Fun Friday Feature 7/14

We wanted to do something fun for today and go back to our ad of the week article. Today we want to feature the ad recently done by Maybelline. They pulled a great stunt where they put eyelashes on the tube in London. When the underground got close to the platform they had a mascara brush that combed the lashes back as it came to a stop. To read more about the ad or view it visit the Evening Standard.

Advertising for Good

We recently read the Adage article on how advertising companies can help with promoting activism. Aka. Advertising for good. It made us think of some of the campaigns we’ve been a part of, one of which was very recent for help during Natural Disasters. Over the span of our time here at Locomotive, we’ve managed to be part of campaigns that really bring out the best in all of us. Our recent work with Home Depot for disaster relief is one we’re very proud of but it’s not just limited to this one campaign. We’ve done campaigns the spotlight human kindness. And one for Comcast called, “Lift Zones,” where they gave free internet in underprivileged schools so kids would have access. Even small acts of neighborliness were touted in a Ritz commercial we helped source user-generated content for.  We’re not trying to toot our own horn here or anything it was just eye opening to read this article and realize that we’ve been part of some really great campaigns that advertise for GOOD. Here at Locomotive we’re proud to say that we are able to contribute to causes that are for the greater good of the world. Now, more than ever, it’s important to the consumers that brands are socioeconomically aware and give back somehow. They won’t support brands that don’t and that’s the bottom line now. Most of all, brands should be doing this not to only appease their audience but to do something better for the world. Leave it better than when we came into it!

Ad Viewability

What’s more important, CTR or your ad being viewed? We’ll wait while you think about this….

What did you decide? Was it viewability? If that was you’re answer then you got it right! Think about it, your ad being seen is far more important than click through rates especially with the rise of bot technology. You could be getting false results. So, what is ad viewability? Viewability is the “seen” impressions that a video gets where 50% of the advertisement must be in view for at least one second for display ads and two seconds for video ads (Internet Advertising Bureau). Measuring views is the best way to see what kind of reach your brand is getting with its advertising and it has a positive correlation with ROI. The higher the views, the higher the ROI. There are a few factors that will affect your ads viewability.

1.     Size. Vertical layouts are preferable to vertical and some standard sizing options are 120x240, 240x400 and 160x600.

2.     Position. Side bars do well. Top of page may be the first that comes to mind because it’s the first thing you see. However, sometimes the ad does not load before the user scrolls past. Of course, you can put the ad at the top and bottom and there are standard practices to help them perform well.

3.     Channel. Where you place the ad matters. Is it social, streaming T.V., YouTube?

4.     Publisher. Each publisher will have varying rates for placements.

5.     Loading speed. DO NOT let your ad load slowly. This is death for advertisements and anything else for that matter. Even just 1 second delay can reduce views by 11% (Publift). There are technical adjustments that can and must be made in order to avoid this. Compressing files, reduce redirects and removing unnecessary tags are some to name a few.

Ad viewability is important and compliment other data for your brand but this concept is fairly new. It will continue to develop in the following years but having a score of 70% viewability or higher perform better overall. That being said, a lot are between 30-40% and still successful, according to Amazon Ads. Being able to monitor this metric is important to tracking how many real human views you are getting for your advertisements. 

Epic Fails: Top Reasons Why Ad Campaigns Fail

Let’s be honest, epic fails are only funny when no one gets hurt and in the advertising business, if your ad campaign flops, your brand suffers. There’s definitely no single recipe for an ad campaign to succeed there are some top reasons that it won’t. Don’t fall victim to an ad that falls short of the mark. Do the research and understand what to do and especially what not to do. Here are our top reasons that we believe some ad campaigns fail epically. While, this list is nowhere near exhaustive, it’s a place to start.

1.     Budget. If the budget is too small, the campaign won’t run for very long and won’t build up enough frequency. It also may not get enough traffic to generate sales. Sometimes budget may be out of your control so you will have to do the best you can with what you have. Make sure to take on an objective that fits that budget. A great example would be to use user generated content in your ad campaigns since it is much less costly than traditional advertising.

2.     Missing the mark with your audience. Chances are if you are still in business you have a good idea of your target audience. However, you may be new in the space or trying something different. Make sure to do the research to see what kind of people buy your products or use your services. Look at their social media, do customer surveys, use Google Analytics from your website and social media channel insights.

3.     Relying on a single channel. Out attentions spans are short and they are getting even shorter. I’m surprised you’re still reading this blog honestly. Just kidding but seriously, we constantly bounce back and forth between things on the web as our focus is pulled from one thing to the next. Sometimes, as brands, our audience can miss something if we only post on a single channel. It’s important to have an omnichannel approach to our strategies. It’s also important since different generations spend time on different social platforms. Knowing your audience’s demographics will help you know where to target the bulk of your advertisements.  

4.     Unrealistic expectations. Remember that story about the bears and the girl with the porridge. Yea, it’s like that. Not too hot, not too cold, just right. The goals must be realistic. If it’s too small, then you aren’t going to see any significant results but if it’s too big then you are setting yourself up for failure.  

Take a look at these red flags and set them as markers to avoid. Let’s be honest, some of it will be trial and error. Sometimes we learn more from our mistakes than our successes. Chances are, if you’re new to this then some will be made. If you’re a vet, then you’ve probably already made yours. No matter where you are in your business journey it’s always important to keep learning to grow and to stay successful.