Rich Media: creative or just simply annoying?

For those who don’t know, Rich Media can be defined as advertisements that may contain animation, video, and audio in which consumers interact; however, many experts state that its definition is still very vague.  While these advertisements are definitely more eye-catching than static online banners, is this type of advertisement creative or simply intrusive and annoying to online users?

From an advertising perspective, Rich Media is just another chance to gain brand and message recognition/awareness in a world full of clutter, thus creating a competitive advantage. Basically, Rich Media allows advertisers to gain communication strength by allowing them to communicate their messages through various media outlets, such as, animation, video, audio, and even apps and games. This opens the door to more innovative creative messages which grabs viewers’ attention.

In theory, consumer interaction creates more clicks which, in turn, creates faster brand and/or product awareness. Thus, experts argue that Rich Media, due to increased interaction, is a very powerful branding tool—viewers are more likely to recognise and remember the ad versus other traditional tools.

Disadvantages of Rich Media from an advertising perspective is that production is much more expensive and media placement costs are significantly higher (costs may triple!) Also, some argue that the intrusiveness of these types of advertisements may hurt the brand.

On the other hand, Rich Media employs emotional appeals (advertisements that stimulate ones emotions rather than practicality) and these emotional appeals are often very difficult to use in traditional two-dimensional forms of advertisements and online advertorials.

While these advantages are strong and make Rich Media into a very desirable medium to advertisers, how does the online consumer feel about this new type of advertisement, is it intrusive?  Should you as the consumer have a say over what you see and hear while surfing?

From my own experience, Rich Media is extremely annoying and intrusive and I can never seem to get away from it. It also slows down my surfing: the page takes longer to load and may even block. However, as strange as it may seem I always remember these ads! I never click on them but I do remember them!

While it’s quite clear that Rich Media has some very strong advantages for advertisers, the issue may simply be that a lot of campaigns lack good strategic planning; advertisers (and media planners) may lack the know-how to implement this type of medium correctly. Therefore, it’s my opinion that while advertisers should always look for new creative ways of delivering messages, and should welcome new, innovative ways of targeting consumers, for example, social media, they should not do so in an obnoxious manner. However, that is not to say that Rich Media is always obnoxious and should not be used; it should just be used in the right way.