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Critique of 3 Internet Advertisements

 We will now discuss the following three advertisements on the Net. They are:

1 Oracle
2 Alamo Rent-a-Car
3 PCROSES.COM

1 ORACLE NETWORK COMPUTING
This ad was found on the CNN-Interactive site. By clicking on the Oracle banner we are taken to the company's page.

The advertisement appeared to have been placed randomly on a news page. It appeared at the bottom of the headlines, in the middle of the main page, before the user went down to "other headlines". It was not as if the location was related to software or th e company's line of business. Therefore, we are not sure if this is really a good fit. The ad is certainly noticeable with its changing graphics and use of color. This, especially against the white CNN newspage background. It would certainly induce users interested in computing to click on it. The same people would also be aware of Oracle.< p> By itself the ad just says "Introducing Network Computing from Oracle", so it would take an interested and informed user to get its message. It certainly opens doors to know more about the Oracle corporation. The link from the ad, to the Oracle page, is c ertainly informative and technologically advanced. We can say that the destination site fulfills the promise of the ad.


2 ALAMO RENT-A-CAR
The Alamo banner was found on the Yahoo! site. The banner appeared on a Yahoo! search for car rental companies. We go right to the Alamo website by clicking on the banner.

The banner is certainly well placed here. We are searching for car rentals and the Alamo banner appears right at the top of the search results page.

On a search page, with only text on it, the Alamo banner certainly draws attention as it is bright and uses a "search engine" design. There are no technological innovations here, one could click on any part of the banner, not necessarily the "search" but ton, to go to the Alamo site. The banner does not flash, nor do the graphics change. Unless we are bent on finding a particular car rental company, we cannot help but notice the Alamo ad banner.

The advertisement promises "great rates", meaning cheaper and more economical car rentals from Alamo. The Alamo site does offer rates, but it would need someone informed on industry rates to judge if they are indeed cheaper. However the site does give us a lot of information on Alamo locations, reservations online and quotes. We also get to see the various classes of cars and the selections/options available. A lot of contact information is on the site too. Indeed, the Alamo site offers us a lot of renta l convenience.


3 PCROSES.COM
The PCROSES.COM banner was placed on CNN's special Valentines Day page. Clicking on we enter the PCROSES.COM advertisement page.
This advertisement is also very well placed. PCROSES is a company which delivers roses, and the Valentine page is the ideal web page to place their ad. There is a very natural association here. Not just that, the time of the year: the week before Valentin e's day, was also right.

The PCROSES ad draws the user's attention fairly well. It uses a changing graphic, and invites the user to click on it. Interested users on the Valentine page would be attracted to it. Located at the top of the page, it's the first picture a person would see.

PCROSES.COM offers users a convenient way of ordering and sending roses. The site offers the potential customer low rates and various ordering options. It also offers other services like reminder and monthly delivery. We are told about the origin of the r oses and the savings we can expect. Again, there is a lot of contact information. However, it currently says "Valentine's Day Deliveries are no longer available. Deliveries begin again on February 17th"! Overall, we can say that this site delivers on its promise.



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