Throw Everything You Know About Ads Out The Window (pics inside)

Some day that work of art will be shown to kids in history class LOL awesome ben

lol, less is sometimes more

This means nothing unless we know who is clicking.

It might have been just a novelty affect. Users must have just been curious and clicked on it. The real test is the conversion rate. How many of those that clicked took further action.

Nice. Ads are all about attention.

Which one actually sold more copies? Clicks are a fairly crappy way to measure ads that we have all been convinced into using as a measurement tool. You might get way more clicks because the ad catches someones eye – but less sales because it doesn’t invoke confidence. (I could be wrong though – it would be an interesting thing to measure, much more interesting than clicks)

Congratulations, That was awesome!

btw, affiliate marketers have been using the second kind of ad already for years. to increase conversion rates even more, put a text on it saying “1 stupid trick” or similar. cheers

You use the percent in one but not the other – is that 2.8 times better or 280 times better?

I’ve always loved crappy paintings in Paint. I drew a picture of me proposing to my wife in paint for an anniversayr and she loved it! Def. going to try this

Sorry, but that proofs that you have no idea about online advertising! It is about the whole attribution model and NOT only the Last-Click event.

Check this guy out: http://www.onenetmarketing.com/oneblog/beyond-last-click-attribution

This is brilliant! But not surprising

Incredible. Thanks for doing this.

… And of course it really works because all ads basically look the same, and have an emotional distance from the viewer. So of course, when you create one that actually feels authentic (!) and makes an emotional connection – boom!

Lesson: ads are just another kind of content.

LOL, absolutely hilarious hahaha. Good point too, so many good ideas get thrown out just we think up front that it stinks. Thanks for the laugh

A picture of a kitten will convert probably twice as good as your paint pic

Maybe the real point is that the crappy MS Paint version is actually very different from what we see on-line…. it is actually spontaneous, funny, original and inspired… maybe that’s the true takeaway

Nothing beats shit

its the novelty of the crappy design that got the click through. proof positive that people are tired of the same old same old. plus they still mistrust marketing

aesthetics aside, the ugly one is simpler and the word free stands out much more. the ‘well-designed’ one is arguably too crowded.

The first ad is just a blur of… stuff. Nothing stands out. The second one is absolutely the most noticeable things on the page. I bet it has nothing to do with the quality of the images and everything to do with contrast.

There are some variations on http://www.crazyctr.com that optimizes your images and makes them look ugly/strange…like posterization, noise effects or twirl,pinch distortions

Nice case study. But I would argue about EA brand being reputable

Interesting but a relevant question that James Avrey pointed out: How much sold each banner?

Good one, Ben! Let’s see those conversion rate stats when you get them.

Also, would POF actually take such an “shit” ad?

Thks

They compliment each other. Use both.
Give users the illusion of choice.

- RSE

Do you really expected the poor picture to loose? It had to win because it is completely different to the sourrounding items. I also do A/B testing for a big german website and I realized that pictures are always winning when different to the normal design of a website. If you spread poor pictures all over your website I promise the professional picture will win

Yes, I know that. It’s a great game. Too bad EA owns it. That’s not the point I was trying to make in my rant. However, your reply adds more weight to it. As a public we’re learning to turn a blind eye to webmasters’ bullshit and we’re not even willing to take the legitimate ones seriously anymore. We’re so ADD now with information overload that we’re not willing to take the time to discern the legit from the bullshit.

That’s the only drawing power of the second ad…not all the used up, worn out 1990′s marketting gimmicks, but the distinct lack thereof.

The only reason for the high clickrate on the crappy ad is pure morbid curiosity. If it seemed that there was actual effort put forth in it’s creation, but it STILL came out crappy, there would have been much fewer clicks.

Thanks for this it’s very informative.

Thanks for this…………..

hahaha its really looks funny that you made in Ms Paint :p and i really like if you also post without having speed line picture…. but i think your yellow car ad is much greater.