ARE IMAGES THE NEXT DIGITAL AD FRONTIER?

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Digital Contextual Marketing

Background of Contextual Advertising

What is Contextual Marketing?

Contextual marketing is using keywords and key content to deliver ads

Keywords are identified by being color-coded and underscored

Keywords are available either through search or predetermined by a publisher and marketer

Marketers pay to have pop-up ads when the reader rolls over or clicks on the highlighted content

Digital Contextual Marketing

Ad vehicles have become increasingly sophisticated as seen by the rapid evolution from basic text to rich-video and interactive content

The latter holds the promise of increased reader interaction and thus a more effective marketing tool

Contextual Marketing Works*

Viewers of in-text ads had a 4x higher unaided awareness of advertised brands versus display ads

42% brand purchase intent400x increase is product/brand searches2.5x lift in visits to brand website

*2012 ComScore Study of Kontera in-text advertising

Do Contextual Ads Work For Images?

Contextual advertising is a viable marketing channel, but text comprises only 2/3 of internet content

Images make up the remaining 1/3 of content and to date they have not been marketable content

The digital space is becoming even more visual with the rapid ascent of Pinterest, Instagram, Viddy, etc, publishers and marketers are missing out on an even greater opportunity

Contextual Image Advertising

The Pioneers

As reported in The Wall Street Journal, four companies have begun to emerge as pioneers in the contextual image advertising arena GumGum Luminate Vibrant Media Stipple

Similar to word based advertising, image advertising is being used to

Contextual Images

Similar to word based advertising, image based ads look for tagged images and serves up relevant branded content

The pioneers take a varied approach to serving up the data

Note, success requires publishers being willing to serve contextual images, but just as they did with words, they’ll come along with images

(Opinion – this is a great tool that can help monetize Pinterest or Instagram)

Gum Gum

Similar to how ads are served on YouTube and Vimeo, Gum Gum can serve ads on images.

Sample Clients- Unilever- Chrysler- Disney- Clinique

Vibrant

Similar to Gum Gum, Vibrant ads are served on YouTube and Vimeo, Gum Gum can serve ads on images.

Sample Clients- P&G- Unilever- Sprint- Lowes

Stipple

Stipple takes a different approach with roll-over price tags for products that link directly to a store.

Sample Clients- DIY network- Artists- Individuals- Hotels

Luminate

Luminate serves display ads over images in two ways – the traditional banner way (see right) and visual buttons that immediately launch a catalog/store – which can be sponsored. All content is shareable.

Sample Clients- Best Buys- Macys- McDonalds- Blackberry

What Does This Mean for Your Brand?

Conclusion

With tools like Instagram and Pinterest images are becoming an increasingly important part of the web

Contextual ads provide a unique opportunity for brands to reach people on the internet in a new way

There are many players in this field, some will be acquired, some will go out of business and that is yet to be seen.

Publisher acceptance, while currently minimal, is crucial for this medium to take hold

Vibrant seems to have a publisher advantage due to its content ad business, but it is not as dynamic as Stipple or Luminate

Opinion: Stipple would be a good acquisition target for Pinterest

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