What Happened
Facebook has finally started testing its new immersive mobile ads that it first announced in Cannes this year. Several brands including Gatorade, Mr Porter, Michael Kors and Carrefour are brought on as launch partners to try out the new format, which enables the creation of full-screen interactive experiences within the Facebook mobile app. According to the demo videos that Facebook released, the new ad format and experience feels very close to Facebook’s new publishing tool Instant Articles, essentially swapping out editorial content for branded content.
What Brands Should Do
The new format works like an in-app version of a brand’s website but will load more quickly and be more interactive because the content is natively hosted on Facebook. Users would get a richer experience as the new format allows the viewer to flip and scroll through text, photos, videos, and other content. This type of native ad formats has been gaining significance and grabbing industry attention lately, especially with the rise of ad-blockers dismantling the traditional display ads. And if Facebook can prove the ROI on this new format to be worthwhile, brands should certainly get on board and try it out.
Source: AdAge
Header image taken from Mr. Porter’s demo video