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IAB Smartphone Showcase
Case studies of creative ads at work on mobile smartphones
Ghost Recon Future Soldier
Marketer: Ubisoft Agency: Biborg Publisher/Media Company: Hi Media Technology Enablers: Smart & Mediamind
Active Online: June 28, 2012 — September 30, 2012
Sabrina's Take:
What is interesting about this creative is that it uses "shake" for the call to action. Instead of tapping to launch a video the user is clearly instructed to shake to watch the trailer. With advanced features available on mobile devices such as touch, accelerometer etc. it is exciting to see ad units exploring different type of interactions to get viewers to engage deeper.
Brief Description of Execution:In order to announce the game release to the gamers, Ubisoft chose to advertise in an innovative way on the most known videogame mobile app in France: jeuxvideo.com. Biborg, working closely with MediaMind (adserving) and Hi-Media (Advertising network), conceived an eventful and never-seen-before mobile campaign.
Depending on the user broadband, a video interstitial simulated the homepage being attacked. Then the users cold shake their smartphone to expand the banner, watch the trailer and download the app.
What made this execution interesting or special?
Video interstitial simulated the homepage being attacked surprised the users and shaking the mobile to launch the trailer pioneers new exciting ways to interact with the users.
The Blue Moon Locator
Marketer: Blue Moon Agency: VisualMax Publisher/Media Company: Yelp Technology Enablers: Crisp Media
Active Online: June 1, 2012 — August 1, 2012
Sabrina's Take:
This is a great example of an ad that uses location to increase the relevancy of its content. It extends the users behavior and intent of looking for a local bar/restaurant into the ad experience in a clear touch friendly interface.
Brief Description of Execution:
The objective of the “Blue Moon Locator” was to help users find local bars/restaurants serving Blue Moon when searching for places to go on Yelp.com.
Strategy included matching Blue Moon’s national database with Yelp’s API combined with custom programming to bypass prompting a user to approve current GPS location to improve user experience and increase engagement rate with the ad.
User taps to expand the Blue Moon Locator to find local bars/restaurants including image, name, address and rating. Results link to the businesses profile page on Yelp.com for more information. Link to Blue Moon’s mobile website also included in the Branded rich media unit.
What made this execution interesting or special?
This highly social ad makes use of real time, localized Yelp feeds to show users where to get Blue Moon.
Earth Hour
Marketer: WWF Norway Agency: Mobiento Norway Technology Enablers: Mobiento AB
Active Online: March 2012
Sabrina's Take:
This is a fairly simple, yet powerful creative execution. It starts with a clear call to action banner that jumps you right into the lights off experience without leaving the publisher's environment. Allowing users to then swipe to uncover more information is a great use of the touch screen environment.
Brief Description of Execution:
Earth Hour asks people to turn their lights off at home to fight climate change. We took the initiative to help WWF Norway promote the event by pitching the first national mobile rich media ad campaign.
In a mobile world, a screen is a massive global light source, so we took the Earth Hour concept one step further, asking our tech-addict generation to turn their mobile screens off.
With the tap of a mobile rich media banner, the screen blackened, turning phone lights off across Norway. A swipe across the screen slowly let the light back in and revealed the Earth Hour countdown.
It all happened in the browser, directly in the ad on the placement site. No extra steps were needed to reach a landing page or app store download, that would otherwise disrupt the reader’s experience.
What made this execution interesting or special?
Run across the major Norwegian media site of Aftenposten and Dagbladet, we showed that the days of static mobile advertising were over.
Sabrina's Take:
Instead of just launching the movie trailer, this creative allows the user to choose to engage and explore via natural touchscreen gestures (swiping) to discover it. It also has information on when the movie is released right at the beginning of the ad experience in-case a user doesn't choose to interact.
Brief Description of Execution:
This mobile rich unit was designed to excite mobile users about the upcoming Paranormal Activity 3 movie. Users swiped through the room to see paranormal activity occurring in the ad unit. Once the users swipes around the room they are taken into the bathroom where an in-line trailer of the movie plays. This ad ran on iPhone and Android phones, across mobile and in-app inventory.
What made this execution interesting or special?
This ad was unique in that the trailer played automatically in-line in the mobile rich unit.
Sabrina Alimi's Take:
This creative execution is great because users already turn to their phones for entertainment and this ad provides a fun game that is relevant to the brand message within the browser experience.
Brief Description of Execution:
This ad for McDonald’s ran in-app and on the mobile web on Android and iPhone smartphones and was location targeted to New York City.
What made this execution interesting or special?
This expandable ad for McDonald's Oatmeal invites users to play a Memory Game. Users click the tiles to match the ingredients in the quickest amount of time. They can then play again, find a store in their area or visit the McDonald's mobile website.
Sabrina's Take:
The cool thing about this creative execution is the simplicity in the interaction. There’s a lot of information available within the ad and it is all accessible via a clear call to interaction of either tapping or shaking.
Brief Description of Execution:
This ad unit was designed to showcase the range of flavors of the Slim·Fast shake, as well as generate brand awareness for the new Slim·Fast bottles. We also incorporated the nutritional information for each flavor, into the ad, given the health-conscious attitude of our target demographic. This ad ran on iPhone and Android phones, across mobile and in-app inventory.
What made this execution interesting or special?
This ad was unique in that it utilized the iPhone’s ability to shake the device to control the content within the ad. The shake feature was employed to transition between flavors of Slim·Fast shakes.
Sabrina’s Take:
The integration with the publisher's content makes this a cohesive creative execution. The user’s intent is to check the temperature which is important to choosing a trip destination as well so extending that experience into the ad keeps it relevant.
Brief Description of Execution:
To showcase the range of Sheraton Hotels & Resorts located around the world, Sheraton launched a rich media campaign enabled by Medialets for The Weather Channel iPhone app.
The creative initiates as a banner that prompts consumers to “FIND YOUR FAHRENHEIT” by tapping on the banner. When tapped, the banner expands to the full iPhone screen, with easy-to-follow instructions that enable consumers to use a slider to explore different Sheraton properties. The temperature goes up and down as the consumer drags the slide, displaying the corresponding Sheraton destination.
The creative also offers five different opportunities to drive consumers further down the funnel; they can tap-to-call or tap-to-visit starwoodshotels.com to make a reservation, share via Twitter, Facebook and email.
What made this execution interesting or special?
Exceptionally relevant media buy targeting weather seekers with a broad range of vacation destinations.
Unique and effective use of a popular mobile ad format (the Expandable Banner), “Touch” feature and imagery to showcase a broad range of Sheraton destinations
Includes 5 different ways for consumers act on the creative. Social media integration (Facebook and Twitter) and email allow consumers to share their interest, while the persistent CALL NOW and BOOK NOW buttons that display on each showcased property make it profoundly easy for consumers to buy.
HP
Marketer: HP Agency: Omnicom Media Group Publisher: Audibly, Picplz, & Big Blue Bubble Technology Enablers: Adtivity by appssavvy
Active Online: Nov. 20, 2011 - Jan. 8, 2012
Sabrina’s Take:
This creative execution is great because it keeps the publishers experience with an integrated background and lets you interact without leaving the app.
Brief Description of Execution:
HP connected with consumers through the adtivity by appssavvy platform – reaching their target audience after they performed activities in a wide range of relevant applications (gaming and non-gaming) across iOS & Android smartphones.
What made this execution interesting or special?
Unlike traditional mobile display banners around content, HP and appssavvy delivered a center-of-the-experience display ad through the adtivity platform.
Through custom frame designed by appssavvy’s publishers, ads were styled to blend in with the application and create a seamless user experience.
HP reached a lean-forward consumer after they performed an activity.
Engaging with the ad unit drove users to HP’s mobile site and kept users within the app.
The REI Winter Sale
Marketer: REI Agency: OMD & BBDO Publisher: The Weather Channel Technology Enablers: Crisp Media
Active Online: December 2011 — current
Sabrina’s Take:
This full page ad takes advantage of the fun factor of a scratch-off game which fits nicely with the user experience of a small touchscreen interface and doesn't feel intrusive due to the integration with the publisher's content.
Brief Description of Execution:
This campaign for The REI Winter Sale ran on The Weather Channel mobile web for iPhone and Android. The ad begins with an animated takeover, in which the temperature drops and snow clouds the screen. Users are invited to interact with the ad by swiping away the snow, revealing the option to visit the REI microsite for their winter sale event.
What made this execution interesting or special?
This campaign was the first to use a full screen, animated home page takeover on a mobile website. The campaign was also able to utilize native functionality to iOS and Android devices, by allowing consumers to swipe across the touchscreen to wipe away the animated snow effects. By running the ad on The Weather Channel, they were able to target consumers already thinking about winter weather and outdoor gear, capturing their attention with engaging animation.
