So, What Are Rich Media Ads?

Are you looking to increase interactivity and consumer awareness of your brand?

If so, you should consider using rich media mobile ads.

According to a two-month study earlier this year by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, consumers react more quickly to rich media ads, which they find to be generally 'better' than standard mobile ads. Rich media generates higher brand recall – of both brand names and messaging – and nearly twice the interaction rate of standard banners.

In this article, we provide an introduction to Rich Media Ads as well as some initial steps for getting you started.

Let's begin though with a brief look at the evolution of mobile ads (we promise it will be quick!) . . .

Text Banners  

You're probably already using text and graphic banners. Text banners are made of, quite simply, of a few lines of copy that carry your message to the consumer. (Good copy is of course, deceptively simple and demands care and thought.)

 
Graphic Banners 

These are basically image files that contain graphics and text with a message that often invites viewers to click to get a good deal or more information. Like text banners, good copy is key . . . but so is quality design.

 

Dynamic Banners 

Take a graphic banner, multiply it several times – changing the copy or design – link the images into a single file and you now have a dynamic animation that consumers may find more attractive (or annoying, depending on who you ask.)

Sometimes an advertiser may choose to present a sequence of images in a single file to improve the dynamism of the banner, creating animations that consumers may find attractive.

Whether you are talking about text, graphics or dynamic banners, though, there is only one possible interaction with the consumer: click on the ad. Clicking then takes consumers to a mobi-site where they can learn more or make a purchase.

Rich Media Ads are different. They support advanced animation, video, music and voiceovers. For example, you may gone to a mobisite that had a video in a banner, like a movie promo, that started to play automatically . Rich media ads – like the one below for an insurance company -- can also offer consumers multiple ways to immediately interact with your brand without clicking through to another site.

Courtesy of Crisp Media .

Rich media ads have more space than banners to offer calls to action, display photos, link to social media outlets and more. In the case above, the expandable banner has features that enable the user to make a call, request a quote with a form or set an appointment reminder.

In the following example, an expandable banner is animated to show users how to use an application, then download it.

Courtesy of Celltra.

Creating your rich media campaign

We'll provide a more detailed action list in an upcoming post, but here are a few basic steps to get you started:

1. Now you're ready to create rich media ad production. Companies like Celtra and Crisp provide platforms and proprietary templates that enable you to develop your own rich media ads. They also offer preview functions to ensure that the ads work they way should as well as quality analysis.
2. Launch your camapign. This is where the BuzzCity Network comes into play. Just log into your account to distribute your new rich media campaign onto publisher sites.
3.  Track the campaign. The BuzzCity Network provides the primary ad server to manage your campaign. However our partners provide additional information on how consumers interact with the rich media, such as how many times a video is played and the average time people spend watching it.

Stay tuned for more tips!