The cost of premium in online

So I've been visiting agencies in both Toronto and NYC on a research tour regarding the value of attention, and the power of an online ad impression.

One of the points I get to make is that according to this study, a good ad has the same effect on branding metrics like recall and purchase intent, regardless of what type of environment it's placed on (specifically: name brand sites, contextually relevant sites, and non contextually relevant sites).
The same can be said for a bad ad...essentially explaining that ads transcend context.

What this really means, is that brand advertisers can head out and purchase almost whatever banner inventory their hearts desire, and the branding impact of that advertiser's ad depends entirely on things OTHER than the media placement.

IS THAT NOT INSANE?
Does that not take the wind out of your planning sails?
So what's it mean if you've got 1 property under your belt?
Maybe it means that there should be 1 price for ad inventory purchased on impression.
I.E. an impression (regardless of what site it's on) is X price when it comes to branding campaigns.
I mean, that's what a DSL does, no?

If you're on-board with that the idea of common-priced impressions....then I'd love to ask what ppl think that price is?

And if the WHERE doesn't matter - then it's definitely going to have to do with HOW it's placed.
Which is what the study also found: That the TYPE of ad is really important - less on formats and size but more about complexity and richness. Specifically, that rich media works harder for brand metrics (like recall and purchase intent) than non-rich media.

So what's that mean?
In my opinion, it means publishers should be caring less about where they're putting the ads on their site lists, and more about how much the banner weighs. Pubs need a richer experience. Is it weird to anyone that when 80%+ of the internet population is on broadband, we've still got shitty little banner ads that were originally built to have sites load quickly?

Why is it, that if you're running with an ad server, your publisher still has the right to charge you a premium for rich media?
Why can't publishers just stick to selling impressions? They still clearly can't decide how to charge for those...add in trying to stabilize rich versus non rich media....
Rich banners = does not mean more expensive impressions.
It means richer media - a better experience.

Old Spice gets Personal

And did what I thought they couldn't: Old Spice got even more awesome.
Following the release of their latest ad, which has gotten A LOT of attention (over 5,000,000 views after two weeks on Youtube), Old Spice has taken it up a notch by leveraging their character and engaging their audience in a remarkably innovative way.

It's already a good sign when a brand can respond to their audience by replying to Tweets, questions, or even comments. Using a personalized voice creates engagement.
But Old spice is taking responding to the next level by answering users with personalized YouTube videos, which in effect become personalized advertising.
Since Monday, they have uploaded over 115 responses on their channel.

Beyond personal, the responses are also authentic because they seem to be written in almost real time, although I'm presuming they have a bank of pre-approved possibilities to choose from (client approvals would be a nightmare).

However, what's truly genius here is they have banked on both the character they created AND their presence on various social channels to address both commmon folk and high-value influencers (like Ashton Kutcher, Kevin Rose (founder of digg) and even Starbucks) to propagate the Old Spice message for them.

As a result, the character, and effectively the message, begins to live outside the confines of the ad. In other words, the interaction becomes the advertisement itself.


A few of my favorites:

To Gizmodo:



Defending his voice:



To a removed comment:



Fry it up!



To the Huffington Post:



Response to Rose McGowan:



Now that's earned media!

Old Spice: the making of an ad

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard of the newest Old Spice commercials, starring ex NFL-er Isaiah Mustafa.

The latest ad has sparked particular interest because, well, it's just plain awesomeness:



After viewing the ad, I had to wonder: how did they (Wieden + Kennedy) do it??

Well thankfully, a friend of mine did some digging and found this interview with reveals all of @IsaiahMustafa's secrets

Video Game - E3 2011 - Movies and TV

(via @Dabitch)


You an view all the ads on the Old Spice YouTube channel