The three types I have chosen are Social Media sites, Installations, and Direct Marketing. These types of advertising all share different aspects, but more prominently, they differ quite a bit in nature.
Direct marketing, for example, may involve people on the streets who are hired to stop passerby and persuade them to sign a petition to gain equal rights for gays and lesbian. This form of advertising requires an intense interaction between the advertiser and the audience member. Often times, people avoid or ignore petitioners because they don’t want to invest such time and interaction to listen to a pitch. But, when a person is hooked, there is a required physical exchange of interaction between the two people. The audience must engage in a two way conversation, answering questions like, “I’m fine, how are you?, No/Yes I’m aware of the inequality in the government system,” etc. The knowledge in the person’s head may be whether or not their personal beliefs lie in accepting or rejecting gay rights. The knowledge in the world is that the topic of gay rights has been a controversial one in society. The interaction is made useful by maneuvering the person to sign the petition. Physically approaching a person and asking for a moment of their time is how the interaction is targeted.
Social media sites are quite different than direct marketing tactics, because the interactions are sometimes in direct.
Twitter is a good example of a social media site in which there’s a required exchange of information. When I tweet, “I just went to Texas Roadhouse and it was really delicious,” it is put out into the world, and the world can respond right back, making it a two-way flow of information, similar to direct marketing. An important difference, however is that the world can passively view the information you put into the world without responding to it. It is up to the user whether they want to make it a truly interactive exchange or not. Texas Roadhouse has the option to type “Texas Roadhouse” into the Twitter search bar, see that I’m tweeting about it, and respond to my tweet. They can also just see my tweet, and decide not to respond. In terms of usability, social media sites are effective because (most of them) have an easy mental model and the affordances are obvious for the most part. However, because the Internet is a fairly new technology, the affordances and mental mapping may not be as easy for a middle-aged man to understand than it would be for a teenager.
One form or advertising that does, however, include a great mental model and affordances are physical installations. For example, in class we looked at the PlayStation Bubble Wrap ad.
The audience is required to pop the bubbles, which are defined by PlayStation controller buttons. This is interactive because the affordance of popping is widely acculturated, and amusing. A bus stop is the perfect place for the installation because chances are you’re bored while waiting for the bus. The interaction of the ad is targeted because it’s playful and informative. This type of advertising is different than direct marketing because it does not involve the same requirement of information. In direct marketing, the audience member is required to make a decision about the ad being available to them. They can choose whether or not to buy it, or sign it. With the installation, the only required exchange of information includes your finger popping the bubble, and you being informed that PlayStation exists.
All three of these forms of advertising include some kind of exchange of information, knowledge, and effectiveness to make them succeed in their own rights. Despite these qualities, they also have their own ways specific in which they inform their world’s audience.
Interactive Advertising 