Pre-roll ads, while a new and interesting innovation in the world of marketing, can often be seen as a nuisance. Many viewers are simply waiting until they’re able to skip the ad and get to the video they came for, which leaves companies only a few seconds to make an impression. This may seem impossible, but many pre-roll campaigns have proved otherwise. In 2015 alone there were countless new ideas and creative ways to capture a viewer’s attention, and these can all be used and improved on in your next year of marketing.
Pre-Roll Is Its’ Own Medium
Before breaking any rules or changing conventions, it’s important that pre-roll ads should be treated as their own medium, and not like a traditional TV commercial. If all you do to advertise online is slap your television ad into a pre-roll ad, you won’t be able to hold someone’s attention or leave a lasting impression of your company. Start your campaign with the mindset that this needs to be it’s own unique ad, meant entirely for pre-roll video.
Appeal to Your Audience
One tactic is to call attention to the fact that a pre-roll video is often skipped. Just as Geico did in their “Unskippable” ads, addressing the nature of the pre-roll video to the audience will speak to them on a relatable level. By doing this, an ironic and self-aware commercial will draw more attention from the viewing public than the traditional ad, by appealing to the audience’s intelligence and creativity.
Multiple Videos
Another way to keep your company in the audience’s minds is to create multiple versions of the same type of ad. Then, even if the viewer has seen one of these ads before and knows what to expect, they may stick around to see how this one turns out differently. Following a formula for each commercial, but altering it slightly for multiple uses is a unique and innovative marketing method.
Reinvent Your Marketing Tactic
There are an infinite number of ways to reinvent the pre-roll commercial. Before you start to create yours, try to draw inspiration from some of the more unique ads of the last year, and study what you and the audience respond to when it comes to marketing.