According to this story from MediaPost an ad which does not fit contextually with the surrounding editorial content actually has a better chance of connecting with the audience. Studies have shown that, for instance, a car ad placed in the sports section as opposed to the auto section will have higher retention, awareness and ultimate intent to purchase.
I agree with the opening of the article in that this would seem counter-intuitive and goes against most conventional wisdom. It's been established dogma that you need to target the editorial content most likely to appeal to your core audience. But it sort of makes sense to in terms of breaking through the clutter. Kind of like one of those "which one of these is not like another" games. If you see pictures of an apple, a banana and Julianne Moore then the picture of Moore will make a bigger impression.
1. If you are a marketing manager, will you totally believe to the article? Your product, for example is a car. Will you put your ad in otomotive section or sport section? The reader of otomotive section can be granted as the people who are interested in car. What about sport section reader?
Psychograpic of reader is the key, I think.
Posted at 9:09PM on Jul 20th 2005 by Jalansutera