Buried in last
year’s 2012-13 Budget was a line stating that the federal government committed
$300,000 to trial the sale of commercial advertising on the Bureau of Meteorology
(BOM) website. While we are now nine months into the trial, no rock solid
results have yet to be released. Spending five minutes clicking around on the
BOM site, the only ads currently being served are links to other parts of the
BOM website.
There are some
very strict advertising regulations regarding appearing on the site.
This includes the size of the ads themselves – nothing can appear except for a
general 300 x 250 MREC. Not to mention who can and can’t appear on the website.
There can be nothing promotion tobacco, alcohol, or gambling, nothing relating
to bombs, guns, and weapons, no sexually explicit content, as well as the most
interesting one – no advertising of a political nature.
Returning 3.3 billion pageviews in 2011, the BOM site
is a dream for online advertisers – but there seems to be some reservations
from parties on all sides. One of the big questions being put up for debate, is
whether website users will assume that the advertisers that appear on a
government website have obtained some government “stamp of approval”, or are
affiliated with the government in some way. So what is the best way to utilise
this (possible) halo-effect?
What it means for us
This type of
placement lends itself to a more brand-oriented style of advertising, rather
than a direct response-style, click here to purchase style. By associating with
the BOM “brand” the advertiser could experience the halo-effect of being in
that specific, well-trusted environment. The next question, should this trial prove
effective, is what other website the Federal Government could open up to
advertising. Imagine the brand-positioning possible from advertising on
australia.gov.au, or even a supermarket appearing on the website for the
Department of Agriculture?
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