In video, marketers are thinking about how to make pre-roll ads less annoying.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
We've all been there: waiting to watch a video online, and having to sit through an annoying pre-roll ad first. On YouTube, many of us wait for the "Skip Ad" button, to fast-forward to the funny cat, music video, or comedy sketch we really wanted to see.
Scotts Miracle-Gro Canada has an innovative solution for that. In a new ad for Scotts weed-killing products launched last month the company placed a button on the screen, just above where the "Skip Ad" button usually goes. The new button allows viewers to "Kill Prickly," an obnoxious weed puppet who brags about how quickly weeds like him spread across a nice green lawn.
It has received some attention in the U.S., where trade publication Adweek wrote about the video on its website.
The ad, created by ad agency Rethink Canada, is a great example of how marketers and their agencies are finding more creative ways to speak to people online. Consumers have been increasingly resentful of the intrusion that advertising imposes on their experience online.
When it comes to banner ads, the collection of consumer information has raised privacy concerns and also requires the use of tracking tools that can slow down the loading time on webpages. In Canada, 17 per cent of people have installed ad blockers on their desktop computers, according to a new study conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada and comScore.
In video, marketers are thinking about how to make pre-roll ads less annoying. Google Inc.'s YouTube has been pitching advertisers on partnering with video makers who have established a wide following on the Web video-sharing service, and who know how to make content people will watch there. Others are making ads designed to pacify the minuscule attention spans of online viewers.
Geico Corp., for example, won a Grand Prix in Film at the Cannes advertising festival last summer for an ad campaign called "Unskippable." The typical ad setup – people talking about how much they saved with the insurer – was over in a matter of seconds, at which point the actors froze, but humorous action continued around them. In one, a dog jumps on a family's dinner table to slurp up their food while the actors playing the family remain frozen in place. Viewers who stuck around to watch the hijinks also spent a good deal of time staring at the Geico logo.
By making the content entertaining, advertisers' hope is to leave viewers feeling less resentful about sitting through a commercial message.