Google, Sony Release 'Spider-Man' In Shoppable Hangout

Sony's "Spider-Man 2" cast and director Marc Webb will host their first film-themed Google+ Shoppable Hangout Monday, allowing fans to purchase tickets for the film through Fandango.

The Shoppable Hangout puts monetization in the hands of brands, rather than Google, which simply provides the ecommerce tools. As the Hangout occurs, images with links to products appear on the right-hand side of the video player. Viewers can click through to the products and purchase them. Purchases are completed through the Fandango or Google Play Web sites.

The cast and director will give fans the opportunity to join them in the Hangout, answering questions and discussing the latest film in the Spider-Man franchise. Moviegoers can submit questions prior to the Hangout on social media using #SpiderManHangout. Fandango's Chief Correspondent Dave Karger will moderate the discussion.

It's not the first time consumers have seen Shoppable Hangouts on Google+. Nike held one in March to celebrate the 27 years of Nike's Air Max trainer. Diane von Furstenberg held one late last year. It enabled consumers to see the fashion styles, hear feedback from the brand and the designer and make purchases.

In January, U.K. menswear brand Topman produced a Shoppable Hangout that combined Google+ ads known as +Post. The ad format, which officially rolled out this week, allows brands to take a piece of Google+ content and turn it into an ad that can run across more than 2 million sites in the Google Display Network.

Brands can create a display campaign in AdWords with campaign type Engagement Ads by checking the option "Promote your G+ Post on the GDN." Brands choose a post from their Google+ page they want to promote and select the size. The +Post ad runs similar to other Lightbox ads on the Google Display Network.

Overall, the Topman campaign achieved an average engagement rate of 2.6%, average 8:36 viewing time of live Google+ coverage, 85% of unique viewer clicks from its Shoppable Hangout, and social reach estimated at more than 14 million.

Aside from all this hoopla, Shoppable Hangouts have been a successful collaboration between Google, Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and designers like Rebecca Minkoff, Marcus Wainwright, David Neville and Rachel Zoe. Collectively, the Shop the Hangout pilot program has more than 150 million social media impressions and more than 65 million press impressions, and has helped to increase sales and traffic on partner designers' e-commerce sites, per Google.

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