OK, nice observation. So what are your *suggestions* for actually innovating online advertising?

Is there a point to this? What product advertisement wouldn’t have the product on it? It has nothing to do with innovation, or lack thereof as your first image would have us believe.

Seems like a no-brainer to me.

I was thinking just the other day about the advertising images for the iPad and every screen before it, from huge plasma to smartphone. The common theme is generally some calming but colourful image – balloons, butterflies, rainbows, rubber balls bouncing down some San Francisco street, as if to say “look everyone! It has colour!” I wonder how long it’ll be before some trail-blazing advertising exec says “hey guys, being post 1975, I think our customers now know that screens are colour.. what else can we do?”

I’m thinking the innovation is in the fact that online advertising can now be interactive. However I must add that demographic targeting is certainly not the only factor in product placements of online advertising for example there are algorithms that channel the placement of an ad in relation to affiliated content (like ads on blogs or websites); popularity; and customization and choice that is available to whomever owns the space that the advertisement is featured on (plus more…).

Although it’s still very interesting to see the comparison in the actual design/concept!

I see a lot of differences actually… seems like older ads tended to have a lot more copy

also, the newer ads seem to have a lot more graphic design elements whereas the older ones have less, but emphasize large photographs more.