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Unilever ropes in mobile pre-roll engagements via touch-enabled mini-game

Unilever is addressing the inclination to skip pre-roll ads on mobile with a mini-game that leverages touch screen capabilities to encourage engagement. 

The interactive format for the Gold from Flora brand are running on mobile devices in Britain. Viewers are encouraged to drag and drop a sunflower and butter whirl into a tub of Gold from Flora to access additional content. 

?Playroll is not video ad, in fact this new interactive format replaces the ubiquitous preroll format,? said Howard Kingston, chief marketing officer at Future Ad Labs. 

?Interactive ad formats are specially effective on mobile touch-screen devices,? he said. ?Our campaign studies have consistently shown that gesture-based engagements can positively shift core brand equity metrics such as consideration and favourability. 

?Unilever UK has pioneered these new ad formats with Future Ad Labs, it launched the new Persil Dual Action Capsules with PlayCaptcha, and it is now introducing Flora Gold with PlayCaptcha and PlayRoll in a mobile first campaign.?

Addressing user frustration?
With Playroll, Unilever is attempting to address the frustration that mobile users feel with pre-roll ads, with many choosing to simply skip them. By offering a mini-game that often takes less than five seconds to complete as a way to gain access to additional content, the company hopes to drive engagement and recall rates. 

The Playroll format comes from Future of Ad Labs, which also introduced the PlayCaptcha format earlier this year that Unilever tested out this summer. 

The PlayCaptcha format uses a branded mini-game instead of requiring users to enter a sequence of letters and numbers to verify they are human. Unilever is also testing out this format in a campaign with its Persil brand of laundry detergents in Britain to promote the brand?s new dual-action capsule. 

Brands such as Kit Kat have also leveraged the PlayCaptcha unit. 


?Over 90 percent of users choose to skip pre-roll video ads when given the option,? said Shuli Lowy, marketing director at Ping Mobile. ?Clearly there is a lot that can be done to make the video pre-roll experience more enjoyable.
 
?Gamification, such as the one employed by Unilever, does just that,? she said. ?It takes the stagnant pre-roll video about a container of butter and turns into something interactive?it draws the consumer in. 

?Instead of telling the consumer that the spread consists of butter and sunflower oil, he/she gets to actively place the two ingredients inside the container. The consumer is transformed from a passive viewer to an active one. It is therefore no surprise that gamified ads are not only more enjoyable but also carry a higher brand recall.?

High-quality video ads
The high rates of video consumption on mobile points to the need for marketers to offer high-quality video to meet the needs of today?s consumers (see story). 

The Gold from Flora campaign exemplifies one way that marketers are looking to create more sophisticated mobile video strategies, which is by taking advantage of touch screen capabilities for a more interactive or game-oriented experience.  

The Unilever campaign also addresses the need for short, snack-sized content on mobile, as users are often on the go or picking up their devices in between other activities. 


Future of Ad Labs discusses Playroll. 

Unilever continues to focus on pushing the envelope on mobile video. This spring, the company began testing a new YouTube channel in Britain that delivers how-to videos for all of its hair care brands created by popular video bloggers (see story). 

The company also rolled out a comprehensive mobile and digital campaign as part of its National College Athletic Association Men?s Division I Championship basketball games that brought together video, social media and real-time content (see story). 

Mobile investments?The Gold from Flora ad is an example of how Unilever continues to take a leading role in mobile marketing and is reportedly part of the consumer packaged goods brand?s program to pair brands with technology upstarts that also includes a beacon program and the Songza app (see story). 

?Short and simple messages work best, specially when audience are captivated only for a few seconds,? Mr. Kingston said.? And with 4.5billion smartphones in circulations today, brands should be thinking of better ways of engaging consumers on their mobile touch-screen devices.? 

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