Ad placement in the modern world

You know why ads on the Spotify desktop client alternate between a vertical bar on the right and a horizontal banner on the bottom? It’s the change that’s important. They switch it up because human beings are better at sensing change than at noticing details.

And it’s also commonly shared know-how that changing the position of ads gets more people to notice it. Think of all the ad-supported sites you use. You can remember where the ads are located, even if you’ve never bothered to look at a single one.

Advertising and its strategies are changing rapidly in the modern world. In just 10 years, things like personal cameras and smartphones have become commonplace where they were unheard of before.

Here are some things that I’ve learned in the world of advertising strategy in the past few months: