For example:

• A band put QR codes onto a T-shirt. People who scan the codes download an MP3 of one of the band’s songs.
• A library replaced some printed signs with QR codes that lead to digital maps of the book stacks.
• Which Wich sandwich shop increased cookie sales by including a QR code on their sandwich bags that delivers a free cookie coupon.

But QR codes can also be used effectively to extend digital ad campaigns from one platform to another. Read on to see a proof-of-concept example of a QR code incorporated into a VideoAd.

How QR codes work

Scan code for Mixpo office location

QR codes look like this. Smartphone users with a barcode scanning application (free apps are available for most smartphones) can scan the codes using their phones’ cameras to quickly access information, such as coupons, maps, files, videos, and more. (For a crash course on QR code tools, tactics, and best practices, see Top 14 Things Marketers Need to Know About QR Codes.)

QR codes are often black and white but, as this code shows, you can also customize them to reflect brand colors or a special promotion.

Try it Have a smartphone with a barcode scanning application? Scan this QR code for a map to the Mixpo offices.

Anyone can generate a QR code using one of several free applications online (we created this code using qrstuff.com). Advertisers can track how many scans QR codes receive, which types of devices scan them, and more.

Proof of concept

We added the QR code displayed above to the following VideoAd as an overlay. We set up the overlay to pause the video. This gives viewers a chance to scan the code or click continue.

In addition, we added a Print action to the QR code overlay. Viewers who prefer to scan a printed version of the code can easily print it out.

To see the QR code overlay in action, roll over the VideoAd to play it.

Our proof-of-concept example illustrates how QR codes can easily be included in VideoAds. It also hints at what makes QR codes truly effective.

Effective QR codes offer something of real value to people who scan them. And, just from a practical perspective, the reward must be optimized for display on a mobile phone.

Here are a few ideas, besides map locations, for how you might use QR codes in VideoAds:

• Offer a mobile-users-only coupon.
• Open a virtual business card.
• Provide detailed product specs.
• Purchase tickets.
• Provide a PayPal “Buy Now” link.

OK, so QR codes work in VideoAds. But, just because you can include them, is there any reason you should bother? A February survey revealed that 32 percent of smartphone uses have scanned a QR code. Of those, 72 percent said they were more likely to remember ads that include a code.

More information

QR code overlays are just one of many interactive and dynamic features you can include in online video advertising. For additional examples see:

• Features-in-action: Video Redirect
• Features-in-action: Social media integration
• Features-in-action: Flash widgets

What kinds of intelligence can these intelligent overlays contain?

• Animation
• Live feeds
• Custom search queries

While animation plays a role in making ads entertaining, in this post we’re going to focus on live feeds and custom search queries.

Incorporating these kinds of intelligence into ads goes well beyond entertainment. Intelligent overlays are powerful because they make video ads more relevant.

For example, intelligent overlays:

• Keep ad content current and meaningful over time by providing a constant stream of up-to-date information.
• Make content meaningful on a viewer-by-viewer basis by personalizing the video ad experience.

Relevance appears to be one of the most important determiners of how well an ad performs. Studies comparing length and relevance have shown that targeted 30-second ads outperform untargeted 15-second ads in both clickthroughs and video completion rate.

Example: Live feed

You can associate an intelligent overlay with almost any type of live data feed for which you can specify an account name or URL.

For example:

• A TV station can include a live feed of weather-related tweets in a tune-in ad for its nightly weather forecast.
• A financial institution can keep viewers up to date by including a live feed of the latest interest rates.

Video ad with live Twitter feed

Play the tune-in VideoAd represented by the thumbnail to see a live Twitter feed of eyewitness news weather alerts.

Example: Personalized ad experience

You can associate intelligent overlays with dynamic search URLs to provide viewers with personalized results.

For example, viewers of a:

• Fast food restaurant ad can click an intelligent overlay to see map directions from their current location to the nearest franchise.

• Financial services ad can type a zip code into an intelligent overlay to see a list of local agents.
• Retail ad can type a product name into an intelligent overlay to see search results in the retailer’s online catalog.

VideoAd with widget overlay

Play the VideoAd represented by the thumbnail. Type a western Washington zip code (such as 98101) into the overlay and click Go.

Video ad with map directions overlay

Play the VideoAd represented by the thumbnail. Click the Map overlay to see personalized map directions.

Intelligent widget overlays are just one of many interactive and dynamic features you can include in online video advertising. For additional examples see:

• Features-in-action: Video Redirect
• Features-in-action: Social media integration

That’s the advice WebAdvantage.net president Hollis Thomases gives brands who want to target moms.

While Thomases’ ClickZ article focuses on moms, the specific fusing strategies she recommends seem relevant for most audiences.

For example, Thomases suggests:

• Including special offers and discounts in ads that your audience can easily share through their social media accounts.
• Bringing branded social media efforts alive in ads.
• Providing direct calls to action that encourage your audience to connect with your brand.

As the following examples illustrate, with dynamic online video advertising, it’s easy to integrate social media into the overall ad experience in all of the ways that Hollis Thomases recommends.

Include special offers that are easy to share

If an ad includes a good enough deal, viewers will want to share the ad with their friends. But, whether or not they act depends upon how easy it is to actually share.

Special offer that's easy to share

Play the expanding display ad represented by the thumbnail. At the end of the ad, click the Share icon to easily embed the VideoAd in your Facebook News feed or include a link to the ad in a tweet.

Bring branded social media alive in ads

It doesn’t get any more alive than a real-time Twitter feed.

VideoAd with live Twitter feed

Play the tune-in VideoAd represented by the thumbnail to see a live Twitter feed of eyewitness news weather alerts.

Provide direct calls to action that encourage brand connection

These days, one of the most direct and ubiquitous calls to action is a Facebook Like button.

It’s exceptionally easy to incorporate a Like button into a dynamic VideoAd and customize the Like button link.

For example, to keep a running tally of how many viewers Like a VideoAd, associate the ad’s landing page link with the Like button. Viewers who click the button not only Like the ad. They also automatically embed the ad into their Walls.

Advertisers who want to encourage viewers to Like their Facebook pages can associate the page URL with the VideoAd Like button. When viewers click the button, their Likes are added to the tally for the page and they become eligible for special offers available only to the advertiser’s Likers.

VideoAd with Facebook Like button

Play the VideoAd represented by the thumbnail to experience a Like button associated with the ad’s landing page.

eMarketer chart - Online Ad Spend by Objective 2009-2014

The majority of online ad campaigns have been designed to generate direct response. Advertisers have been slow to recognize the potential of the medium for brand awareness and recall.

That’s slowly beginning to change. As the eMarketer chart indicates, the percentage of online ad spending devoted to branding is expected to grow from 36% in 2010 to 42% by 2014.

In a blog post about the future of display advertising, Google is even more optimistic. By 2015, Google predicts, 50 percent of online ads will be video ads aimed at brand-building.

Google bases its optimism on two primary factors:

• Rich media ads work. The creativity that they enable results in more memorable ads that promote social interactivity between viewers and advertisers.

• As advertisers deliver ads tailored to specific audiences, the ads become more relevant and, thus, more likely to increase brand awareness as well as generate response.

No matter how effective rich media ads are, however, if advertisers continue to anticipate prohibitive cost and complexity barriers, they’re unlikely to change their marketing behaviors.

That’s why it’s so significant that technology is now available that eliminates the barriers to creating, running, and modifying online rich media campaigns.

This technology makes it easy for advertisers to:

• Re-purpose existing TV creative to run as in-banner online video ads.
• Dynamically deliver different creative and messaging to different viewers based on where they live, who they are, and what interests them.
• Include interactive and social features that encourage viewers to engage.
• Update creative on the fly and automatically optimize campaigns while they run.
• Measure and track brand-related success metrics, such as view rate, engagement, and exposure, that go beyond the click.

To encourage advertisers to seize the day and start running effective, easy-to-implement, locally-relevant online brand-building campaigns, this introduction represents the launching pad for a series of posts that demonstrate online video ads in action. Start exploring now.

Features in Action: Video Redirect

Features in Action: Social media integration

Features in Action: Flash widgets

Features in Action: QR codes in VideoAds

Learn more about dynamic video advertising technology.

What advertiser wouldn’t leap at that opportunity?

That’s precisely what Video Redirect allows advertisers to do.

(Learn more about brand building with rich media display)

A few examples will make the benefits of Video Redirect more concrete:

• Politics/Advocacy In a campaign video ad, a politician provides voters with the option of redirecting to videos where she elaborates on her budget deficit and health care reform positions.
• Tune-In A tune-in video ad promoting a sitcom presents viewers with the opportunity to redirect to three interviews with different actors.
• Auto An auto maker runs a national campaign to promote a new vehicle model. At the end of the standard video, each viewer is redirected dynamically to a short video from the viewer’s local dealership.

As the examples illustrate, Video Redirect is both an interactive and a dynamic feature that has the potential to substantially increase engagement and exposure.

• Redirect engages viewers by giving them choices and/or providing them with targeted content relevant to their specific situations.
• By integrating additional branded content into the same ad experience, redirect informs and educates viewers by presenting them with more of an advertiser’s message.

Video Redirect in Action Watch this Jeep Cherokee ad. Be on the lookout for four green overlays. Click an overlay to redirect to in-depth content about specific and powerful features of the vehicle. Return to the original video and click a different overlay.

Child watching television*

“Numbers don’t lie,” said Dale Lockett, director of creative services at KHOU-TV, Houston.

He was referring to an online video ad tune-in campaign the station ran recently on its own and other websites. “Engagement rates,” Lockett went on, “were between 7% and 10%,” 40 to 50 times higher than the clickthrough rates he typically sees for banner ads.

KHOU is living proof that the barriers to promoting programs and newscasts on the Web have disintegrated. Recent advancements in dynamic video advertising technology have made running tune-in promotions online easy, fast, and cost-effective.

Easy

No need for already-overloaded creative services teams to design new video creative specifically for online distribution. Stations, networks, and syndicators can upload existing TV spots and easily re-purpose them for the web.

For example, by adding pre-designed, customizable interactive elements on top of the uploaded TV creative, broadcasters can:

• Build viewer lists and loyalty programs with lead capture.
• Generate and complement news content with in-banner polls.
• Provide real-time data updates through live Twitter and news feeds.
• Make it easy for viewers to share the ads through their social media accounts.
• Redirect viewers to videos featuring more in-depth content, such as anchor interviews, investigative reports, and more.

Fast

Timeliness is the key to successful tune-in promotions. Advertising morning or evening newscasts or prime time programs requires content that is updated sometimes on an hourly basis.

Lockett admits to being skeptical at first that online video ads could keep pace with the rapidly changing evening news topics. But, within a week, the team mastered the process and could switch out creative in a matter of minutes without having to re-traffick any ad tags.

In addition, features such as dayparting allow broadcasters to schedule a series of ads to run at specific times and days. By trafficking one ad tag, a station can schedule an entire week’s worth of promotions.

Cost-effective

Dynamic video advertising platforms make it easy for broadcasters to re-purpose creative originally designed for television to run online as interactive video advertising. This eliminates the high cost of developing separate creative to run on-air and on the Web.

In addition, stations and networks typically have their own web properties with display inventory that often goes unsold. They can fill this inventory with their own tune-in video ads to promote their valuable programming assets.

Because the ad tags are flexible enough to meet the requirements of virtually all ad networks, broadcasters can easily extend the promotions to run on any sites they have purchased as part of a standard media plan.

The time is now

Dynamic video advertising offers stations, networks, and syndicators the opportunity they’ve been waiting for: to easily and inexpensively extend their tune-in promotions online. The technology is in place. The time to act is now.

Learn more about dynamic video advertising.

*Photo credit: Aaron Escobar.

Now, creatives are ready to reclaim this forgotten geography. On more than one occasion, I heard creative agencies talk about the space available within online display advertising as a new place to assert the growing role of online creativity. One even went so far as to welcome new parties to the discussion by stating: “Technology has a seat at the creative table.”

Did you hear that? Tuck your napkins into your concert tees, my fellow technologists, it sounds like we’ve just been invited to the table! And, it’s about time! Billions of display ad impressions are consumed every day and, unfortunately, most of them are still wasted experiences. Now is the time to capitalize on those exposures by incorporating video, social interactions, real-time content, and a wide variety of interactions.

It’s time for online technologies and technologists to directly engage with the creatives. They are asking us to join the conversation. Now we need to apply our technologies to core messaging strategies. In doing so, we can co-create highly compelling advertising experiences, re-infuse display media with more value, and achieve the goals of true cross-channel creative integration.

For me, Advertising Week confirmed that now is the time to reinvigorate the display space and turn it into the dynamic experience it always should have been.

These were the major points presented by Political Online Video Advertising panelists Anupam Gupta, Michael Bassik, Michael Beach, Josh Koster, and Alex Skatell at the recent Personal Democracy Forum conference in New York.

Disintegrating barriers

Many political advertisers blame structural barriers for their hesitation to invest in online. They point to:

• A lack of inventory for in-stream video ads.
• The expense and labor involved in creating and/or editing video for online audiences.
• Incentive and pricing structures that favor TV.

These barriers are more perceived than real.

• While in-stream video ad inventory is low, inventory for in-banner video ads is virtually unlimited. By running video ads in standard display ad banners, advertisers have access to millions of online impressions.
• Running in-banner video allows advertisers to target viewers, either by selecting the sites the ads run on or by taking advantage of the geographic and demographic targeting tools available through ad networks.
• Studies increasingly show that online viewers are willing to spend time watching engaging video content. This means that 30-second TV spots can be easily and economically re-purposed for use online.
• TV + online creates a synergy that is more than the sum of the two parts. Yahoo!’s analysis of Nielsen IAG data showed that a 10 percent to 15 percent shift from TV to online increased reach and significantly lowered cost per point (CPP). In addition, the frequency of online ads improved TV brand recall by as much as 50 percent.
  
  

  Source: Nielsen IAG

Online advertising can move poll numbers

A recent study conducted by Russell Research on behalf of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association confirmed that online ads can move numbers. The study measured the ability of an online display and video ad campaign to raise awareness.

Comparisons of baseline polls and post-campaign surveys showed significant increases in awareness (from 42 to 56 percent for some audience segments) as well as strong ad recall.

The time is now

Only 5 months until the 2010 elections. Extend your TV ad campaigns online now.

Learn more about dynamic video advertising for politics.

New Mixpo data, however, contradicts that perception. People ARE choosing to watch political and advocacy TV spots online.

An analysis of performance data based on 90 million video ad impressions across 17 2010 political campaigns reveals that viewers averaged more than 24 seconds of view time.

In addition, the view rate for the ads (2.41 percent) was slightly higher than the industry standard DoubleClick benchmark rate for rich media ads with video (2.29 percent). And, active viewers (those who actively chose to play a video ad) were 24 times more likely to click in a video ad compared to the standard click rate for static banner ads.

Another recent study overturns a related assumption: that the shortest ads will have the highest completion rates.

Based on a sample of 100 video ad campaigns that spanned 19.7 million views, video ad and analytics firm TubeMogul found that the completion rate was highest for mid-length (30 seconds to 1:30) stand-alone video ads.

On average, 32 percent of viewers watched mid-length ads all the way through. Only 17 percent completed ads shorter than 30 seconds.

Findings like these, in combination with new purchasing options for online in-banner video placements, make this an ideal time for politicians and advocacy organizations (as well as other advertisers) to extend their TV campaigns online.

Advertisers can:

• Reuse 30-second TV spots online without editing them down to 15 seconds.
• Achieve multiple goals (for example, raise donations, build lists, recruit volunteers, and gain Facebook fans and Twitter followers) with a single, re-purposed ad.
• Build an even stronger brand and messaging impression by redirecting engaged viewers to more in-depth or locally relevant video content.
• Deliver millions of impressions by running video ads across the Internet in existing display spaces.
• Target specific audiences by publication and through ad serving networks that deliver ads based on demographic, geographic, and other characteristics.