Interactive Video Breathes New Life into Online Advertising
Clicktivated. Using Clicktivated's technology, users can transform pre-existing videos into interactive content by making items in the video clickable and, in most cases, purchasable without being forced to answer a series of questions, interact with pop-ups, or navigate away to other sites.
Companies such as Garmental, an online fashion community that connects shoppers with local designers and boutiques, use Clicktivated's technology to make the items featured in their styling videos easy to buy. If a viewer likes a particular item, he or she can click on it, and a link to purchase the item appears in a sidebar within the video module. The viewer can click on it once the video is over, or while it's still running—the navigation is entirely in the hands of the consumer. Once the viewer is ready to buy, the link will redirect right to the buy page, streamlining the conversion process.
"Most consumers today have banner blindness. They've become immune to ads, and they don't like when brands are too forward about pushing them to make purchases. Clicktivated's approach gives consumers the autonomy to seek out the products that interest them, and, in our experience, that's proven to be more effective," Roebuck says. Clicktivated's clients see an average conversion-to-purchase rate of 7 percent, along with high engagement and social share rates.
A marketing tactic that promises to be game changing for the B2C space, interactive video has much to offer B2B marketers as well. In the same way that B2C marketers can better engage consumers with interactive videos, B2B marketers can leverage the tools to target content more effectively and present information more relevant to specific user groups. "If you were on the phone with a prospect, you wouldn't just talk at them for five minutes," Michael Castellano, CEO of Engajer, says. "You'd structure your pitch or proposal as a conversation."
Though Engajer works with consumer brands, the company also provides interactive video solutions for B2B organizations such as SugarCRM, Fujitsu, and Phoenix Systems. A sample video for SugarCRM, for example, starts with an introduction from CEO Larry Augustin, but then gives users the option to explore one of three sections—how CRM works, the benefits of using CRM, or why SugarCRM is the choice for them.
"For B2B marketers, the possibilities are just as vast as for B2C marketers," Mullen says. "Interactive videos give them the opportunity to segment by industry, or dive deeper into a specific product focus. I's just a better way to engage with viewers through personalized content," he adds.
The Future of Video Advertising
With the buzz surrounding interactive video, one might assume that interactive ads pose an immediate threat to traditional ads that lead in to other online content, but that's not the case, Mullen reiterates. Rather, the preroll approach to advertising will eventually taper off, and on-demand interactive content will become the most effective way to advertise through video, industry experts say.
Advertisements that serve as barriers between viewers and the content that they actually want to view don't work because they're inherently set up to fail. Not only are they blocking other content, but they're also not as engaging and, often, not as relevant as they could be, Roebuck claims.
"Even the best ad targeting is really just highly sophisticated guessing. With interactive ads, the consumer herself is telling you what she's interested in," Trautman adds. "Everyone knows that shopping has become more about consumers doing their research and finding brands or products that interest them, so the demand for informative marketing content is there, no doubt about it," she explains. In the coming years, consumers should expect to see fewer ads before or during online videos, and more appearing on brands' Web sites or social media pages, where consumers can seek out the content themselves.
And interactive video isn't just changing advertising online—TV ads will change as well. Advertisers have begun using a combination of text messaging, mobile applications, and second-screen solutions to enable users to respond to TV content, but this approach is largely transitional, Mullen says. Eventually, televisions will be able to receive interactive responses through mobile broadband IP connections, various TV platforms, smart TVs, game consoles, Blu-Ray players, and other technology.
"Picture an automotive television ad that can determine that both mom and dad are sitting on the couch. With a single command—'drive'—they can both be placed in the new Jaguar model, explore the dashboard, and choose the track they would like to drive on using steering wheel and gearstick gestures," Mullen wrote in his report. "You can already talk to an Xbox and give it commands, for example, so building this functionality into ads is just taking that one step further," he adds.
In as little as five years, interactive advertising could become mainstream, and analysts are optimistic about what it can do for consumers and for marketers. "It's going to be revolutionary," Mullen says.
Associate Editor Maria Minsker can be reached at mminsker@infotoday.com.
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