Immerse Yourself: The Future of Mobile ads
October 31, 2016
With over 1 billion people on Facebook, and more than half of those users active on the app, you’d think that humans were beginning to lose their touch…. Not exactly. All thanks to mobile, we’ve gotten used to living in a world where news is instantaneous, replies are streamlined perfectly in real time and purchases are made with the snap of the fingers. The technological world we live in today wouldn’t have the klout it possesses with a little advertisement to push it along the way.
With that being said, Facebook plans to roll out a new product that would further enhance the mobile advertising experience. After teasing creatives at this year’s Cannes Lions, Facebook’s plans to start testing what they call ‘immersive mobile ads’ might be their boldest mobile move yet.
The immersive experience is a fully interactive module with full screen videos and/or content. A win-win with advertiser and user alike. Not only do marketers get psyched about every Facebook product or update that comes along, such as recently renovated page CTA buttons, but so does the consumer. Facebook listens, and they provide. So it will be no surprise that something like immersive ads will be a new favorite amongst everyone.
Not only does the immersive experience look better than a lot of traditional Facebook ads, but it will also force brands to get creative and create higher quality content that is fun, informative and valuable to the user. With a heavily saturated advertising market on Facebook, this will be the real challenge. This will be a great opportunity for top brands to raise the bar and create another level of creative marketing.
As of now, the new product is being tested with campaigns from a few leading brands, such as Gatorade, Mr. Porter and Michael Kors. Kelly Graziadei, director of ads product marketing for Facebook says “We look forward to seeing how marketers use this surface to create compelling experiences for people and drive key objectives, including brand affinity and direct response.”
This could be an amazing opportunity for all kinds of brands to benefit using the product, not just brands that sell a product. I can foresee music publications like FACT Magazine or Resident Advisor, outfits who are notorious for producing high quality content, using this new alleyway to launch trailers for documentaries or make interviews come to life. Even news outlets like Vice or NPR could revolutionize the way news is presented and digested.
Quarter to Quarter since 2012, mobile ads on Facebook have shown steady increase in growth. With mobile making up 76% of Facebook total ad revenue, the platform’s increased efforts with mobile advertising continues to grow alongside marketers desires to get users more interactive and engaged.