Behold, what you see above is the world’s first internet banner ad!
It was created by Joe McCambley, co founder of New York digital branding firm, The Wonderfactory—who then worked for digital agency, Modern Media.
Sponsored by AT&T, the banner ad first appeared in October 1994 to promote seven art museums to readers of HotWired.com—and was clicked by 44% of those who saw it.
The ubiquitous advertising tool has earned the publishers all over the world billions in revenue—and with its low cost, it has also driven old media companies to bankruptcy.
In McCambley’s words, the online ad invention is “a nuisance at best and invisible at worst”, he wrote in the Harvard Business Review.
To date, though much criticized, the banner ad still lives on—but will the day come when we toss out the medium, as we feel the invention in October 1994 was a mistake?
[via Business Insider]