7 Reasons Why 360 Banners Must Be In Your Mobile Ad Budget

If your media plan includes reaching audiences across mobile this is a must-read for you. The simple truth is that there is a more engaging and cost-effective way to reach consumers on mobile other than the prevailing video and rich media display and digital ad products so commonly used today. As I like to say, “There’s a better way to do display!” and it comes in the form of a 360 banner ad technology solution where brands and agencies can use existing 2D creative assets to build immersive 360 ad experiences that can be delivered programmatically to mobile devices  at scale.

An example of such an immersive 360 banner ad built using 2D assets appears below. If you’re reading this on mobile, you’ll notice how the content reacts to you as you move your device…that’s definitely more engaging than your average banner ad! On desktop? Notice the movement and auto-pan which grabs attention and triggers engagement. 

After a few years of market testing and running live campaigns with some of the world’s biggest brands, the results are conclusive. So we’re on a mission to convince all media buyers to include 360 banners in their media plans because, quite frankly, they work! And they give you a better bang for the buck. 

Recognizing that most professionals will need some concrete justifications to include immersive 360 banners ads in their digital media and innovation plans, here are 7 reasons why you should be making room for them in your budgets and how you can get started now!

REASON #2:  USE 2D ASSETS…NO 360° CONTENT NEEDED!

If you think you need 360 content to create a fully interactive, immersive 360 banner ad think again. Advrtas has opened the door on using the 2D assets you already have to create engaging immersive 360 experiences that can be run as programmatic display ad units or as locally hosted marketing content.

The process is simple. Use the 2D assets you already have (ie., JPEGs & PNGs), create new ones, or combine with 360 photos you upload or 360 spherical backgrounds that we show you how to create in creative editor programs like Photoshop. Whatever your choice, you can create highly engaging, user responsive, immersive 360 degree digital ad units, sometimes in under 20 minutes, that can run across display ad inventory on mobile web, in-app, and on desktop. No 360 video or photo shoot necessary!

REASON #3:  A BETTER (and more cost-effective) OPTION THAN VIDEO ADS!

We keep on hearing about the growth of video and as such many media strategists and marketing executives are throwing big dollars to this medium. But the video market is getting saturated and consumers routinely have their eyes on the “SKIP AD” button. Naturally, the odds of an advertiser’s message being noticed continues to decline. And there’s also the high production cost to consider as well as the cost of a video ad buy. Sure you can post the video to social media, but consumers are ignoring brand messaging on social more and more.

So what is a brand manager or digital media planner to do? How can you break through with something that is both innovative, unique, effective and doesn’t break your digital media budget?  You can do what others in similar roles at innovative big brands have done, they start running immersive 360 banner ads.   What if you told your boss or client that you could cut their video ad production and media costs and provide an alternative that delivers better results at a lower cost per view? And while doing so, you could achieve goals like creating more brand awareness, more time spent with brand, heck you could deliver people who actually choose to pro-actively engage with the brand on mobile?

Immersive 360 banner ads empower all marketers with the ability to do exactly this! You can run more engaging and higher performing ads across less expensive premium display ad inventory.

And as we’ve learned, if you don’t have the budget or desire to shoot 360 photo or video, you can save on creative by using 2D assets to create an immersive ad. Some argue that using 2D assets enables them to get even more creative. So if you’d like to save on video production and video media buying costs, consider choosing an immersive ad created using 2D assets. They can be custom built or if you subscribe to an immersive ad building platform like Advrtas, you can create 360 banners in-house in as quickly as 20 minutes. Either way, odds are there will be a good cost savings.

REASON #5:  EVERY STAGE OF THE FUNNEL

Whether consumers are in the awareness, interest or even the conversion stage of the consumer funnel, immersive ads fit every step of the way.

With immersive ads, awareness about your brand is driven by engaging people with your brand and encouraging them to interact with it. Because a 360 banner ad has more space than traditional ads and responds to device motion, brands can put more content in an ad while still giving control to the consumer. This allows brands to educate consumers deeper than any other ad format, heighten their interest, and thus, push them into the next stage of the funnel.

Once a consumer is made aware of a brand, advertisers can leverage deeper and more engaging 360 ad experiences on branded websites. Thus, as the consumer continues on the buyer’s journey they will be exposed to immersive content that will move them further along the funnel. Or, you can use immersive media as a retargeting tool to hit audiences who have shown interest in your product. By being retargeted with an immersive banner ad, they are now being invited to engage with the brand in a more compelling and meaningful way.

In the conversion stage of the funnel, brands can build ecommerce/shopping experiences using immersive technology to allow customers to experience products first-hand before actually buying them! This further aids the decision making process and can lead to a better conversion rate.

REASON #6:  OH, THE THINGS YOU CAN LEARN!

While many focus on the “shiny” exterior of the immersive 360 banner unit, what really makes the immersive 360 banner even more compelling is the data it gathers and can learn from. As such it can serve as a great market research tool. It can track and leverage in-ad consumer behavior to improve ad performance and help drive revenue.  This is important in the digital-privacy age because it means we don’t have to collect or keep user specific information to enhance the user experience and improve ad performance.

For the consumer, an immersive 360 banner ad is an opportunity for a self-controlled brand experience. The brand may control the messaging, but how the consumer interacts with that brand is in the hands of the conumer. And what a brand learns as the consumer interacts on their own terms can be invaluable. From messaging, product features, imagery, etc there are many actionable learnings to be had.

The net result is the ability to leverage consumer behavior within the ad unit and drive ad performance thereby elevating the consumer-brand relationship in ways they weren’t able to before.

REASON #7: CONTROL…THE “SECRET SAUCE”?

There’s no denying the consumer marketplace has evolved significantly in the digital age. Consumers have more control than ever before. They want to experience brands on their terms. They have a voice. They have what seems like endless choices. They also have thousands of advertising and brand messages being sent their way daily! They’re force-fed videos to support their video content consumption habit but have grown numb to them. How can a brand break through and be seen in a positive light?

The answer could be device-motion activated 360 banner ads. I’ll admit that device-motion activated ads aren’t necessarily new, but it’s the application of 360 technology that is the big game-changer. (Note: 360 banner ads aren’t to be confused with the 360 images or videos uploaded to Facebook, those aren’t programmatically delivered ads! They’re just Facebook posts, have very limited functionality and can’t be made using 2D assets.)

The 360 sphere represents an exponentially larger ad canvas….so you have more space to work with! You also have more creative options and flexibility. Consumers also have more to-see. Perhaps most beneficial is that the ad “responds” to the user as they move their device or drag the ad with their finger. While it may be subtle, it’s this control that makes 360 banner ads so darn engaging and sticky!

CONCLUSION

So whether you’re looking to make a mark for yourself or a mark for your brand, immersive 360 banner ads are definitely a technology that you need to add to both your digital media and innovation budgets. And if you need a handy cheat-sheet for your next budget meeting, just copy the image below! 

For examples of some totally awesome, incredibly engaging immersive 360 banners ads, go here.

If you want to learn more about “immersive technology”, you’ll find this interesting.

To learn about building your own immersive 360 banner ads and marketing content, sign up for a free trial to the Advrtas Immersive Ad Builder.