I saw this online ad recently for Wendy’s (yes, rollover to activate it) and I thought how rare it is to see an ‘unclickable’ banner ad.

Should more advertisers at least consider this approach?

It might make sense for those in sectors that generally assess their campaigns using ‘softer’ brand metrics rather than the ‘harder’ DR metrics traditionally associated with digital – FMCG for example, like Wendy’s.

I used to work for an FMCG advertiser where we collectively referred to the online banner advertising we delivered for them as ‘indoor posters’, ie: they performed in a similar way to outdoor advertising and simply drove the awareness of new products and short term offers. We therefore didn’t really care if anyone clicked through to the online destination of the brand, our job had been done simply by getting the ads in front of the right eyeballs.

There are plenty of examples of FMCG brands who’ve proved the ability of digital advertising to deliver on brand metrics and it could be argued that a click-through is not always needed to achieve this. One scientific study (I love science) even dares to propose that audiences are affected by banner advertising even when they don’t click on them. If this is the case then a destination site should not necessarily be a mandatory for a digital advertising campaign. The Wendy’s example does have user interaction in the form of rollover, but I’ve seen unclickable ads in the past that required no interaction.

Adopting an ‘unclickable’ approach may even be a more efficient use of advertising budget as expensive destination sites wouldn’t need to be built for every campaign, particularly in the case of short-term, tactical campaigns.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that all ads should be unclickable (indeed there are certain disadvantages to such an approach e.g. users may always expect an ad to have a destination), I just think that sometimes advertisers and agencies overcomplicate their use of digital when they don’t need to.

Although the unclickable approach certainly doesn’t utilise the potential of digital advertising to its fullest therefore, it can still deliver against certain objectives. Such a campaign may also stand out by not having a click-through, particularly if the creative messaging ties in which I think the Wendy’s example does brilliantly. It’s also worth pointing out that their website is actually pretty good.