I clicked this ad because I wanted to find out the answer (300-400%). And after the clickthrough, there were a couple of interesting paragraphs in answer to the question, plus of course some details about Monster, but not in a hard-sell kinda way.
I thought this was cool advertising as it added value for me as the reader. I was reading an article about startups, so am likely to be interested in business, employment etc. The trouble is differentiating these genuine “value adding” interactive ads from spammy “VOTE IN THIS SURVEY AND WIN AN IPOD!!!!1” type ads.
Further, while this ad made my experience better and may make people less resentful of ads in content that they demand to have for free, I wonder whether it’s worthwhile for Monster? If they’re paying for the ad on a cost-per-click basis, maybe they don’t want my click - I’m not looking for work or to employ someone, and only clicked through because I like nerdy trivia and stats.
If this sort of advertising is offered on a CPC basis (I don’t know whether it is or not), I’d suspect it results in higher-than-usual clickthroughs but lower-than-usual conversions. Good for brand-building, less so for financial ROI.
