Friday Fun Favorite 7/29/22

We thought this week we would switch it up and do a throwback favorite from 2011. The ad was named, “What Will Your Mouth Go Through Today?” This campaign was done for Listerine and depicts the different items that you put in your mouth throughout the day. There were three prints done. The first was two burger buns that sandwiched not only the burger and toppings, but also pens, mints, cheeses, paper clips, sugar packets and a coffee mug. The second print was a milkshake glass filled with the contents of the shake, various candies, pistachio shells, fries and a lemon slice to name a few. Lastly, the final print was a skewer containing an ice cream bar, candies, beef chunks and lipstick. The ad brings attention to these various things that go into your mouth. Seeing them together looks absolutely unappetizing, but when isolated alone, they are delicious. This leaves the viewers ready to grab that bottle of Listerine and clean out their dirty mouths. It was a great ad done by Wunderman Thompson, UK.

Importance of Mobile Optimization

We assume that your brand wants to reach every consumer that it can! If this is true, then your business must adopt a mindset that has the mobile experience in the forefront. In our previous article we talked about how different generations require different marketing techniques. Many of these reasons are due to technological preferences across generations. According to the HubSpot State of U.S. Consumer Trends, 56% of people surveyed stated that they use their mobile phones for searches and 44% of those people discover new products through these mobile searches. You’re probably reading this article on your phone right now aren’t you? It’s important that whatever your brand is putting out there not only looks great on desktop format but also on a smartphone. The more user-friendly things are the more likely they are to stay and discover what your brand has to offer them. It should be noted that mobile optimization and mobile friendly are not the same. Mobile friendly will display on smaller screens but mobile optimization will actually reformat itself for a mobile device. Websites should not only be clean but simple to navigate as well. Improving your brands mobile optimization of its website, newsletters, etc. will get you higher search engine rankings, increased positive audience experiences and in turn, more business.

Creative Ways to Advertise

Did you know that it typically takes 5-7 brand interactions before a consumer remember the brand? (Start Up Bonsai) We’ve written articles in the past on how to make your advertisements stand out from the crowd with the use of Interactive Advertising. We’ve also talked about what contributes to the effectiveness of an advertisement. Creativity will always win in advertising campaigns so why should the way that you advertise be any different? Not only should the advertisements themselves stand out, the way that you advertise should as well. Here are some creative and not so creative, but tried and tested, ideas to get you started.

1.     Magazines. This type of advertising is one of the oldest. Ads began in newspapers so this is similar. This can cost your brand anywhere from $500-$20K depending on which publication it is as well as the placement within the magazine. Ads in the back are typically better so they are going to cost your brand more. Cost will also be affected by the size and colors you choose.

2.     Sponsor local city maps. This one is a bit old school but tested to work. This will work especially well if your brand is located in a tourist destination.

3.     Use the space creatively. Put an ad on the celling of a building. On the floor or the staircase. Use the space creatively to draw attention to the campaign.

4.     Swag. Everyone loves free stuff and it helps your brand advertise. Think pens, tee shirts, reusable water bottles, stickers, bottle openers, etc. Keep costs low by ordering early, buying in bulk, shopping around for the best deals and also negotiate pricing.

5.     Vehicle wraps. We’ve all seen the bus side ads. It’s dynamic since the vehicle is always in motion. Many people will see the ad but make sure that it legible to read in motion. This type of advertising is also a bit costly ranging anywhere from $3K-5K. That being said, this type of ad generates 2.5x’s more attention than static billboards according to Sign Post. You can easily find companies in your area that specialize in vehicle wraps with a simple Google search. 

6.     Banner Ads. Banner ads are a great way to get your brand to the eyes of those that potentially are interested in what you have to offer. These are placed on specific websites that have similar interest to your business through publishers. This can help grow your audience big time. They should be animated to get the viewers’ attention immediately. Costs of this type of advertising varies. Some do 50cents per 1,000 impressions. Meaning that it will be displayed 1,000 times. Some charge one-time fees for a specified span of time.

These are some fun ways to mix up the ways that your brand is advertising. Not only should your advertisement be creatively sound, the way that you choose to advertise that campaign should be as well. We hope this helps give you some ideas to add diversity to your advertising strategies.

Consumer Attitudes Toward Brands

Consumer attitudes play a large role in consumer behavior and their decision-making processes. Consumer attitudes are a composite of their beliefs, feelings and behavioral intentions toward your business. Beliefs are composed of past experiences to develop an attitude toward something. Sometimes feelings are based on beliefs people have, but can also be independent of it. Lastly, intention is what the consumer intends to do with respect to your product or service. Of course, all brands want consumers to have a positive attitude for their business. Some studies showed that consumers may change their attributes toward an existing product/service if exposed to new ones that reinforce positivity. Measuring consumer attitudes can be difficult because they can have conflicting beliefs and feelings about one thing at the same time. However, surveys can be done in order to get an idea of consumer’s attitudes for your brand. It can help your brand make future decisions on products and/or services and improve attitudes toward your brand.

Which Social Media Channels are Best for Brands

According to Statista the leading social media platform for brand marketers is Facebook at 93%, with Instagram coming in second at 78%. Even if you’re a content creator, you want to get more engagement and turn followers into customers. We couldn’t agree more with this statistic. Let’s think about why this is. Look at YouTube for example. Sure, you can monetize to make money here but, you can only engage with your followers if they leave comments on your videos. You can’t really build a relationship with your audience. What about TikTok? Oh man, do we have lots of thoughts on this platform. It’s great for viral videos but you don’t really get served content from people that you follow. It’ good for discovering new content creators but not so much for building good connections with your current followers. Aside from this, it’s important for content creators to know that anything filmed within the TikTok platform is the property of TikTok and that the creators do not actually own the rights to those videos. Furthermore, if a creator films inside the app, they cannot monetize their content in any way.  Personally, we believe that it’s best to generate revenue from your followers on Instagram because there are so many ways to connect with them through all their different features. The algorithm on this platform is also set up to give you more of the content from the people and brands that you love. It’s important to having a multifaceted approach to social media marketing. Using stories, feed, live, reels, polls, etc. this keeps your audience engaged and it will build stronger relationships with them.

Customer Acquisition Guide

If you’re in the business industry we’re sure you’ve heard of customer acquisition but just in case you might be a newer start up let us clarify it for you. It is the process of finding and guiding customer to buy from your business in a way that is measurable and repeatable. This happens in 6 stages: awareness, interest, consideration, intent, evaluation and finally purchase. Awareness and interest fall under the umbrella of leads. Consideration, intent and evaluation fall under prospect. Those who purchase are then your customers. To get started you need to calculate your customer acquisition cost (CAC). This is done by dividing the total cost of marketing spend by the number of new customers attained. There are certain industry averages that you can find on any Google search to get an idea of what yours should be. You must take steps before you get started to understand what your ideal customer is. If you don’t know ask yourself these questions. What you do customers accomplish with your service? What are their demographics? What benefit(s) does your product/service offer? Where do your customers source their information from? (This question will help you decide which channels your marketing strategies will be focused on.) Why would they not buy your product? When does the ideal customer make purchases? Now that you have an idea of how to identify your target market you must identify your business goals and decide which strategies you can use to obtain new customers. Here is a short list of some types of strategies you can consider.

1.     Influencer advertising/marketing

2.     Content marketing. UGC (sourced content) marketing/advertising

3.     Social media advertising/marketing

4.     Email marketing

5.     SEO

6.     Traditional paid advertising

7.     Referral programs

This quick guide is a way to help you get started with your customer acquisition for your business but isn’t a fully comprehensive guide. It’s important that your brand do the research in order to decide what the best plan may be. Once you have a strategy and have implemented it we’re sure you will get the results desired. However, getting new customers is only half of the battle. Keeping them is the other half. Customer retention is just as important. We will write another article in the near future on ways to ensure that once you have grabbed your audience’s attention, you keep them.

Friday Fun Fave 7/15/22

This week we turn to a print ad campaign that is nostalgic in its own way. This ad was illustrated by Aspire Doors, UK and showcases the first products of certain brands, such as Nintendo. It was shared on Media Samosa’s Instagram feed. It was surprising to see what many firsts that every day household name brands created first. Sony’s was a rice cooker created in Japan in 1946. Nokia created toilet paper in Finland in 1865. Take a quick look to see how these iconic brands began.

Advertising Predictions 2022

2021 was a great rebound year for advertising after the catastrophic one that preceded. Now that some of the dust has settled, we’ve been seeing inflation; interest rates increasing at sizable rates and stocks dropping significantly. A recession is now predicted and feared to be here sooner than later. But what does that mean for the advertising industry? Let’s look at some history for some insight. According to AdAage, U.S. advertising spending decreased for the previous four recessions back to 1991. However, the really rough recessions before that, the kind that were “marked by periods of double-digit inflation,” advertising spend actually increased. For example, ad spend during the recession of 2009 was down -10.2% and the following year it increased to 8.8%. So, how do we know which will happen this year and the one following? Well, we don’t but we can speculate. At Locomotive we are optimistic. We expect a slight decline but not a full halt. We also believe we will see another large increase in digital marketing, just as we did in the midst of the 2020 pandemic with sourced content. Why, do you ask? Well, for one, it’s more cost efficient. With the rising cost of goods and services, agencies can use their budgets more efficiently with advertisements that utilize user generated content. Publicis Group’s, Zenith, expects internet ad spending to increase to 71% by 2024. Zenith also predicts overall ad spend to decrease this year to 11.6% from 18.7% in 2021. With that being said, it’s expected it to continue to drop in 2023 then begin rising again in 2024 with smaller gaps between overall advertising spend and internet ad spends.

Sorry! We know we just threw a lot of stats at you. It’s important to look at the past trends in order to predict what may be ahead. In summary, we expect internet advertising budgets to increase greatly. We predict that will inherently increase the number of agencies that utilize UGC content in their campaigns. We expect this, in part, due to increased budgeting caused by inflation.  The efficiency through using sourced content campaigns helps advertisers get better bang for their buck! It’s more cost effective.  We do expect this year to slow down, and most likely the following, but we have high hopes that it will slowly begin to increase again and we will see the trends from the earlier major recessions before 1991.  

Connecting Authentically with Black Americans

Do you know the difference between race and ethnicity? A lot of people are unaware that there is a difference between the two. Race is the division of different groups of people based on physical characteristics, such as skin color, eyes, etc. Ethnicity is a social group of people that share a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, etc. For this reason, African American is no longer an accepted term for people of color. Actually, 1 in 10 Black Americans are foreign born from many countries around the world and therefore, black is a more inclusive, widely accepted term now. Brands are now actively pursuing to reach their Black consumer market more than ever before. It is very important to be able to connect with Black audiences on an authentic level while remaining respectful to their culture and communities. We’ve gathered a list of ways to do just that. Although, not extensive, it will help you get started.

1. Cultural immersion. Do research. Hire experts to guide your choices. Using social media channels to gather information on things that are trending within that group can also provide good insight.

2. Avoid stereotypes & microaggressions. A microaggression is a back-handed compliment that feeds into a stereotype. For example, referencing that it is amazing that all Black Americans are good sprinters. Avoiding stereotypes all together is very important. Let go of any preconceived ideas that may exist in order to remain open to view the world through the lense of different cultures.

3. Know that systemic racism is real and understand it. Look up the “school-to-prison” pipeline if you’ve never heard of this. We’re sure you have but just in case… it states that boys of color are systematically disciplined more harshly. They also receive less support through counseling and police are more likely to be called on students of color that misbehave. This raises the risk of incarceration for these children. “60% of incarcerated people, are people of color,” according to a research study on systemic racism by Health Affairs. This is only one small example of systemic racism among many. Knowing that this is real and how it causes harm/trauma to the Black community will be essential to connecting.  

4. Remember that people are multifaceted. Again, this also implies DO NOT stereotype. Understand that Black cultures (as well as other cultures) consist of many types of people. Doctors, engineers, teachers, etc. They can often be disproportionately portrayed as entertainers, criminals, you get the idea. Also, intersectionality exists for everyone, including you and I. Really anyone for that matter. For example, a woman also follows a certain religion, she falls within a particular income bracket and a certain nationality. Therefore, sexuality, income, citizenship and ability all must be considered.

This is just a couple of main points, of many, that will help brand connect with their Black communities. It is in no way considered to be a comprehensive guide but mainly a starting point. If your brand was looking for help on ways to connect with their Black audiences we hope this helps. Personal connections are key to understanding all of your audiences and should be considered top priority.

Friday Fun Fave 7/1/22

This week’s Friday favorite isn’t very fun but in light of recent events of the overturning of Roe vs Wade, we though it appropriate to choose one that shed some light on what this may mean for American women. Planned Parenthood did an ad predicting the “Dark Storm” of the Supreme Court decision. The ad background has the news reporting abortion rights and recent decisions of the Supreme Court as the narrator states, “we’ve all felt this storm coming. It’s been building for a long time.” After this the narrator states that, “Together we’re a force of nature!” as women take to the streets protesting. “We’re built for this. We don’t stand by, we walk into the storm and turn its raw force into something transformative!” It’s a powerful campaign that promotes action! We stand behind their “ Bans Off Our Bodies” movement! This link is where you can find resources on how to support abortion moving forward. This compelling advertisement was created by Virtue Worldwide.

Marketing on a Budget

Inflation is here and it’s having an effect on every industry today. There’s no denying it. With the current state of economic affairs, we thought an article on how to maximize marketing on a budget was beneficial. Here’s a quick bullet point list.

1.     Harness the POWER OF UGC. Of course, we’re bias on this topic since this is what we do. That being said, this is one of the best ways to market on a budget. It can cut the costs of production and according to Hubspot, production takes up to 24% of the marketing budgets. Pre-production and post-production come in at the second highest costs.

2.     Hire student/amateur actors. If the brand does want a produced marketing campaign, then save money by using students or amateurs who aren’t big stars yet. Most times they will be eager to gain experience and do the job for much less or possibly free.

3.     Use free editing software. Mac already includes this with your device. With a PC, Windows Movie Maker can be installed. There are others available online as well.

4.     It’s all about lighting & sound. Don’t waste money and time on equipment that you don’t really need. You can save money here on high end cameras. However, having good lighting and good sound are important. Good lights and good mics are a must have. BUT… you can have your cake and eat it to. There are plenty of lists that experts put there that can help your brand get the best bang for their buck.

5.     Film with your smartphone. Phones have really good cameras now. Some even have cinema mode for cinematographic style shots. This can help your brand save money on equipment as well to be used in other areas of your campaign.

There are plenty of options to help save money when marketing on a budget. We hope that our quick tips helped get your journey started. Video marketing is by far the best way to reach your audience today. You cannot  merely skip out on it because you think you may not have the funds for it. There are plenty of hacks to make video marketing a reality for your brand. It will take some research and planning ahead to stick to the budget that you have allocated while getting the highest quality videos simultaneously.

Advertising Effectiveness Contributors

What makes an advertisement effective? Take a second to think about it. We’ll wait…. Now that you’ve thought about it, we’re going to give you a hint. It’s not a cut and dry answer. As we’re sure you’ve guessed, it’s not just one thing that will make an advertisement effective, it’s multiple aspects. That being said though, turns out that creativity is still the most important part of advertising effectiveness. There are 5 other important contributors to advertising effectiveness. According to a study done by Nielson Catalina Solutions, creative lands on top at 47% but the other 5 include reach at 22%, brand at 15%, targeting lists at 9%, recency at 5% and lastly, context at 2%. It’s interesting to note that creative is still the top driver of advertising effectiveness, but this does not mean that brands can neglect the other 5 contributors. Let’s take a look at recency. Recency is a theory stating that advertising will have a greater sales impact when exposure occurs close to a purchase. Determining when your audience will buy will determine when to run your ad. If they buy on the weekend, then the ad should be run on Thursday or Friday right before their purchase. This article only touches on the topics that increase advertising effectiveness and each contributor could have an article of their own. It’s crucial for brands to understand what drives their advertisement effectiveness in order to increase sales.

Friday Fun Fave 6/24/22

This week’s favorite is titles Liquid Billboard by Adidas. This amazing advertisement aims to make women feel more comfortable with their inclusive swimwear collection. “32% of women globally say they don’t feel comfortable swimming in public,” according to the ad.  We recently wrote a blog that talked about audience engagement. This is the perfect example of that! Women of all shapes and sizes jumped in for a few laps instead of the typical models that we see on these types of ads. Their swims were visible to all and streamed live online. How cool is this interactive advertising!?!? Not to mention that it promotes body positivity on so many levels.

Emotional Advertising

Of course, we all buy things out of necessity or want! However, as it turns out a lot of us buy things driven by emotions. A study done showed that “70% of viewers who experienced an intense emotional response to an ad were very likely to buy the product” (Unruly). This brings to mind that overly drawn out commercial for the SPCA. In the ad you’re shown sad faced, pitiful looking animals while Sarah McLaughlin sings in a melancholy tone the background. Yea, you know exactly which one I’m talking about. They’re really selling it home hard with triggering the emotional response here. This is the text book example of an emotional ad. Makes sense to advertise this way. IPA Research showed that, “ads with purely emotional content perform twice as well (31% vs. 16%) compared to those with only rational content.” It appears we are emotional beings rather than rational. Side note, Italians are the most emotionally engaged with brands at a whopping 65%. We thought this fact was interesting. Although very effective, it can be somewhat risky. There’s really no predicting if it will beseech the emotional response intended from your audience. This is why we believe user generated content should be a big part of every brands advertising strategy. UGC is one of the best ways to create emotional connections from brand to audience using the lens of the customer experiences. With an array of emotions and reactions through UGC video, it’s not a surprise that it is the most engaging. When you can sympathize with another “real” human who isn’t a paid actor, you build an authentic relationship with the brand and its mission. But don’t take our word for it, Frontify showed a statistic that 85% of people find UGC to be more influential. If your brand hasn’t already tapped into the infinite potential of UGC or sourced content marketing contact us to learn how.

Multicultural Advertising

Gen Z is the most multicultural generation to date and it’s expected that multicultural advertising budgets are going to increase in the coming years. It’s estimated that the white population in the U.S. will actually be the minority by 2043 according to the U.S. Census. Large cities all across America are now enmeshed with loads of diversity and with the social justice movements during the pandemic, inclusion is now necessity in conducting good business. Yesterday we wrote an article on cross-cultural advertising, so today we’re going to focus on the importance of  multicultural advertising. As essential as it is today, it is still no easy feat to create multicultural ads that resonates with its audience and does not offend or alienate them. Thus, we thought we would put together a tips list to help you get started.

1.     Research and analyze data. Look at multicultural campaigns that have worked. What did they do? A prime example would be Coca-Cola’s “America’s Beautiful”. Also, don’t forget to make sure to do research into specific cultures that you’re trying to reach as well. Understanding the culture will help you know the motivations of the audience as well as what triggers them to buy something.

2.     Have a diverse multicultural marketing/advertising team. Of course, someone from a particular region will understand that place better than anyone. This can help you contextualize your campaigns through your team who has, quite literally, been where your audience is or has been. This diverse team can help you check for accuracy of campaigns.  

3.     Triple check accuracy and authenticity of campaigns. As stated above it’s important to check the accuracy of the multicultural campaigns. Aside from having your diverse team, your brand can run it by colleagues that may also represent that cultural group. Get their feedback. What emotions did it invoke? This can also be done through A/B testing to see what appeals to the group(s) you’re targeting. Whichever way you shake it, having a cultural expert look at your campaigns is a must before they hit the market.

4.     Create empowerment in multicultural communities. How can your campaign create a sense of empowerment? How can you shed some light on issues or diversities that a particular culture has faced? People will trust your brand if you’re authentic in your support to give representation to underrepresented groups!

5.     Overcome preconceived cultural beliefs. This could be thought of as research listed at bullet point number one above. Make sure to study the culture and beliefs are your target audience. Even following influencers in that culture can help you understand the mood of target cultures. Keep an open mind and a humble heart while you learn about new cultural groups.

Overall, in the coming years it will be important to develop deeper and stronger understanding of different cultures. A new ecosystem of advertising space is coming to light and it’s right around the corner. It’s crucial to stay up to date with cultural trends and keeping your work space diverse. We’re excited for this new multicultural advertising space and embrace it with open arms. As a business who holds high DEI standards we couldn’t agree more with the increasing importance of multicultural advertising. To see more great examples of brands that got their multicultural advertisements right click HERE.  

Cross-cultural Advertising

First off, let’s note that cross-cultural and multi-cultural advertising are not the same. Multi-cultural advertisements are created with a specific ethnic group(s) in mind where cross-cultural advertising is created in order to reach many different cultures simultaneously. Although it may seem straight forward, multi-cultural advertising is a little easier to achieve than the broader spectrum audience of many cultures. Specific ads that may do well in one country may not always do well in another and in countries that are melting pots, such as the U.S., you want to make sure your message gets across the way you intend. Thus, cross-cultural advertising brings with it certain challenges. That being said, cross-cultural advertising has never been more important in today’s global society. Different cultures are more accessible in every part of the world with technology and transportation. It’s imperative that agencies adopt a cross-cultural approach to their advertising strategies. It’s not straight forward but the work will be worth it! Here are some things to consider when creating cross-cultural advertisements.

1.     Know your market. Do some research on different cultures that are within the target audience(s). There are so many sub cultures within a country, such as rural areas, southern towns, west coast culture versus east coast culture, etc. You get the idea. Therefore, it’s important to research each and know what strategies to take for your advertisement campaigns to tailor to all and not just one. Make sure to look into what cultures may consider taboo as well.

2.     Understand cultural norms within that market. Cultural norms are important when designing your advertising campaign. Avoiding missteps here can save you a lot of headache later. More research here is required. Think about whether a certain culture is more conservative than another. Thai culture believes that the head is a sacred space and that you patting someone on the head is disrespectful. It’s understanding these subtle cultural nuances that will keep your head above water for your cross-cultural advertising campaigns.

3.     Consider language. Sometimes particular words do not translate across cultures. There may not be a translation for a word. Also, avoiding particular jargon or slang may be necessary to advertise cross-culturally. For example, hella is a word used in the northern part of California and other parts of the country may have no clue what this word is meant to be used for.

4.     Know the values of your audience. Does the target culture(s) stress the importance of collectivism or individualism? Do they promote selflessness for the good of the whole or applaud having a strong personal identity?

5.     Pay attention to visuals. Colors invoke specific reactions and have powerful effects. Each culture is different. Certain colors can have meaning in one and a completely different in another. The same can be said for numbers and superstitious objects, such as black cats. In America, black cats and the number 13 are considered unlucky whereas in other cultures they are thought to be signs of good fortune.

There is an art to taking multiple cultures and connecting them together by commonalities. Brands that have great advertising in essence should already have good cross-cultural advertising strategies. However, they will need to branch out to untapped cultures in order to grow if they haven’t already. A brand will need to make sure to stick to their instilled brand culture and find commonalities with the cultures they wish to branch out to. This will ensure that they remain authentic to themselves and their original mission. They will also come off as being “real” to their new cultural audience. Innovative brands should have no problem with this since they are used to being at the intersection of multiple cultures at once. In short, for cross-cultural advertising, research will be required, time will be required and cultural preconceptions may change as a result. Expanding and learning about new cultures will help you understand the world overall much better, reduce stereotypes, enhance communication skills effectively and prevent ethnic/racial divisions.

Ethical Advertising

We’ve written about bridging the trust gap between consumers and brands previously. However, another way to strengthen trust in this way is through ethical advertising. The Institute for Advertising Ethics was established to ensure that brands are advertising in a truthful, fair and equitable way. We’re pretty certain that if you’re an advertising agency you already know this, but even though this organization exists to keep brands and agencies in check, it’s interesting to note that when creating advertisements, “most professionals are only influenced by legal considerations; ethics exerts a relatively minor role,” according to a research study. This topic has not been exhausted as many are still very skeptical of the ethics of advertising.  Now more than ever, if done correctly, can be an way to build continued trust between your brand and its audience. A few ways to practice ethical advertising is to attract your customers through transparency with accurate and honest information. Always avoid deceptive advertising and make sure that you ensure the privacy of customer data and their information. With the removal of 3rd party cookies, this last one has never been more crucial. These all fall under the eight ethical standards from the IAE. Another one to consider in today’s social climate is to practice safe production and safe use. According to Forbes, “73% of millennials are willing to pay extra for sustainable offerings.” It could be argued that a new ethical way to produce, do business and advertise is to consider the environmental impacts your brand has due to the climate crisis we are now in. Ethical advertising means always doing the right thing! Your brand needs to be honest with their audience, always, without losing sight of brand purpose. 63% of people have stopped purchasing from a brand because they lost trust and 69% would never purchase from them again for this reason” (Microsoft).  

Friday Fave 6/17/22

Father’s Day is a few days away, so what better ad to spotlight this week than one that promotes celebrating dad’s day everywhere! Our Friday favorite this week is for Oreo titled, “Milk’s Favorite Cookie!” The ad features a son waking up his dad for a midnight snack. As they sit down to enjoy their Oreo together, his son tells him to wait. He looks up at the clock and waits for it to strike twelve. He then tells his dad Happy Father’s Day. This heart felt advertisement actually has the most recall of any ad produced in the past 4 weeks according The Nielsen Company and it was created by the advertising agency, FCB Global

The Rise of Interactive Advertising

Did you know that there is a term called ad blindness? It is a term to explain the phenomenon in response to how people have begun to cope with being subject to constant advertising. People have developed a coping mechanism to subconsciously and sometimes consciously tune out advertisements. In fact, 82% of Gen Z skip or ignore ads completely according to A List Daily. You can check out our article from yesterday on tips to make your advertisements more engaging but there is another kind of ad emerging that seems to increase engagement; interactive advertising. Actually, interactive advertisements have been shown to increase consumer attention by 47% and 32% more memorable according to a study conducted by Magna Global. So, let’s talk about some different types of interactive advertisements.

1.     Playable ads. This type lets the viewer get a taste of what it is like to use their product. Examples can be viewed HERE.

2.     Interactive films. A few movies on Netflix have done this now. It gives the users the options to make certain choices for the narrative giving them control of the how they experience it. Bandersnatch is a great example. We have actually participated in this interactive film.

3.     Interactive display. These expand when clicking or rolling over when viewed on a website. When it is expanded it will reveal the interactive advertisement. Visit this website for some examples.

4.     Augmented reality. Think of filters in social media apps. A great example of this is Taco Bell’s Cinco de Mayo lens on Snapchat that allowed users to turn their heads into tacos. Here’s an interesting take on it.

5.     Interactive voice. These literally speak to the user and engage with them verbally. It allows the user to respond to their voice activated device. You can read more on this HERE.

6.     Interactive video. This can be prompted through polls or trivia, such as on Facebook and allows for real time interaction with the brand audience. People love trivia and they love answering questions about themselves. Wieden + Kennedy created a beautiful ad in this type of interactive space.

Interactive ads might be the advertising of the future. With this new and creative way to engage consumers, marketers have unlimited possibilities to generate higher brand recall, increased engagement and ultimately generation of conversion rates will go up. These ads will keep your audience guessing what type of crazy ad you will come up with next. Encourage your creative team to expand their minds in order to create interactive advertisements that will keep your target audience coming back for more for years to come!

Social Media Stats 2022

Upon all our blog research here at Locomotive, there is always a recurring theme in advertising with social media. It’s now one of the most important parts of an advertising strategy in today’s world. We found some really interesting stats that we wanted to share with all of you. We know it helps us see a clear picture of who is watching what and where. It’s important to know where your target audience is to better serve them.

Pew Research Center:

• In 2005 only 5% of American adults used at least one social platform. In 2021 that number was 72%

• Percentage of adults that say they use at least one social media site by age in 2021:

  • 18-29: 84%

  • 20-49: 81%

  • 50-64: 73%

  • 65+: 45%

• More women typically use social media (78%) than men (66%) in 2021

• YouTube and Facebook are the top most widely used platforms

  • YouTube: 81%, FB: 69%

  • Instagram comes in third at 40%

• 70% of people use Facebook daily

• 59% of people use Instagram daily

These are only some of the current social media stats but in our opinion are extremely useful when looking at where to target your ads. For more interesting statistics visit: Insider Intelligence, Sprout Social and Influencer Marketing Hub.