If you were given the choice to skip an ad, you’d skip it, right? Most of us would. Even those of us in the ad business. That was the admission of many speakers on the panel I moderated at OMMA Global earlier this week on elective video ad formats.
But even if we would like to hit skip while wearing our
consumers hats, we all know that when we put on our ad hats, we need to make better ads and those may include choices for consumers. Choice-based advertising is a vital trend to watch. Hulu now asks
viewers “was this ad relevant” for many spots. YouTube often lets users skip a pre-roll after having watched a certain portion of it, plus Solve Media just introduced a new format that
lets users skip an ad after they enter a brand message in a text box.
But what if the choices in such “choice-based” ad models were better? What if instead of choosing between
watching a GM ad or a Dove ad (How does that help brands learn more about me?) viewers could choose from four different GM car options, suggested Dave Martin, SVP of Media at Ignited during the panel. That would give the marketer a better sense of how to
properly target GM cars to particular viewers — should GM peddle a truck, an SUV, a compact car or a hybrid to me, for instance? Another option that could be fun for consumers would be if
Coca-Cola ran a pre-roll letting viewers choose to watch any Coke ad from the life of the brand, Martin said. Coke has made some well-known and iconic commercials, so rather than watching the latest
ad, viewers might want to watch “Buy the world a Coke ad” or the one for the Happiness Machine. Viewers are still exposed to the brand, but perhaps they have warmer associations that come
with nostalgia.