Obnoxious Internet Marketing

Yesterday I was web surfing doing research for our new cell phone applications and found a number of obnoxious marketing techniques. Here are my least favorite:

Somewhere I visited (don't know where) opened a new window which I later discovered offering me a free Treo 700 smartphone. While I usually close these windows as fast as possible, I decided to explore this further. First I was asked for my email address which then took me to another page to give up address, phone number, age, etc. It was only in the fine print where I could find a link to the terms of the offer. It gave a lengthy disclosure including, "FreeProductVouchers.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to change its Terms & Conditions at any time". Several scroll bars and disclaimers later, I closed the box and decided to no longer waste my time.

Then there's that bouncing box that screams at you "Congratulations you have won" until you just have to leave the site even if the content is interesting. I can't stand things jumping on the screen! How do you close that box?

After minimizing the window, I came to this window to type a posting and heard an ongoing buzzing sound that sounded like something was wrong with my computer. Keep in mind this is a brand new computer that I spent hours transferring files and setting up. After a minute of panic I found the above site also had a mosquito that buzzed even when I was not active in their window. That's just plain rude!

Another ad I really dislike is on the ClickZ site for OneUpWeb. I find the pink poodle and all the animation distracting. I don't want things flashing at me and jumping up and down while I'm trying to read. I like reading what Peter has to say and don't find the pink poodle to work well with Peter's words on marketing. This company markets to marketing people, I would expect a bit more class than a pink poodle.

While I understand that it's a challenge to get attention in today's world, I question whether these techniques work. My reaction is too ignore them, close the window, and avoid the brands that use them. I prefer the more professional tactics, such as those you find on the right side of a Google search.

In this noisy world, let's find a way to get our message across without jumping, bouncing, flashing and worst of all, buzzing. If anyone has data on the relative success of jumping ads, I would be interested in knowing whether this is effective or just a form of creativity I don't appreciate?