Rich media ads are a
popular trend in the world of online advertising. Over the past couple of
years, online advertising has moved away from the more conventional, static
textual ads and now leans more towards interactive, dynamic content that can be
highly customized for the brand and user experience.
Although they may not look
like anything special upon first glance, rich media ads often come to life the
moment that you move your mouse over the image. Each ad is different and
created for a unique purpose, but many have similar characteristics. They
expand up or expand down; they have a short animation that loops to repeat
itself; or the entire homepage will become customized for the user in what is
known as a "homepage skin." These rich media ads can include
everything from video to online games and they can also include content from
Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook streams, according to Evelyn Rusli on Tech
Crunch. (1) They are defined as those with which users can interact as opposed
to solely animation, and they include such formats as transitionals and various
over-the-page units such as floating ads, page take-overs and tear-backs. (2)
These ads are regulated by
the Internet Advisory Board (IAB) is a committee charged with overseeing all
internet marketing activity and upholding established industry standards. The
IAB plays the role of "sheriff" in the wild west of the world of
Internet marketing. With recent growth of rich media advertising over the past
several years, the IAB has amended its guidelines to better suit this growing
trend.
In general, the IAB
guidelines provide clarity for online advertising and many of the major
stakeholders in the online ad industry, such as AOL, Walk Disney, Condenast,
and Google, have joined the IAB as project partners in the effort to regulate a
fair industry. Guidelines include: ad definitions, acceptable counting methods,
and guidelines for filtration, cacheing, auditing, and disclosure. These
guidelines are “intended to cover on-line browser or browser-equivalent based
Internet activity." (3) They do not cover wireless, off-line cached media
and Interactive-based television because of differences in infrastructure
and/or delivery method. Another important thing to keep in mind is that the
metrics continue to change with the industry; therefore, these guidelines will
probably continue to evolve over time.
Ad formatting allowances
for host sites often varies. The easiest way to better understand the IAB
guidelines is to compare ad specs for popular web publishing companies. I
looked at Media Kits for Martha Stewart Weddings and the New Yorker. Both
companies accept rich media ads; however, the New Yorker is more specific in
their ad specs.
The New Yorker accepts
interstitial (full-page ads that appear before the actual webpage), push down
ads, and video. Ads must less than 30 seconds in length, if video or animation
is used (the price of the ad varies depending on the length and features used).
Video ads can loop up to 3 times, but they can never rollover to replay. Interstitial
ads are limited to 640x480 dimensions, whereas push downs can expand up to
970x418, but they must collapse to 970x66. Push down ads are set by the vendor,
but must push content down and cannot expand over preexisting content. All ads
must be hosted by an approved rich media vendor, which I assume helps the New
Yorker (and really Condenast at large) maintain a standard of quality and
legality. (4)
At Martha Stewart Weddings
site, rich media ads must be hosted by a third party vendor, as well. Martha
Stewart sets some standard sizing limitations, but is less stringent on exact
sizing for each combined advertising option. Instead, this company stresses
that all ads must be user initiated –including audio. The X button must be
visible at all times, enabling the viewer to exit out of the ad at any
time. Any in-banner ads must be
hosted on the homepage; videos can only loop once and must not be longer than
30 seconds. Ads cannot solicit funds or deem the viewer a “winner” for a
particular contest. Any click through feature must open the URL in a new
window, so that the viewer can return to the host site more easily and does not
feel as if he/she has left the page. (5)
The above sites illustrate
the industry guidelines established by IAB, and also the individual allowances
that each company has made for their online media marketing. In general, the
goal is to protect the consumer and to make online advertising a helpful,
enjoyable feature – not something that creates frustration. If that were the
case, it would prove to do more harm than good and would sabotage any campaign
whose goal was to make a profit.
These options are popular
with advertisers because they are popular with consumers. As long as it is not
annoying, the interaction between the user and the ad feature can be a very
positive experience; one might argue that it is reflective of the culture of
the current "social graph" on the web. Simply put, people are more
inclined to pay attention to a product that demands their attention, versus one
that lies flat on the page. The ad directs more traffic to the landing page,
which subsequently results in a higher conversion rates and sales/revenue.
Rich media online
advertising is not only more effective, but it provides the marketing brand
with a much richer data set on its user demographic than the average static ad
with text only. Tech Crunch says that the real value of a rich media ad is
hidden in a store of valuable user data. Not only can you capture the number of
impressions, but the brand can discover how a user is interacting with the ad
and which tabs/services are most popular. It’s a window into the consumer,
his/her online habits and a way to gauge the success of a social media
strategy. (6) This insight allows that brand to refine overall strategy,
messaging, and target audience.
All of these things will
allow for a more cost-effective and successful marketing campaign. Adding video
to a rich media ad is something akin to inserting the "special sauce"
ingredient to a dish. Rich media drives purchase intent, brand awareness, brand
flavorability, balance, and helps better craft overall messaging for the
campaign. When a brand chooses to invest more dollars into video, aligning this
format with the proper target audience (with evidence based research back it
up), it is bound to see an increase in performance rate across the board.
A Double Click research report
released in 2009 says that exposing audiences to a single rich media with video
ad results in an average 1.16% increase in purchase intent among exposed groups
compared to the control group. Using rich media without video results in an
average 0.50% increase over the control group. Simple Flash shows the poorest
results at driving purchase intent. When your goal is to sell, use rich media
formats. (7)
Although it seems obvious
that rich media advertising is the best choice, it is also the most expensive
and is not always an option for a brand, due to budgetary or scheduling
limitations. The price of customizing the ad creative and the cost of
advertising a rich media ad with a host site is much greater than when using a
static ad. For this reason, it is important to carefully choose the ad format
that you use -- and do this on a case to case basis. What works for one
campaign, may not work for another. The most important thing is to plan ahead
and remember that first impressions count. (8) Start by delivering a rich media
ad with video to expose your audience to the best possible snapshot of your
brand. However, if cost is an issue, keep it simple. The ad doesn't have to be
interactive; use static messaging to drive the campaign, but choose video when
possible. Most important, put the message front and center. Don't rely on people
to click on the ad, in order to get the message.
This article is the part of a series of posts that I will make throughout my graduate studies in Marketing and Communications. With a focus on both healthcare and interactive marketing, I hope to gain a better understanding for effective health messaging--which I think plays a key role in a happy, healthy society. Please leave your comments or write to me: camorous@gmail.com.
Resources
(1,6)
Rusli, Evelyn (2010). ClickTurn: Build Rich Media Ads In Half An Hour.
Retrieved from http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/24/clickturn-build-rich-media-ads-in-half-an-hour/
(2, 3)
IAB - Rich Media Creative Guidelines. Retrieved from http://www.iab.net/guidelines/508676/guidelines/Rich_Media_Measurement,
http://www.iab.net/media/file/IAB_Rich_Media_Measurement_11_12_07.pdf
and http://www.iab.net/guidelines/508676/508767/Rich_Media
(4)The
New Yorker - Rich Media Ad Specifications. Retrieved from http://www.condenast.com/brands/new-yorker/media-kit/web/ad-specifications
(5)
Martha Stewart Weddings- 2012 Media Kit. Retrieved from http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/sites/files/marthastewartweddings.com/MSW_2012_Media_Kit.pdf
(7,8)
Cole, Spaulding, and Fayer (2009). The Brand Value of Rich Media and Video Ads.
Retrieved from http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en/us/doubleclick/pdfs/DoubleClick-06-2009-The-Brand-Value-of-Rich-Media-and-Video-Ads.pdf
Washington
Post - Media Kit Ad Specs. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/media_kit/adspecs/index.html
New York
Times Ad Intro. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/ads/Intro.html
