Month: May, 2010

Publishers, protect yourselves from malicious or buggy SWFs

When publishers accept Flash ads (in the form of SWF files) from advertisers, there’s always a risk that the SWF will contain malicious code or troublesome bugs. You can read a bit more about this problem in a recent column by Rajeev Goel, CEO of PubMatic.

Luckily, Canned Banners removes this risk for publishers. When an advertiser creates their banner ads using Canned Banners, the final SWF file(s) can be sent directly from Canned Banners to the publisher website (or ad network). The banner creative is high-quality and the code is completely standardized, so there’s no risk of malware.

In this illustration, evil people are sending malicious SWFs directly to a publisher website, causing potential headaches for the publisher:



 

But with Canned Banners in the middle, every advertiser’s banner meets the same standards:

 
If you’re a publisher and you’re interested in learning how your advertisers can use Canned Banners to make their own high-quality banner ads, contact us.
 

No Comments by on May 28, 2010
filed in For Publishers
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When people see your banner ad, they are more likely to search for your business later

According to recent research, users who see more engaging (in other words, more eye-catching) banner ads are more likely to later search for a product or service online. This means that even if someone does not actually click on your banner ad, they are still more likely to seek out your products or services at some later date. The key is having a well-designed, memorable banner ad.

Here’s a cartoon that explains how this works:


* I apologize for the wad of cash in the customer’s hand. I wasn’t trying to be tacky, but I couldn’t think of a better way to illustrate a customer ready to make a purchase.
 

No Comments by on May 25, 2010
filed in Advertising Help & Advice
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A couple of new Canned Banners features

Jeremy, our resident Flash genius, just informed me that we’ve added a few new features to Canned Banners:

  • Delete banner sizes—You can now remove sizes from a banner order while you’re in the Customizer. Just click the small gray X beneath each size icon. This is great if you accidentally select all sizes at first, but then realize halfway through that you really only want one or two. We’re working on the ability to add sizes as well and we’ll roll that out a little later.
  • Skip the crop tool for images of exactly the right size—Now, when you upload an image that is already exactly the right dimensions, our Customizer skips the crop tool and puts the image directly in the banner. To find the exact image sizes in each banner, just look to the right of the image buttons.
  • We’ve removed the “link” box—Now you don’t have to worry about adding a URL when you’re building your banners. Just give your URL to the website owner or ad network when you sent them your banners.

Got any feature requests? Just drop us a line and let us know!
 

No Comments by on May 10, 2010
filed in News and Updates

Cogblog adds insight to the online ad industry

Just ran across this peach of a blog. It’s Cogblog, the blog of Cogmap.com. Essentially looks at the industry dynamics from an economic perspective, which appeals greatly to me. If you’re in the online ad industry and you enjoy reading thoughts that are more than just regurgitated buzzwords, check it out.

No Comments by on May 8, 2010
filed in Thoughts & Commentary
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Custom Display Creative: The Need for Speed


 
Happy Cinco de Mayo to me! I had a feature published on adotas.com today. In it, I make two key arguments with regard to unlocking the “long tail” (i.e., the millions upon millions of small businesses in the US and abroad) in the display ad* market.

Click below to read the full feature, but here are my basic arguments:

  1. In order to serve legions of small business advertisers, the display ad industry needs to address the problem of how to make high-quality banner ads quickly and cheaply.
  2. There are many potential solutions but, for now, a system like Canned Banners that offers easy-to-customize templates is the best answer to that problem.

 
May 5, 2010—Custom Display Creative: The Need for Speed
“In the carnival of digital marketing, there are some cool new rides in Display Ad Land. Thanks to powerful developments like retargeting and real-time bidding, the once-lowly banner ad has enjoyed a resurgence in status.” visit Adotas.com to read more.
 
 
Cheers,
Myles

* “Display ad” is simply a broader term that includes banner ads like the ones Canned Banners makes. Here’s Wikipedia’s definiton.
 

No Comments by on May 5, 2010
filed in Press Coverage
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Canned Banners – a basic tutorial

In about two minutes, we’ll show you how to use Canned Banners to make a banner ad!
 

 

No Comments by on May 4, 2010
filed in Advertising Help & Advice, How-to Videos
tagged

Canned Banners launch covered by BizReport


 
April 19, 2010—Platform makes banner creation simple

“There is a new solution on the horizon for marketers wanting to create display banner ads. Canned Banners recently launched in the self-serve space…” visit BizReport.com to read more.
 

No Comments by on May 4, 2010
filed in Press Coverage
tagged

Read all about it! Canned Banners launches four months ago!

Read below or download the PDF version.

Canned Banners allows anyone to create high-quality banner ads

New service offers fast and cheap method of building display ad campaigns

SAN FRANCISCO, California—January 1, 2010—Canned Banners went live today at www.cannedbanners.com. The service offers inexpensive, professionally designed Flash banner ad templates that can be customized in minutes with no technical expertise. Canned Banners emphasizes high-quality design and offers users a clean, sophisticated interface, differentiating the service from other online banner-building tools.

Myles Younger, co-founder and head of marketing said: “Canned Banners makes building banner ads a no-brainer. Any business that’s ever been frustrated by the cost or hassle of developing banner ads is going to be amazed at how easy it is to create a banner ad with Canned Banners.”

Canned Banners promises to be a boon to companies of all sizes. The service is perfect for small businesses that want sophisticated design at a low price. And professional marketers at medium-to-large companies now have a simple way to bypass the agency process and rapidly deploy and update banner ad campaigns. Finally, Canned Banners is far cheaper than hiring an ad agency or Flash designer, so by cutting costs, the service provides an immediate boost to the ROI of any banner ad campaign.

Canned Banners also represents an exciting new way for publisher websites and banner ad networks to sell their inventories of banner ad space. By removing a major cost barrier, Canned Banners will attract low-budget advertisers who may never have considered display advertising. The flexibility offered by Canned Banners will allow larger companies to run more frequent and timely campaigns. By combining self-service banner ad creation with innovative techniques such as display ad retargeting, sellers of banner ad space are likely to see an explosion in demand.

Canned Banners is currently free while in Beta.

 

Press Contact:
Myles Younger
Co-founder
myles.younger@cannedbanners.com

About Canned Banners:
Canned Banners allows small businesses and marketing professionals to quickly create their own professional-looking Flash banner ads. Users select from a variety of templates and then add their own text, logo, and images. Canned Banners offers small businesses access to sophisticated Flash banner design at a low price, and offers larger companies a cheaper and more nimble alternative to the agency process. Start building your banner ads at www.cannedbanners.com.
 

No Comments by on May 4, 2010
filed in Press Releases
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