Pharma online advertising slow to grow*

Online ad spending by pharmaceutical companies has been slow to take off. While eMarketer predicts that 2010 healthcare and pharma online ad spending will increase 10.6 percent over 2009 levels, it also acknowledges the hurdles these companies face.

One such obstacle is the ambiguous guidelines issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). eMarketer’s optimism, however, is related to the agency’s statement that it expects to release “one-click” rules by the end of this year. One-click refers to making disclosure about a drug’s side effects just one click away and within easy reach of consumers.

WSJ Health blog reports that healthcare marketing agency Digital Health analyzed recent FDA responses to a Novartis social media campaign. According to the agency, one click will no longer be an option. Drug companies will be required to offer information about risks “at the same time and in the same manner as the benefit information.”

Amid these developments, dynamic video advertising may have an elegant and simple solution that will satisfy both pharma marketers and the FDA.

In an earlier blog post, we described how easy it is to integrate printable coupons directly into dynamic video ads.

Coupons are just one example of the information that advertisers can make available to viewers using a print overlay action. Here’s how it might work in a pharmaceutical video ad.

After re-purposing a 30-second TV spot to run as an online in-banner video ad, a pharmaceutical company:

• Creates a high-quality branded image file that lists the drug’s risks and side effects.

• Adds an interactive overlay to the video ad, which invites viewers, using language such as “Click for possible side effects,” to examine the risks and side effects file.
• Associates the overlay with a print action.

The result? Viewers who click the overlay in the live video ad are immediately offered the opportunity to print the side effects file. There is no external website to visit, and no reason to leave the video ad they’re watching.

This elegant solution has the potential to satisfy even the FDA’s “same time in the same manner” requirements.

New to dynamic video advertising? Learn more.

*Note: Image originally appeared on the supersimbo blog.

Nissan Leaf iAd

Apple announced its iAd mobile advertising service on July 1 with 17 launch partners. According to a recent WSJ article, only five of the original partners have actually launched iAd campaigns. Another partner has dropped iAd efforts for the time being.

These delays may be temporary. The article suggests that Apple is still learning how best to work with ad agencies, which are struggling to integrate a range of new ad technologies. Agencies, unaccustomed to the tight control Apple exercises over the creative ad-making process, have found that building iAds is slower than expected.

In spite of these early bumps and iAds’ high price tag, there is no denying that the new ad technology delivers quality and results. In Nissan’s iAd for its all-electric Leaf model, iPhone users shake their phones to see a new car color. Users are tapping on the iAd banner at five times the clickthrough rate of Nissan’s online campaign.

But, in advertising, speed counts.

One of Apple’s early launch partners, J.C. Penney, tied its campaign to the back-to-school season. Imagine what a two-week delay, which some of Apple’s partners have experienced, could do to time-sensitive campaigns. Getting a campaign up and running quickly is often the difference between do and die.

Successful advertising rests on the ability to switch out messages in real time. A national retailer, for example, faced with a late-breaking sale might want to immediately swap offers to highlight discounted and locally-available merchandise. A politician might need to instantly change messaging to take advantage of breaking news or the results of a debate.

Even if Apple fine tunes its role as creative gate keeper, real-time updates seem like a remote possibility.

iAds are a new, exciting ad technology with a lot to offer. But, if you’re an advertiser or agency who wants to create and traffic ads within hours, or make changes to ads that are already flighted, you might want to keep your dynamic video advertising options open.

From Aunt Owwee's Photostream on Flickr

Seasons present opportunities. They present all of us with opportunities to celebrate. And, because we celebrate, they present marketers with opportunities to connect with customers.

A recent ClickZ article by Robin Neifield, CEO and cofounder of NetPlus Marketing, a top 50 interactive agency, lists a number of tips advertisers can use to “maximize the opportunity [seasonal advertising] presents.”

In this post, we’ll use five of Neifield’s tips to demonstrate how advertisers can take advantage of dynamic video advertising to gain a year-round seasonal campaign edge.

Grow your customer base

As Neifield points out, many seasonal holidays put consumers into a buying or gift-giving mindset. While this increased receptivity may make them more likely to play your video ads, you need to take full advantage of their presence once you get them watching.

An excellent way to convert seasonally-motivated first-timers into loyal customers is to give them something of value, something they can use. One of the best ways to do that is to integrate a printable coupon or giveaway into a video ad. For example:

• A delicatessen before Labor Day: Capitalize on picnic season by including an exclusive printable buy-1-sandwich-get-1-free coupon available only to video ad viewers.
• Kitchen goods store before Thanksgiving: Include, in a video ad featuring a cookware sale, a printable cranberry sauce or stuffing recipe from a well-known chef.

Grow your customer email list

As you attract the seasonally-motivated to your video ads, give them an incentive to join your email list. For example:

• National auto manufacturer with a spring sale on several new models: Drive new customers to local dealers by including a geotargeted Sign Up For A Test Drive! overlay in a nationally-branded video ad. The sign-up email messages are sent automatically to each viewer’s local dealer.
• City-wide pizza chain: Generate orders and grow customer lists by including Order Now for $5 Off! lead capture overlays in a video ad. By geotargeting the ad by zip code, automatically direct orders (and leads) to the franchise closest to the viewer.

Learn more about your customers

Take the opportunity to learn from as well as sell to seasonally-motivated viewers by including real-time surveys in your dynamic video ads. Giving customers a chance to weigh in builds relationships and brand loyalty and helps advertisers improve their offerings.

In dynamic video ads, advertisers can incorporate surveys into their video content. Survey results are available in real time. Questions can be updated on-the-fly, and updates go live immediately. For example:

• A politician during primary season: Learn which issues your supporters care the most about.
• A coffee chain at the beginning of summer: Discover how to expand your seasonal beverage lineup (iced tea? blending fruit drinks?) by polling potential customers for their preferences.

Adjust your creative and messaging

Seasonal marketing succeeds or fails on the ability to switch creative and messaging on a dime. Quick shifts, Neifield says, from non-performing to high-performing elements can mean the difference between “acceptable and exceptional performance.”

With dynamic video ads, advertisers can change creative and messaging in real time.

• Want to change a holiday weekend offer the second the Labor Day weekend ends? Edit the text on an overlay.
• Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is on the way. Replace the stuffing recipe overlay with the frosted cookies one.
• Not getting the survey response you expected? Change the call to action.

These, and most other, modifications go live immediately without re-trafficking any ad tags.

Accelerate your optimization schedule

Neifield advises advertisers to accelerate their optimization schedules—if they can afford it. With dynamic video ads, cost simply isn’t an issue.

In a dynamic video ad platform, it’s easy to copy video ads, modify the versions, and rotate them randomly through the same Player.

This gives advertisers a couple of convenient, cost-free optimization options:

• Manually optimize: Remember the kitchen goods store? The store might rotate three ad versions with three different printable recipes through the same Player. As viewers gravitate toward the most popular recipe, the store stops running the other versions.
• Auto optimize: Remember the auto manufacturer with the geotargeted video ad? The manufacturer might create 2 versions of the video ad, each with a different start frame (start frame is the creative viewers see before they play a video ad). With auto optimization enabled, the video ad with the worst views-to-impressions rate is automatically dropped after a specified number of impressions.

The flexibility and interactivity that dynamic video ads offer make them the perfect vehicle for advertisers who want to realize seasonal digital success all year long.

More Information

Explore our website today to learn more about dynamic video advertising.

For Mixpo customers: Learn more about using the features described here by signing in and visiting the Client Resources home page.

In an iMediaConnection article, Emily Girolamo points out that women are overtaking men online (56 percent of Facebook’s audience are women). What do these online women want? Brands that show they understand women’s worlds by giving them something of value to make their lives easier and smoother.

Now, you can take advantage of these timely trends and preferences by integrating printable coupons directly into your Mixpo Xspots as overlays.

For viewers, coupon overlays mean getting their hands on redeemable coupons without ever leaving a video ad. No webpages to visit. No browser window printing confusion to sort out.

For advertisers, coupon overlays mean maintaining complete creative control over the coupon’s appearance and the ability to easily track the number of times a coupon is printed.

Experience for yourself how smoothly printable coupons work by clicking the coupon in the following demo Xspot.

More Information

New to Mixpo? Explore our website today to learn more about dynamic video advertising.

Mixpo customer? Learn more now about adding a printable coupon to an Xspot by signing in to your account, opening the Client Resources home page, and then searching for “coupon.” In the topics about overlay actions, coupons are described in the Print action section.

Using geotargeting, GSG was able to expose primary voters in 2 similar-sized media markets to different media. Palm Springs voters were exposed to both television and online advertising. Santa Barbara voters were exposed to television advertising only.

By surveying voters in both markets before the campaigns began and then again on election night, GSG was able to compare lifts in favorability, recall, and vote share.

The results, as described below, show that voters exposed to both the Chris Kelly television and online ad campaigns felt more favorably toward the candidate than voters exposed only to the television campaign.

As one component of the 200 million impression campaign, Mixpo partnered with GSG to run targeted video ads on local lifestyle and news websites. Two video ad examples are also included below.

Online advertising increases favorability

Likely Democratic primary voters who were exposed to both television and online advertising viewed Chris Kelly more favorably than voters who were exposed to television advertising only.

Total users favorability comparison

Online advertising makes an impression

The increase in Chris Kelly’s favorable ratings was driven largely by frequent internet users, who were more likely to be exposed to the online advertising campaign.

Frequent Internet Users favorability comparison

Online advertising moves target voters

The online advertising campaign was especially effective in reaching key target audiences, including older women 55+ and white women.

Older women and white women who were exposed to both television and online advertising were more favorable toward Chris Kelly, more likely to recall having seen, read or heard something about Chris Kelly and more likely to vote for Chris Kelly than their counterparts who were exposed to television advertising only.

Overall favorability comparison for target voters

Chris Kelly Xspots

These 2 Xspots illustrate the range of possibilities available to advertisers through Mixpo’s dynamic video advertising platform.

300×250 Xspot

728×90 leaderboard display ad that expands into an Xspot.

More information

Online advertising is effective for political campaigns. And barriers to online advertising are disappearing, making it a perfect time for politicians and advocacy organizations to jump in.

Learn more today about the Mixpo solution for politics.

The Old Spice Guy, Isaiah Mustafa

When it comes to raising awareness, Wieden+Kennedy’s Old Spice Guy campaign was an enormous success.

Building on the appealing “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” TV spot featuring Old Spice Guy Isaiah Mustafa, W+K launched a 3-day social media blitz. In response to thousands of questions submitted on Twitter, the W+K team published 183 video responses on YouTube that received almost 40 million views.

But, with the addition of dynamic video advertising, could the campaign have been even better? Here’s a description of the road that W+K might have taken.

Extend the TV campaign online

In response to data showing that brand and message recall is twice as effective when using both TV and online, W+K allocated 10% of the P&G Old Spice TV budget to online.

The majority of Americans simultaneously watch TV and surf the web. Fifty-four percent of these multi-taskers say the Internet is their primary focus. Heeding these trends, W+K realized that adding an online component would increase the campaign’s reach without increasing its budget.

To implement the online part of the campaign, W+K:

• Re-purposed the “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” TV spot to run online as in-banner video ads.
• Managed the media for the online campaign so the video ads would run on premium websites frequented by the target audience – women 25 to 45 years of age. For example, the ads might run on sites like Cafe Mom and the entertainment sections of the local online newspapers and magazines.
• Tracked the performance of the ads and optimized the ad content and placement in response to the performance data.

W+K also saw their online video ad strategy as an important complement to the anticipated social media blitz.

• Nothing beats a YouTube channel for a low-cost, high-impact way to build brand awareness. Whether a viral hit actually increases product sales is another question. With their proven ability to drive purchase intent, online video ads served as the perfect complement to Mustafa’s YouTube video responses.
• W+K was delighted to have a home for the footage they shot but never used in the response videos. They channeled that extra footage into follow-up video ads that ran across the same properties where the original re-purposed TV spot ran.

Build momentum

Because their video ads were dynamic, W+K easily used its online campaign to stoke enthusiasm for Old Spice Guy and increase overall campaign momentum.

• Auto optimization W+K created different versions of the original “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” video ad. Each version had a unique StartFrame, the image viewers see in the Player before the video plays. The StartFrames, of course, featured Old Spice Man in different poses with different props. W+K rotated the versions through the same Player. After a specific number of impressions, the low performers automatically stopped running, leaving only the best performer live. W+K was interested to see that the best performers varied by placement domain.
• Fresh content When the social media blitz began, the online video ads easily kept pace. W+K refreshed content and calls to action daily and even hourly without re-trafficking any ad tags.
• Live feeds To integrate video ads into the rapid question-response flow, W+K included a live Twitter feed widget in their video ads. As they viewed the ads, viewers kept up with the latest question submissions.

Increase engagement

Because their video ads were interactive, W+K was able to maximize its online campaign to drive purchase intent as well as brand favorability. For example, from within its Old Spice video ads, W+K:

• Offered discount coupons Viewers clicked printable coupons available only through the online video ads.
• Offered signed Isaiah Mustafa photos Viewers opened custom lead capture forms to request photos through email while P&G grew its contact lists.
• Included Facebook and Twitter icons Viewers clicked icons to go directly to the Old Spice Facebook and Twitter pages.
• Promoted social media sharing Share links allowed viewers to easily share video ads with their friends and followers.
• Redirected viewers to the Mustafa response videos After the social media blitz began, W+K added redirect actions to the video ads. This gave viewers the option to watch Mustafa’s response videos without ever leaving the original ad. As new responses became available, W+K easily swapped in the new videos without re-trafficking any ad tags.

Ah, what might have been. As our hypothetical scenario shows, dynamic video ad campaigns have the power to extend TV campaigns and complement and augment social media blitzs. Start your own campaign today.

With the latest Mixpo platform feature release, you now have an additional easy and effective way to make Xspots relevant on a viewer-by-viewer basis: the Map Directions overlay action.

In case you’re new to Mixpo, overlays are text, image, video, and widget objects that you place on top of the video content in an Xspot. For example, an auto dealer’s Xspot might include a text overlay that invites viewers to sign up for a test drive. A restaurant Xspot might include an image overlay of its logo.

As the examples imply, you can associate overlays with actions. The auto dealer’s text overlay is associated with a Lead Capture action. Viewers who click the overlay open a customizable form where they fill in their names, email addresses, and more. The restaurant’s logo is associated with a Link action. Viewers who click the logo open the restaurant’s website home page.

To add a Map Directions action to an overlay, you provide a destination address – the address of your dealership, restaurant, retail outlet, event, or other key location. Viewers who click the overlay see a tailor-made Google maps Get Directions page. The page shows viewers how to get from the zip code where they’re sitting to the destination address.

Google maps Get Directions page (click for larger image)

To experience a Map Directions overlay for yourself, play the following Xspot of a recent Mixpo bowling party. Click the Find the Mixpo office overlay that appears a few seconds into the video. (If you can spare a few minutes, take in the rest of the video to enjoy our team at play. While you’re there, explore some of of the other dynamic and interactive features that you can add to your own Xspots.)

Is your business national or regional with franchises or dealerships in a number of cities or zip codes? By adding a geotargeting variable as the destination address, you can automatically show each viewer the closest location.

More Information

New to Mixpo? Explore our website today to learn more about dynamic video advertising.

Mixpo customer? Learn more now about overlay actions and geotargeting by signing in to your account, opening the Client Resources home page, and then searching for “actions” and “geotargeting.”

Why? Brands with a social media presence engage their customers. This engagement brings customers closer to the brands.

Because Xspots are dynamic, they also provide advertisers with opportunities to bring customers closer. Four dynamic features with which you may already be familiar include:

• Auto-optimization React automatically to viewer preferences and get the best performance by optimizing an Xspot while it’s running.
• Message targeting Deliver the right message to the right viewer at the right time using geographical and other targeting methods.
• Rapid response Respond to breaking news or date-specific offers by changing creative on the fly without re-trafficking ad tags.
• Interactivity Increase engagement opportunities with links, forms, coupons, surveys, social media sharing actions, and other interactive features.

Now, advertisers have a new way to build rapport between customers and their brands. Xspots can include dynamic widget overlays that contain built-in animation and intelligence, such as XML, RSS, and other live feeds. As the Xspot plays, the widget continues to update in real time.

The possibilities are virtually limitless.

For example, a political Xspot might include a Twitter widget that streams the candidate’s most recent Tweets as the Xspot plays.

Or, as the following innovative demo Xspot illustrates, a lottery ad might include a widget that updates daily to show winning numbers.

More information

Interested in learning more about what dynamic Xspots can do for your ad campaign? Visit our Industries page now.

Mixpo customer? Learn more today about adding widget overlays to Xspots by signing in to your account, opening the Client Resources home page, and then searching for “widget.”

Mixpo is pleased to join the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) as a general member.

We look forward to participating with other industry leaders on IAB councils, committees, and working groups to make the processes associated with buying, planning, and creating interactive media better and simpler.