Facebook Launches Direct Response Facebook Ads

Facebook is testing several new Facebook Ad formats - recently rolling out surveys and 'become a friend' buttons inside the ad units. These are additional ways to brands and marketers to engage with their audience on Facebook - either directly (ie by collecting polling data) or in an ongoing basis (by converting them into Facebook Fans). Remember, not long ago, almost all of the ads on Facebook took users offsite... but Facebook's marked growth and the increased usage of Facebook Pages has made on-Facebook marketing more effective and attractive.

Facebook is now testing another advertising format: direct response units. InsideFacebook has screenshots of an integration with Chick-Fil-A where users can "get a free chicken biscuit" by signing up for a coupon via Facebook. That action is then viral as users are encouraged to share the event with their friends (like the Starbucks Free Ice Cream giveaway) and it shows up in their feed. Over time, it makes sense that Facebook will allow bundling of actions: sign up for a free sample and 'become a fan'.

These ad units are win-wins for consumers and brands. When Starbucks broke the 3,000,000 fan mark - they asked their fans what they wanted to see from Starbucks on Facebook; the resounding answer was coupons, offers and new product news.

Images from InsideFacebook's Facebook Testing New Direct Response Home Page Ad Unit

Adding Facebook Page Fans: TAG as a Case Study

Facebook now allows Page owners to create Facebook Ads that allow users to "Become a Fan" directly in the unit. It is a natural move since adding fans is a priority for social media marketers - and it is a more difficult task that adding Twitter followers (though arguably more valuable). If you are logged in as a page administrator, you will now see a button on your page(s) to "promote your page with an ad" ... which now includes a "Become a Fan" button. Yesterday TAG Body Spray ran a campaign to promote their new product and Facebook presence. As of yesterday morning, they had 18,000 Facebook fans:

Twenty-four hours later, Tag has over 85,000 Facebook fans. You will also notice that those fans are engaging with TAG's content. Before the promotion, each Facebook post would have 2-5 'likes' and no comments (meaning the posts would not appear virally in people's feeds). TAG's posts from today have 100s of 'likes' and 50-100 comments. Not bad considering the posts are not as social or interactive as they could be (Starbucks is a great example here).

Project Runway Overtakes PerezHilton.com for Season Premier

In preparation for Lifetime's season premier of Project Runway, PerezHilton.com ran its standard background ad unit alongside integrated, rich IAB units. The unique part of this campaign, however, was how Perez removed the blog's standard right column so as to better promote Lifetime and the TV schedule. Normally, the right column houses a collection of navigational units and advertising banners. In addition to simplifying the page's visuals - it ensures that the only advertiser on the page is Project Runway... which Perez then sells at premium:

Amazon's Email Marketing: Relevant, Timely & Includes Special Offers

I have written a fair amount about email marketing campaigns - pointing out effective ones and confusing ones (sorry Apple). I often point to Amazon as a best-in-class marketer on many fronts... and here is another great example.

As a gift, I purchased an item in their kitchen department and matched it with a cooking book (that they recommended). Within a week, I have an email from Amazon that is:

- Pertinent: it is clearly relevant to my recent order (I have no reason to ask "why I am receiving this?") - Enticing: the email is positioned as a reward (now whether it actually is a special discount, I don't know... but 50% off is always attractive) - Simple: the email is three sentences long. I know instantly whether I want to take action. - Good looking: the focus on the special 50% offer / button is clear and the email's layout is attractive

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

Your recent purchase at Amazon's Cookbooks store qualifies you for an extra 50% off select bestselling magazines, including Food Network Magazine, Vegetarian Times, Food & Wine, Saveur, and EatingWell.

You can use this offer to start a new subscription or renew an existing one. The extra 50% discount will be automatically applied at Checkout for each eligible subscription.

Madden 10 Launch Brings Interactive Ads to ESPN & YouTube

For video game and sports enthuiasts, Madden Football's release day is the equivalent of a major Hollywood blockbuster. In Madden 2009's first month, it did $133.5 million in retail sales. Today, Madden 10 arrives and the presales estimates were ahead of the 2009 numbers and many major retailers opened their doors at midnight last night.

Madden is taking to the ESPN.com and YouTube's homepage to promote the game's launch. Both units feature players from the Pittsburgh Steelers attacking the screen (the EA Sports Logo and Youtube videos respectively).

The Youtube unit expands and disrupts the homepage (much like the iPhone and Nintendo Wii ads of past). The ESPN unit does not expand - but it does take over with an extra-tall header (with video) and the square side unit to match.

Man vs. Food Uses Facebook Ads, Video & Poll to Kick Off New Season

Last week, I wrote about Starbuck's using Facebook Polls and Facebook's Top Pages (both all-time and daily growth). Here is another example of a rich, interactive campaign through Facebook: Travel Channel's Man vs. Food. The new Man vs. Food season begins tonight - and in preparation, the Travel Channel is running a major campaign through Facebook that includes:

- Sponsored ads - RSVPs and calendaring for the season premier - Interactive polls related to the food challenge - High-quality video trailers with in-video ability to "like" I am really impressed by the video quality - which is outstanding and runs smoothly and without any interruption. It is also the first time that I have noticed an ability to "like" from within the video.

Has it worked? The Man vs. Food fan page now has ~60,000 fans and tonight's RSVP has had another ~60,000 responses.

The inclusion of friends' names who also have RSVP'd gives the advertisement a more personal, communal feel.

Not exactly an impactful, insightful poll (or set of data) - but it is engaging, grabs the eye and led me to play the video.

The video quality is fantastic.

And the ability to "like" the video while watching it makes it viral by appears within my news feed.

Another Opportunity to Learn from Starbucks & Facebook

I write a lot about Starbucks and their social media activity - in part because I drink a lot of their coffee and in part because they are one of the best big brands doing it on the web (don't just take my word for it...). By following Starbucks on Facebook (and Twitter to a lesser degree) you get a sense for: - how a big brand uses social media - how users engage / interact with the brand - how Facebook plays a role in that engagement / interaction The below example showcases Starbucks' integration a new Facebook poll within the feed. While the question is very insightful, the poll is clearly a powerful way to collect targetted feedback and data. Within 24 minutes, Starbucks collected 1,600+ comments, 2,250+ likes and 1,000s of votes.

Equally important, it showcases the types of products that Facebook is working on to help brands connect with users (similarly, Facebooks Ads now integrate ways to drive fans and create polls). Ultimately, advertisers will pay for a fans, engagement, data, etc than for a standard click or pageview:

Sports Illustrated & Smart Water follow the ESPN & Apple Route

I regularly write about trends in online advertising and the aggressive roles that Apple and ESPN in particular have taken with innovative, rich-media units.

It seems as though rich take overs are occurring in two primary locations - in part because the cost of development and implementation is far greater than traditional units: - big destination sites with very large audiences (like Yahoo) - targeted verticals with more measured audiences (ESPN and Wall Street Journal)

Today, Sports Illustrated took over their homepage with a very aggressive, unique unit by Smart Water that featured Tom Brady of the New England Patriots. Not only is unit very targeted (product and personality) but it is specifically crafted for Sports Illustrated (size, the SI.com header is integrated, and so forth). While these ads are highly engaging and attractive - they come at a few costs. First (and mentioned above), they are clearly more difficult to build and implement - but therefore demand high CPMs.

Second, the ad types have diminishing returns over time. For instance, the audience's interest is captured because it is a unique treatment (and therefore not seen as a regular annoyance). If these units appeared on the majority of pageviews, the audience reaction would be much different.

iPhone and iPod Touch Account for +42% of Mobile Advertising Calls in US

Each month, I look forward to reading AdMob's detailed 'Mobile Metrics' report. It is a comprehensive report of mobile usage by geography, device, OS, and so forth - and based on the size of AdMob's network, the report is as interesting as it is powerful. The June report focuses on global iPhone and iPod Touch usage. The most striking data (and something I have written about before) is how important the iPod Touch has become from a device and advertising perspective:

* We estimate that 13 million iPhones have been used in the US. More than 1 million iPhones have been used in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. * We estimate that 12 million iPod touches have been used in the US. More than 1million iPod touches have been used in the United Kingdom and Canada.

In the below graphic, notice how the split between iPhone and iPod Touch users in North America is roughly 63% / 37%.

But, despite that ration - iPhone and iPod Touch devices represent a more even percent of ad requests: 22.6% vs. 19.8% respectively.... suggesting that iPod Touch users are more actively browsing the web and using applications.

Also notable, the #3-#20 US devices account for 31% of ad requests... Apple's two devices alone account for over 42%: