,’ i’m sure most people would still rather go with the latter. Consider also that the slim width of the Ad limits what media you can put on it, forcing you to get creative. But personally I think that these types of advertisements will only become more pervasive. When you’re watching TV you don’t mind being interrupted, and broadcast to, because that’s the model that we have become accustomed to. However, with the Internet, people like to be in control, driving their media consumption, and they resist activities that do not add to that consumption in a relevant and valued way. Managing the conflict between broadcast (TV) and engagement (Internet) is a tricky task, but I think that Twig is a good attempt at a system that provides a necessary revenue stream for providing content, but does it in such a way that the viewer’s experience is not greatly sacrified in the process. Win-Win? What do you think?

“Twig is always there when you need it…” Now to get the song out of my head.