Episodes as Ads

Have you seen the newest ad format? Full length episodes that auto play.

What? Two rules in effective advertising broken at the same time?

Yes, that’s right.

Often times, what is most effective is zigging when everyone else is zagging. That’s what these ads do. And they are mighty effective.

I keep seeing these full length episodes as ads on Google Play. I’m telling you, there is something here.

When I want to listen to my “free” music and a video starts playing about a woman’s trip to Barcelona and playing as a local… living the local life… it catches my attention and I watch for much longer than I would any traditional ad (or click on some image).

This one was really well done and it was for AirBNB. It creates great emotional connection and makes you think, “I’d like to rent that room.”

The ad generated the exact response they were hoping for.

There’s a lesson here and even small businesses can take advantage of this. I don’t think it needs to be Hollywood-level production. It just needs to be authentic, tell a story and elicit emotion.

That’s the real opportunity here.