Who would believe that 15 years ago online advertising did not exist? Or that a campaign could get a 78% click-through rate! October 27th 1994 is the date credited with being the anniversary of the first banner display advertisement campaign.

That inaugural new media campaign comprised six advertisements appearing on HotWired.com, a US digital magazine on the web. To put in perspective the differences between the online community now and then, the internet population of the US was 2 million in 1994 (Ireland alone now has an estimated 2.8 million users!).

The advertisers that signed up for the first campaign included Volvo, Club Med and AT&T. Interestingly, Volvo deliberately chose not to include any call to action apparently they were not sure how they would handle the responses and were concerned of the legal implications of doing so! But, in spite of very basic graphics and text, the campaign engendered an excellent response by any standards with an enviable (and sadly, probably never to be repeated) click-through rate of 78%!

That campaign was the impetus to the creation of the online advertising category that this year will reach beyond $24 billion in the US and, recently in the UK, overtook TV advertising, ending 50 years of TV’s position as the leading advertising medium there!