Mondelez is leaning into consumers? objections to traditional advertising by leveraging Fox?s new engagement ads on Hulu on mobile devices, as well as desktop, for its Swedish Fish, Halls and Ritz brands. 

Hulu viewers will be given an option to view frequent advertisements interspersed throughout Fox content or to engage with an interactive ad at the beginning of the program. Mondelez is the first brand to partner with the marketing feature, signifying the industry?s move to innovate within advertising in response to consumers? aversion to ads and the rise of ad blocking. 

"We are excited to be involved as one of the first brands in this partnership," said Farrah Bezner, Marketing Director for halls and candy at Mondelez International.

Swedish Fish, Halls and Ritz will be the brands of Mondelez leveraging the engagement ads on Hulu. While Fox will be the first network to be introducing the service, in the future many others could incorporate it as well. 

The new ad format will show up before the user?s programming content and they are given the choice of which form of ad they would like to view. The shorter, engagement ads are about 30-seconds long, in which the user must be actively involved with compared to frequent short ads popping up throughout the show, comprising of approximately two minutes and 30 seconds worth of advertising. 


Hulu's ads which offer consumers a choice of which ads they would like to view

The choice is easy for viewers who would like lesser ads and the engagement factor leaves a lasting impression on the consumer, who must engage with the ad to move forward.

The invention puts users in control of their ad experience, which is something they have been longing for, for some time. Now that the new iPhone has made ad blocking more accessible for consumers, marketers have been searching for methods in overcoming the obstacle. 

It now seems archaic to leverage the traditional ad interruption format within content on mobile and digital, especially for Hulu whose main competitors such as Netflix lack are free from all types of advertising.

Unilever?s ice cream brand Magnum saw significant success in driving local traffic to a store in Ecuador through a similar interactive mobile banner campaign that leveraged location and interactivity to enable users to invent their own ice cream bars and pick them up (see more). 

Also, Rum brand Bacardi poured a healthy dose of mobile into its latest millennial-centric campaign by leveraging Facebook?s new immersive canvas advertising unit, which opens up a full-screen smartphone experience for users who click on an ad (see more).

?Creating content that consumers will enjoy and engage with is critical for brands like Swedish Fish and Halls, so we are constantly seeking out these new types of programs," Ms. Bezner said.