PointRoll recently announced results from a Ford campaign led by Ford’s agency, Team Detroit. For in-banner video ads using PointRoll technology for a Ford ‘Drive One’ campaign, “Interaction rates rose 74 percent for expandable video ad units and nearly doubled for non-expandable video ad units.” Read the release (PDF).
Todd Huntley, SVP, Group Account Director Ford Brand Digital, Team Detroit, and Sarah Ripmaster, VP, Major Accounts & Automotive, PointRoll, discussed the campaign and its results.
AdExchanger.com: The engagement numbers seem impressive. But, is it selling cars?
TODD HUNTLEY: The objective for the campaign is a bit higher in the funnel — trying to engage with the consumer and get Ford on their consideration list. We cannot directly tie the metrics from these banners to cars sold, but Ford has definitely seen increases in market share using tactics such as this to deliver the right experience to the user.
How do you and the client gauge/measure success?
SARAH RIPMASTER: For this initiative we measured success on interactions using PointRoll benchmarks that are developed by analyzing the thousands of campaigns we’ve powered beyond Ford (more than 60% of rich media campaigns online are powered by PointRoll). In this case we measured that on average, users spent 40 percent more time with the Ford brand in comparison to industry benchmarks. We also found that 4.5 percent of consumers click, rollover or take an action with a non-expandable video ad. Additionally, we found that 15 out of every 100 users that expanded a panel in an expandable video ad unit actually started a video, and that the percentage of users that completed the video in full surpassed our industry benchmarks by more than 10 percent.
It appears the video made for this ad was made specifically for the web ad unit given the creative direction and videography. In general, what have you seen in regards to the proper use of the web video format? Are mistakes still being made?
TODD HUNTLEY: The video was actually a series of 60 15-second TV spots showcasing people’s responses to the product features. We have shot a lot of video for web and experienced great success with online video views as well as brand engagement, as measured by attitudinal studies.
In addition to automotive, what other verticals do you see as particularly well-suited for the brand campaigns exhibited in these ad units? Why?
SARAH RIPMASTER: All verticals can benefit from dynamic ad campaigns like this one. Advertisers across industries are looking to engage users by offering ads that are contextually relevant and non-disruptive to their online experiences. We’ve seen successful campaigns from major CPG, retail, automotive and entertainment advertisers. Marketers from each sector are linked by a common goal to create, target, deliver and measure dynamic ads that engage with consumers in a respectful way.
By John Ebbert
