AT&T placed the first widely recognized Internet banner ad. It appeared on HotWired, the online companion to Wired magazine, on October 27, 1994.
The banner used the playful line “Have you ever clicked your mouse right HERE? You Will.” Clicking it took visitors to an online tour of art museums rather than simply to a corporate homepage. The campaign became famous because it turned a small rectangular graphic into a measurable advertising format.
HotWired launched with banner advertisements from 14 companies, including AT&T, MCI, Volvo, Club Med, 1-800-Collect, and Zima. AT&T’s ad is generally credited as the first because it is believed to have been the first of that launch group to appear online, although the exact order is sometimes disputed.
There is an important terminology distinction: Global Network Navigator sold an earlier clickable web advertisement to a law firm in 1993. AT&T’s 1994 campaign is the conventional answer for the first Internet banner ad, while HotWired helped popularize and commercialize the format.