What are the most effective mobile ad formats and creatives for media buying?

My team & I agree that effective mobile ad formats include: Video Ads: Captivate users with engaging stories; ideal for brand awareness and engagement. Interactive Ads: Gamified ads or interactive experiences boost engagement and time spent. Native Ads: Blend with app content for a seamless user experience, enhancing click-through rates. Rewarded Ads: Offer incentives for watching ads, improving user satisfaction and ad recall. Carousel Ads: Showcase multiple products or features, allowing users to swipe through. Creativity, relevance, and user experience are key. Tailoring content to audience interests and optimizing for mobile viewing ensures higher engagement and conversion rates.

Our team feels that, while banner ads can be a bit more standardized and there is concern with banner blindness, a strong brand message and CTA can effectively increase awareness and drive customer action like downloading an app or visiting a site. Creative effectiveness goes hand in hand with paid media strategies including audience targeting, placement, and flighting.

Effective mobile ad formats for media buying include native ads, which blend seamlessly with app content, driving higher engagement. Video ads, especially short-form vertical videos, capture attention quickly and deliver impactful messages for on-the-go users. Interactive ads like playable or gamified experiences enhance engagement by offering hands-on interaction, boosting brand recall and conversions. Banner ads are effective when strategically placed in-app, while rich media ads combining video, audio, and interactive elements provide an immersive experience, leading to better engagement and conversions. These formats can significantly enhance the effectiveness of mobile media buying campaigns.

Banner ads are one of the most widely used types of mobile ads, typically placed at the top or bottom of the screen. They can be either static or animated and often feature text, images, or logos. Due to their simplicity, banner ads are easy to create and deploy, making them a popular choice for generating brand awareness and clicks. However, banner ads have some limitations. They often suffer from low engagement rates, limited space for messaging, and "banner blindness," where users ignore them due to their familiarity. To enhance the effectiveness of your banner ads, it's important to craft clear and catchy messages, use relevant and eye-catching visuals, and include strong calls to action that prompt users to take the desired steps.

To make the most out of mobile ads in media buying, choosing the right ad format and creative is crucial. Here are the most effective options: 1/ Banner ads Banner ads are simple, usually placed at the top or bottom of mobile screens, and can be static or animated. - Use clear and catchy messages paired with appealing visuals to grab attention. - They are cost-effective but can suffer from low engagement or "banner blindness." - Strong calls to action help overcome their limited space and make them more effective.

RPA's perspective is that interstitial ads provide a larger, more interactive canvas allowing brands to create a more engaging experience for consumers. As part of a paid media campaign, Interstitials on mobile are more costly but provide greater return, generally delivering higher brand/product recall, time spent with campaign messaging, and engagement.

Interstitial ads are full-screen ads shown during app transitions or loading screens, offering more immersive experiences. - They work well for visibility and engagement due to their fullscreen design, capturing user attention. - Use them sparingly to avoid being intrusive and ensure they are relevant to the context. - Provide an easy exit option to prevent frustration and improve user experience.

Native ads seamlessly blend into the content or app environment, appearing as part of news feeds, posts, or recommendations. - These ads generate high trust and engagement because they match users’ interests without disrupting their experience. - Use honest disclosures and consistent branding to maintain user trust and relevance. - They may require customization for different platforms, but the investment pays off with higher user interaction.

Native ads don't always have to be banners or created by the brand/agency. Consider partnering with a media publisher who can license articles written about your brand from third-party providers. As a result, you can reduce the cost of production and utilize a trusted third-party voice to validate your brand. Native articles are designed to be read and provide trusted information about your product/service; you'll need to consider alternative measurements such as dwell time or click-rate into the article to measure success.

Video ads engage viewers with sight and sound, and can appear within other formats like banners, interstitials, or natively. - These ads evoke strong emotions and can deliver a lasting message if they are short and captivating. - Leverage skippable or non-skippable options depending on your goals, and focus on a compelling call to action. - Although more expensive, video ads often generate higher recall and user action.

Video ads have historically relied on longer lengths (:15s+), sight, sound, and motion to capture a person's attention and deliver your brands message. With media plans observing stronger performance from shorter length and increased adoption of sound off, consider adding static video overlays. This simple but effective addition has grown in popularity because it establishes a call-to-action button and provides consistent branding throughout the entire video.

Rich media ads invite users to interact through games, quizzes, animations, or other dynamic features. - These ads stand out with high interaction rates by engaging users in fun and meaningful ways. - Ensure the interaction is simple and rewarding to encourage participation and maximize engagement. - They require more development and testing but provide opportunities for personalized, highly engaging content.

RPA believes rich media mobile ads will continue to evolve as our phone technology improves. Various providers are now able to create experiences that utilize our phone's haptics (vibration), gyroscope (movement), and camera (Augmented Reality) to create ads that touch on our various senses. Media campaigns need to factor this into their key performance indications (KPI) because these immersive experiences can result in people never reaching a brand's website and learning everything they need from this single rich media ad.

When launching a brand new product for our clients, we've seen success utilizing all mobile ad types throughout a campaign. The consumer journey is ever-changing, so our campaigns must adjust to these behaviors. With a recent launch of an all-new product for one of our brands, we leaned on every mobile ad format to ensure a successful campaign and cohesive story. The campaign launched with video and rich media to generate buzz and interest at the beginning and introduced additional mobile ads (banners and native) once people visit the website to learn more. Considering dynamic creative optimization (DCO) to allow the messaging to be personalized to the features or offers that best resonate with them is also an option.