Serious about Business

Which Creative Format Performs Best on the Web?

An interesting research study just came out today by Dynamic Logic on MediaPost,written by Jack Loechner, entitled: Integrate Ads for Brand Awareness, that provides a few telling things about online ad effectiveness with the most important.  

Dynamic logic cited a couple of areas I think are worth noting: 

1) The most effective ads at driving awareness are those that are integrated into the content (the rectangle (180x150), half banner (234x60), and medium rectangle (300x250) rather than ones  that take over the page or frame the page; 

2) RIch media ads that contain video create the strongest brand impact on measured awareness, favorability, and purchase intent and the worst performer was Simple Flash. 

According to Ken Mallon SVP at Dynamic Logics: "We continue to believe that creative quality is the most important factor driving success of online advertising...(but) based on the the current data, bigger doesn't always mean better, but these new ad formats are quite unique..."

I like to call Mallon's comments "a-dah's" (instead of "a-ha's") because these should be obvious points to any advertiser if they viewed things from a customer's standpoint.  Fortunately, Ken Mallon and Dynamic Logics is there to to pound out these points in a study.    

Effective advertising is 100% about the creative and it's placement. And effective means respecting the viewer.  We've seen the majority of video ad content run through our platform consisting of local TV spots that have been 'made interactive' in our platform. Very few consist of 'templates' or user generated content. Video advertising isn't effective just because it's video; it's because video gives advertisers a way to convey useful information and, at the same time, distinctly brand the advertiser. The quality of the message matters.  It matters on TV;; it matters online.

We've, also, seen that running video through the standard 300x250 offers a more seamless experience that let's viewers interact at their choosing, rather than being forced to watch the ad either by some page takeover effect or forced other mechanism for forcing an ad that disrupts the viewer experience. Our data shows that viewers watch well over 60% of the video ad on average and are prone to respond and interact with it.  I can only assume because it was their choice.

Mallon goes on to say that "... strategy and consideration of branding goals is often an after-thought in decisions about creative format."  

On this point, the "ah dah" is understanding the role display ads have in the overall purchase funnel. Too many agencies and advertisers erroneously place the value of displays too low in the purchase funnel -expecting it to drive clicks like search- and therefore display ads have become these garish flash ads meant to trigger some action by viewers off limited information.  No wonder Dynamic Logics cited them as "worse performers."  

Big national brands have figured out the value of display. That's why they run expensive rich media display ads. Unfortunately they're just not accessible for most advertisers to do beyond the Fortune 500.

Lots of lessons learned here and that's why I love research like the one from Dynamic Logics. The online ad industry needs more "ah dah" studies because clearly no one is thinking enough about the viewer from their point of view.

Moving TV Ads to the Web

Today, we announced a few stats and figures that relate to the trends we’re seeing in online video advertising.  The most notable trend is definitely the opportunity for local TV advertisers to efficiently extend their broadcast strategy to the Web – that’s where Mixpo comes into the picture.

Year-over-year, monthly campaigns run by advertisers and agencies through the Mixpo platform and our local media partners, including Comcast Spotlight, NBC Local Media and Tribune, among others, have grown by more than 300 percent.

Those campaigns have resulted in more than 1.2 million minutes of video displays ads watched – keep in mind these are user-initiated, not forced-to-be-watched pre-roll video ads.  The total translates to more than two years of around-the-clock continuous TV viewing.  But people aren't just watching video ads.  Over one-third of these user initiated views have resulted in additional clicks and interactions!

We're only at the beginning of tapping into the opportunity to extend TV ads to the web to drive local response. $66 billion dollars is spent annually on TV advertising by companies (large and small) and we're seeing that the ability to easily localize those assets to drive response is more than a promise but happening every day. Very exciting times ahead – stay tuned.

NCC Partnership

This week, we announced a partnership with National Cable Communications (NCC). NCC is the leader in cable television sales and marketing and is jointly owned by three of the biggest cable operators – Comcast Cable, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable – and represents virtually every other cable company in the U.S. It’s great to work with NCC because 1) they have the largest locally targeted online network; 2) they are TV guys and clearly get the opportunity to extend local TV ads to the Web; and 3) they are true innovators and understand the convergence and opportunity of TV and Web audiences.

Over $25 billion dollars is spent on Local TV advertising today, according to the Kelsey Group. A huge opportunity is right there to marry the benefits of TV advertising with the Web. NCC gets it and we’re excited to partner with them. More to come…

Brian McAndrews Joins Madrona Venture Group

Madrona Venture Group, our lead investor, announced that former aQuantive CEO Brian McAndrews is joining the firm as a new managing director.  It goes without saying Brian has a wealth of experience navigating and excelling in the advertising ecosystem.  He is sure to see some familiar faces here at Mixpo where two of our board members: Bill Shaughnessey (former Microsoft executive) and Jeff Lanctot (Chief Strategy Offer at Razorfish) know him well.

New Board Member

Earlier today, we formally announced the addition of Bill Shaughnessy a longtime Microsoft Sales and Marketing executive to the Mixpo Board of Directors.

According to Anupam Gupta, president and CEO of Mixpo, “We are privileged to add an industry expert and senior executive of Bill’s depth and caliber to our Board. His experience of developing leaders, building organizations that scale and delivering world-class online advertising solutions is unparalleled.” To read today’s press release click here.

Bill joins Anupam, Matt McIlwain of Madrona Venture Group, Jim Charlton of GrowthWorks and Jeff Lanctot, chief strategy officer of Razorfish, as part of the Board directing Mixpo’s mission to make video display advertising – a more effective display add – accessible to local advertisers, large or small, while eliminating the complexity of creating, delivering and optimizing dynamic, geo-targeted VideoAds that fuel more effective display ad campaigns.

Welcome aboard Bill!

Mixpo Honored as Team of the Year

According to Wikipedia, “A team comprises a group of people linked in a common purpose. A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team. Teams normally have members with complementary skills and generate synergy through a coordinated effort which allows each member to maximize his or her strengths…”

This is a great description of the Mixpo Product and Technology team. Our team last night was honored as the winner of the  “Team of the Year” by the British Columbia Technology Industry Association (BCTIA) and its 2009 Technology Impact Awards (TIAs). The Mixpo team was up against TELUS, a national telecommunications company in Canada, with $9.7 billion of annual revenue. Can you say, “David vs. Goliath?”

The BCTIA’s TIAs, now its 15th year, shine a spotlight on the people and innovation that sets the standard and serve as role models in British Columbia. Mixpo was founded in Victoria and a vast majority of our Product and Technology team is housed in our offices North of the Border.

So, why was the Mixpo team honored? Simply put, over the past couple of years they’ve delivered. According to the BCTIA and based on our submission, they were asked to change “direction mid-stream – one of the most difficult tasks an organization can undertake, and it that requires a solid team to execute.”

The BCTIA went on to write about the Mixpo team, “In the rapidly changing and competitive technology market of digital marketing, Mixpo’s team provided the momentum, savvy, and innovation to drive the company’s future profitability.”

We’re very proud of our Product and Technology team. They are the backbone of Mixpo and our efforts to be the best online video advertising technology company in the world making rich media VideoAds accessible to local advertisers, large or small. Great job team and congrats!

McDonald's and other advertisers see success with Online VideoAds

In a recent post (Capturing the value of VideoAds), I talked about capturing the value of VideoAds.  I introduced the thesis that video display ads are different than regular display ads and much more effective both for advertisers and prospects. 

VideoAds running in-banner benefit prospects by:

- Creating a richer presentation that’s highly interactive and more informative

- Bring information TO the viewer rather than forcing them to click away

- Keeping viewers in control and letting them take action when they're ready

And for advertisers by:

- Providing more insight into how receptive viewers are to an advertiser’s message

- Working across the purchase funnel helping advertisers achieve brand awareness and purchase    
   intent goals or conversion related goals, e.g., email inquiries, or, yes, even click to a website when      the viewer is ready

Again, working with our publishing partners, we’re seeing the benefits of VideoAds for advertisers both large and small who focus on the local market. 

One of the world’s most recognized brands goes local

Case in Point: McDonald's wanted to drive awareness of the regional launch of McCafe and their new line of coffee drinks.   They launched a VideoAd campaign in the Detroit area repurposing seven of their television spots.  Viewers watched over 1100 minutes and on average each viewer watched over 80 percent of the VideoAd.

Download Ad-0406-fastfood_core

A local tourism bureau goes big with VideoAds

Case in Point: Sonoma Country Tourism is like a “little piece of Provence” and wanted to drive awareness of that fact by showcasing the epicurean delights on Sonoma.   They also wanted to drive action – clicks, calls, and inquiries.  In three weeks they generated over 1100 clicks with a 0.53 percent CTR.

Download Ad-0403-wl_tourism_core-1

A regional healthcare provider finds the perfect marketing medicine

Case in Point: The University of Washington Medicine and Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, serves the northwest community but is more known for its trauma center and university medical school than the world-class specialty practices in areas like Brain Aneurysms and Heart Arrhythmias.  Using existing videos and turning them into VideoAds, they generated over 13,000 minutes of view over the 10-week campaign period.  The average length of each VideoAd was 2 minutes, yet viewers watched over 50 percent.

Download Ad-0422-uw_core

A Performing Arts Center has a command performance online

Case in Point: The Orange County Performing Arts Center (OCPAC) wanted to promote a series of events in rapid succession, get people excited, and drive ticket sales.  With events ranging from Stomp to CATs, OCPAC achieved an engagement rate that was 7X that of the click through rates regular display ads achieve.  The top performing event, Backyardigans, achieved an ER of almost 1.70 percent.

Download Ad-0403-performing_arts_core-1

Conclusion: These local advertisers understand that the display ad can do so much more than provide a click.  With video, display ads can drive brand awareness, purchase intent and lead customers down the purchase funnel to a sale but it all starts with getting viewers to engage with your message and become prospects.   The click isn’t dead in display ads,steve it just has lots more company.

Video Kills The Display Ad?

Display ads have needed an overhaul for quite some time. The sole benefit of "the click" and associated clickthrough rate is under siege now that video is being incorporated into banner ad real estate.  It's high time to advance the regular display ad. 

Video enabled display ads offer so much more capability than their ancestral cousin.  VideoAds offer the ability to engage viewers and turn them into prospects no matter where they are in the purchase funnel and that includes BUT not limited to driving direct response (or clicks). 

For more on the topic, I invite you to check out the featured article, "Video kills the display ad...metrics" just released on Adotas.

Capturing the value of VideoAds

Working with our local media publisher partners, over the past several months, we’ve run thousands of ad campaigns delivering tens of millions of VideoAd impressions. In the process, we’re learning a lot about what makes for an effective VideoAd campaign.

At a macro level, we know that video display ads act totally different from regular display ads. Regular display ads provide a click.  VideoAds not only offer sight, sound and motion, but ways for viewers to engage with the ad and get more from it. Viewers can get the full brand’s message in one place. They get the value proposition, the offer or the promotion. They also control the experience, how and when to interact and, yes, even click.

At a more measured level, consequently VideoAds provide richer metrics on effectiveness. What  ‘effectiveness’ means, however, varies based on the objective of the advertiser. VideoAds show advertisers how viewers respond and interact, how much they watch, if their interest goes up by expanding the player to full screen. And when clicks are measured, VideoAds again go beyond regular display ads ─ not just measuring if a click occurs but when it occurs indicating a better or more qualified lead.

Taking a sample of our case study work for advertisers in automotive, travel, events, and sports we’ve seen how VideoAds help advertisers reach their advertising objective driving average engagement rates (ER) 5X that of the clickthrough rate (CTR) of regular display ads and brand exposure (represented by average view time) where viewers on average watch more than 70 percent of the total video.

A MLB team swings for the fences
Case in point: A major league baseball team, in the dark days of January, wanted to get people excited about the upcoming season. Running a VideoAd campaign, the MLB team achieved an engagement rate that was nearly 7X the CTR of a regular display ad.

Download Ad-0403-baseball_generic-1

A local television station sweeps up success
Oftentimes, advertisers just want to ‘get the message’ out and drive offline activity.

Case in point: A western U.S. local television station wanted to promote some special news programs to drive viewership up during the critical sweeps week. In one week, over 660 minutes of the VideoAd was watched.

Download Ad-0403-tv_station_generic-1

An auto dealer drives clicks
And of course, some advertisers want to drive clicks and interactions ─ especially important for “tough times” categories like automotive.

Case in point: A luxury auto dealer wanted to increase visits to a website where it was promoting a new “affordable” luxury SUV.  A VideoAd promoting the new model generated more than 90 clicks and 100 interactions in just one week.

Download Ad-0403-auto_generic-1

A Ski resort takes viewer on a long run
Finally, video – even short 15 second ones – tell a story that regular display can’t. Advertisers can make their case for their business and viewers get more information.

Case in point: A ski resort in Colorado, where some of the best resorts in the world reside, wanted to differentiate themselves from the pack. Their VideoAd campaign not only generated high ER but also brand exposure. On average, viewers watched over 70 percent of the VideoAd, and 54 percent of the viewers watched it all the way through.

 

Download Ad-0403-ski_resort_generic-1

There’s lots of debate going on about the true value of display and how insufficient the click has been as the metric for success. Video changes that. Video affords advertisers more flexibility to meet different objectives and the Internet acts as an enabler for measuring success across those varied objectives. Engagement and brand exposure capture the value of video advertising. Clicks are just a part of the value - with their importance dialed up or down based on the advertisers’ objectives. 

So does engagement trump clicks? 
We believe it does.  Engagement tells a better story than clicks alone do about what is going on in an ad, whether the message resonated or not, and when the viewer took action and what those actions were - all benefits to the advertiser who wants transparency on performance.  Similarly, video tells a better story to the viewer, providing them better information that they digest without clicking away, and letting them choose how and when they engage - with the benefit of control and choice being theirs. 

In this new world of video advertising, value goes both ways.

Who’s winning the race for online video ad dollars?

Borrell Associates reports that newspapers are beating out local TV in local video revenue.  In fact, they also report that IYP’s, who sell advertorial video to SMBs, are poised to pass local TV as well.

I’m surprised for a couple of reasons:  1) local TV already has clients who run broadcast ads, hence, it should be an easy 1-2 punch to sell existing advertisers on “packages” that extend their reach online; and 2) local TV sales folks “get video” and marrying video to the performance metrics of online should make for an easy sale.

The cable companies, on the other hand, are making traction.  Borrell notes how they are targeting video ads down to the zip and neighborhood level. And they certainly have digitally smart local sales people who know how to sell video.

My conclusion: there are lots of local media publishers who can play in the online video ad game but are at different stages in doing so. 

To me, the report is less about who is winning today and more about the rich opportunity all local publishers have to take what they have: a local sales force, existing advertisers, great local content, and ad inventory they can sell themselves at a premium, and generate big time online ad revenue with video. 

The current year aside, everyone is still bullish on online advertising revenue growth and how video will help to fuel it for years to come.

Nonetheless, the point is clear: to be a player, you first have to get on the field.