September 18, 2004
Banner history
A short six years ago, "eyeballs" and "stickiness" seemed more important than quality and sales, especially if you could claim "first mover advantage. Silly us. Banner ads began using animated gif images to grab the eye (the web being very static at the time) or deliver multiple-part messages (escaping the print metaphor).
Thinking them a minor art form, I collected banner ads that interested me from April to June 1998. Here's the best of the collection:
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Curiosity was sometimes enough to rate a click.
Straining to take advantage of the form. Um...what can we say?
Cute analogy.
Some advertising creatives forgot to check the "looping" feature.
Refresh your screen to see anything here.
At one time, I think the globe spun around on this one.
From one of the numerous "make-your-own-banner" sites.
What a classic!
The understatement here is wonderful.
I must have gone through a dozen new accounts and passwords with these guys. They could never stick to one path.
"He grabs your breasts." What a tag line! Nice play on the ubiquitous soft-core theme of the web.
I bet tens of millions of frustrated suckers bought accelerator software. Right problem, wrong solution.
Push/pull. Get it? What a business model. Virtual one-armed bandits, real money..
Subtle.
A very early example of getting away from the standard ad template shape.
September 14, 2004
Global Warming
Austin appeared on the local news last night.
He had a non-speaking role in a segment on global warming.
September 12, 2004
The Solano Stroll
This afternoon I joined a couple of hundred thousand people for the 30th annual Solano Avenue Stroll, a street fair featuring bands, jugglers, food, art cars, crafts, and the local citizenry. After wandering down the hill from my house, I walked the mile down Solano Avenue from Berkeley into Albany, seeing friends, noshing on crawdads and edamame, enjoying the music, and soaking up rays.
Tie-dye lives!
This guy does a wonderful Chuck Berry. The audience couldn't resist dancing. "Got a back beat, you can't lose it." Even this woman who could hardly walk started shaking her mu-mu to the music.
Great band. Great energy. Smiles all around.
Pink Man the unicyclist is a local legend.
My first thought upon seeing this transvestite in a blue fright wig was what a great color contrast to Pink Man. Luckily for me, he stopped to buy a poster from Mr. Pink.
The Path Wanderers, Professor Gizmo, and a new T-shift design.
Bye til next year.