(Note: This post originally appeared on the PNConnect Blog)
Every week here in the Porter Novelli New York office, where our PNConnect digital team creates and executes content strategy for healthcare clients including Cardinal Health and Johnson & Johnson, financial institutions like Sammons, and consumer goods like Bel Brands and HP Inc, our team gets together to share research, product and platform developments and content marketing best practices. It’s kind of a digital show and tell, and it allows us to step outside of our inboxes and apply some critical thinking to what’s happening in the content marketplace. And in turn, we’d like to share them with our digital colleagues across the PNConnect global network and our clients.
ZACHARY ANDERSON
Zachary is an Account Executive with Porter Novelli’s brand marketing team. He has worked across a variety of consumer brands — including Timberland, Skechers and Braun — and works to authentically connect brands with their target audiences. At Porter Novelli, he’s worked on developing and growing media relations across a variety of categories including: beauty/grooming, health/wellness, fashion and retail.
Why Jeep’s $10M Super Bowl Ad Only Used a Third of the Screen
Hope you were able to catch the Super Bowl—if only for the ads. This past weekend, the iconic heritage brand, Jeep had the industry talking. In quite an unusual move, the brand spent $10 million for a 60-second spot that used only one-third of the screen. The strategy? A differentiating move toward mobile ad integration and a forward-thinking goal of reimagining the way viewers experience the brand’s ad.
“[The photos] are tightly cropped and bordered with black bars, and were quite narrow when seen on the big-screen televisions most people gathered around on Sunday. Using this orientation (photographers call it ‘portrait’) was a bold choice, because the ad uses just one-third of the screen—which seems stupid when you’re paying about $166,666 a second. But the unusual decision was driven by a desire to have the ad work on multiple platforms.
‘We thought about how wouldn’t it be interesting to build a spot so it worked really beautifully in portrait mode on a tablet or a mobile,’ says Sean Reynolds, global creative director of Iris Worldwide. ‘It was the only way we could really frame these amazing faces and tell this story.’”
Interestingly enough, the brand modeled the photo slideshow experience after our obsession with Instagram. As the photos flash on the screen, is almost as if we’re scrolling through an Instagram feed—a uniquely familiar experience that lets our guard fall down, allowing us to fully take in the nostalgic message.
Take a look at the ad on mobile and you’ll find that it just looks better than it does on TV. In a time when more of us are watching ads on mobile—which will account for 21.6% of ad dollars spent this year—we’re bound to see similar made-for-mobile ads that are then retrofitted for the archaic TV platform.
SUZY AN
Suzy is part of Porter Novelli’s Global Health And Wellness practice where she works with healthcare clients to shape their communications plans with aN acute eye on content development and strategy. She aims to elevate her clients’ content by using smart, digital solutions that will achieve the most impact.
Twitter announced this week that it has formed a Twitter Trust & Safety Council, which is comprised of safety advocates, academics and researchers; grassroots advocacy organizations that rely on Twitter to build movements; and community groups working to prevent abuse. This global Council will provide input on Twitter’s safety products, policies and programs to ultimately help people feel safe expressing themselves on Twitter.
Though it’s unclear how Twitter’s policies may change, what is clear is that the company is taking a strong stance and will not tolerate harassment, intimidation, or use fear to silence other’s voices on their platform.
STEVEN RUSSO
Steve is a technical analyst, conducting research and developing tools to provide clients and internal groups the data they need to make insightful, strategic decisions. He works closely with Strategic Planning, Analytics, and Research teams on client solutions in healthcare, technology, and nutrition.
Advertising is essential for the economic health of the Internet, but annoying and obtrusive ads have caused many users to turn to ad-blocking software to declutter their browsers. In a move reminiscent of Apple’s decision to allow ad-blocking software on mobile devices in late 2015, Samsung has chosen to permit the installation of ad-blocking extensions in the newest version of their mobile web browser.
Analyst Daniel Knapp, of IHS Technology, says advertisers are taking note, beginning to transition their marketing budgets from display ads to sponsorships. In-app, rather than in-browser, advertising resources will likely resist this shift, however, as ad-blockers function by muting scripts in web pages.
Meanwhile, some groups are concerned with improving the ad experience, rather than restricting it. Sites like Reddit and DuckDuckGo have undersigned the so-called Acceptable Ads Manifesto, encouraging the use of non-annoying, non-obstructive, site-appropriate advertising.
The future of digital advertising in general, and mobile advertising in particular, shifts in response to consumer opinions on ads. To remain effective, advertisers must carefully monitor this technological and cultural evolution.