With mobile users increasingly engaging with their devices to watch sports video, Corona recently launched a new football-themed campaign using a unique new ad unit that expands from a standard banner ad to play video inline.

Marketers have been looking for the best way to integrate brand advertising with video as mobile users are increasingly engaging with video content on their devices. While much of the current inventory requires users to click-through to watch a video, what is unique about the Zumobi ad unit Corona is using is that it expands to show a video inline.

?Now that devices are so advanced and operating systems are so advanced, HD quality video and retina video is really available now,? said Ken Willner, CEO of Zumobi, Seattle, WA. ?That has become a really important point for these brands because it is TV-like quality.

?These advertisers have tremendous TV assets that they can now use, edit down in short form, even produce along with their TV assets,? he said.

?Before that wasn?t available to them broadly. Now it is available broadly, so they can amortize that expense over time because they can use it in so many different places, not just online but on mobile.?

An intriguing experience
The Corona campaign launched in early October and features football coach Jon Gruden. It is appearing in the NBC News app as well as other apps.

Users on these apps see a standard banner ad with the copy ?Find Your Beach? at the bottom of the screen while engaging with content.

The unit automatically expands to approximately one-third of a smartphone screen and plays a short video without audio.

?The video starts playing and jumps right into Jon Gruden,? Mr. Willner said. ?You are intrigued because you recognize Jon Gruden, and you want to hear what he has to say.?

The video plays until the end, when the unit reverts to a banner. The user can also tap to close the ad or tap for more information.

When users tap on the unit, they are taken to a site where they can watch more videos with audio, view Corona?s prime football stats, game schedules and vote for their favorite football players.

Being unobtrusive
The campaign uses Zumobi?s new Video ? Paso Doble ad unit, which the company developed to meet the needs of brands looking to deliver mobile video content while not interfering with the user?s content consumption experience by completely covering content the way that a blocking interstitial does.

Corona is one of the first brands to try out the new ad unit. Nissan is also running a campaign with the ad unit.

The key for an ad unit such as this is for brands to choose video assets that are compelling and leave users wanting to see more.

The ad unit is MRAID compliant so that any publisher can run the ads.

?It is a bit of teaser so that you get enough of a view that it might intrigue you to click through and watch the entire video,? Mr. Willner said. ?But it is not obtrusive so if you want to dismiss it or just don?t pay attention to it, it does not interfere with your browsing experience.

?From a technology perspective, this is a unique and new development in the sense that in-banner video on mobile is relatively new,? he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York