• by Bryan Robb , July 10, 2014

Men these days spend more time than their Dads ever did helping out at home and watching the kids, according to numerous studies. But that doesn’t mean that their interest in shiny new toys and flashy gadgets is on the wane. Quite the contrary! 

Interest in typically male-dominated areas such as power tools, motor vehicles and gadgets is alive and well. And as it turns out, the way to a man’s heart starts with flashy digital ads, which have proven to be extremely impactful and effective for advertisers trying to reach this often overlooked decision-maker. 

I see it every day here at work. We help marketers of aftermarket products reach male decision makers about these “want-to-have” items that make a vehicle go faster, look better or make it safer. Many of our smaller advertisers compete for attention with Fortune 100 brands on most pages where their ads run, which can make things very difficult for them. But we’re seeing that high impact, custom premium ads (i.e., large, eye-grabbing page takeovers, skins, peels, videos, IAB Rising Starts, etc.) really stand out with men, who sometimes just need a little help to envision what these products can do for them. 

According to a recent study by interactive TV advertising company Brightline, men are especially receptive to interactive ads that include contests or components like simple games, or ads featuring video content. Almost half of men are willing to stay on a website longer if product videos are made available to them, for example, and 35% of young males like ads that allow them to play some sort of game.

One of the major energy drink companies put us to the test. We ran targeted rich-media expandable ads alongside side skins that also featured an embedded video. Historically, this could only be done manually as one-offs. The side skins received eight times the interaction from users versus the expandable rich media ads. 

As you can see, a little “wow factor” goes a long way when it comes to reaching male audiences. Now high impact, custom premium ads can even be delivered programmatically in real-time, regardless of the publisher channel, aligning perfectly with how brand marketers are already advertising within other digital channels. Using audience data and insights in real-time to effectively target ads that will engage men helps to achieve a higher level of interest in smaller advertisers’ content, putting them on par with the look and feel of what larger brands are doing without having to break the bank.

While targeting men will always play second fiddle to the feeding frenzy you see with brands trying to reach moms, there is no reason why brands of all shapes and sizes that need to convert male audiences should ever fall short in offering them content that will catch their eye. By keeping close tabs on the type of high impact, custom premium ads that engage and convert male purchasers at a high rate, male-focused marketers of all sizes can keep them engaged.