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If you read what people are writing about display advertising, you will be tempted to think that the answer is, “Hardly anyone.”
It’s not that people – consumers, users, surfers, people – hate banner ads. It’s the people who make them and use them that hate them.

Charges against the lowly banner:
• They don’t work. “I’ve never clicked on a banner in my life.”http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2013/04/02/breaking-news-iab-admits-all-online-banner-clicks-are-accidental/
http://www.underscoremarketing.com/no-you-arent-more-likely-to-survive-a-plane-crash-than-click-on-a-banner-ad/
• You can’t tell a story in a banner.
• The don’t work for branding.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/05/07/online-display-ads-the-brand-awareness-black-hole/
• They are limited. http://adage.com/article/small-agency-diary/banner-ads-worthless-real-estate-sold-marketers/238628/
• They are ugly. http://www.thoughtgadgets.com/2012/01/why-banner-ads-are-ugly.html
• In fact, only ugly banner ads work. http://zacjohnson.com/the-ugly-truth-about-why-ugly-banners-and-sites-work-so-well/
• They are uncreative.
• They have become a symbol of all that is wrong with digital advertising.http://www.digiday.com/publishers/15-alarming-stats-about-banner-ads/
• The are ubiquitous. http://www.digiday.com/publishers/the-new-york-times-plan-to-save-the-banner-ad/

Well, I find it improbable that something as market-driven as banners could be both ineffective and ubiquitous!
From a pure direct-response point of view, great display ads work beautifully for some propositions and work much less well for others. It all comes down to your allowable – what you can afford to pay for the key action.

What I’m here to tell you, someone else has already said more eloquently:
“All this shit about advertising not working anymore is a load of crap,” said Adam Kleinberg, CEO of Traction.
Well said, Adam. You can read the rest of what he said in this rare, current article on great creativity in display advertising: http://www.digiday.com/brands/5-really-creative-banner-ads/“>http://www.digiday.com/brands/5-really-creative-banner-ads/

At DiGo, we see display ads as a key, integral piece of a much larger interactive experience. A story guided mutually by user and advertiser. Yes, like the haiku, the Tweet and the one-liner, the lowly banner ad has its limits. But like these limited forms, the display ad can be the object of unlimited creativity.

Is it brave and non-conformist and maybe a little bit foolhardy to try every day to elevate the art, effectiveness, ingenuity and impact of the banner ad?

We have wonderful branding assignments, major broadcast campaigns, content, videos and all sorts of award-fetching categories of work to do around here. Why remain obsessed with the banner?

Well, if you were running a large farm with all sorts of flashy animals that were winning the ribbons at the state fair every year, and in the corner of a barn there was an ugly duckling continuously laying golden eggs, you’d give it a little extra attention, right?

Maybe you’d also help it along in it’s metamorphosis to glorious swan?

That’s what we’re working on at DiMassimo Goldstein.

Who’s in?