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Why luxury brands need to have a tablet advertising strategy

January 13, 2012

Robb Report digital

Tablets are increasingly becoming the No. 1 medium that affluent consumers use to obtain information and entertainment, including from luxury-focused magazines.

Indeed, print advertising in lifestyle, travel and fashion magazines has remained a viable way for marketers to reach affluent consumers. However, as these magazines adopt a digital-version, why are the luxury brands not looking to take full-advantage of the new medium for their ads?

“Any type of advertising on a tablet often gets more response than it would in print or online just because of how vivid the images appear,” said John Anderson, Los Angeles-based vice president of digital at CurtCo Media, publisher of Robb Report. “However, interactivity adds another level.

“Most of the luxury advertisers in the Robb Report digital editions are interested in not only branding but in obtaining lead [ROI] generation,” he said. “This means that they want people to click to their Web site or go to a dealer or store locator to try their products.

“Our short experience clearly demonstrates that the higher the level of interactivity in an ad, the higher the click-through rate for the advertiser.”

Inter-app-tivity

The advantages of interactive ads are obvious, yet few luxury brands seem to be creating these types of ads for the digital editions of the print magazines with which they regularly advertise.

Gucci print ad in the December issue of W magazine

“Any brand with a strong customer base should consider interactive advertisements within their mobile marketing efforts,” said Doo Kim, marketing and advertising executive at Appitalism, New York.

“Interactive advertisements are an essential key in keeping the attention of the reader in a way that traditional print advertising does not,” she said.

While print ads have remained a viable way to interact with affluent consumers, a digital version would only increase the amount of time the user spends engaging with a brand and does not require a lot of effort from the marketer.

In fact, Robb Report conducted two studies that found not only do a majority of the respondents like ads from a brand, but almost 75 percent report that they are very positive regarding the interactivity on the ads.

Any additional information a brand provides a consumer has the chance to increase engagement time and build the brand’s fanbase.

“In general, tablets provide advertisers the ability to run certain kinds of ads that are simply not possible in a print magazine,” said Mack McKelvey, senior vice president of marketing at Millennial Media, Baltimore, MD.

“Interactive elements in particular can grab the attention of the consumer and provide some sort of utility that will reward them for engaging,” she said.

Paving the way

Interactive elements can be as simple as including a flip-through gallery of related campaign images, the option to watch a campaign video or a link to the brand’s social media accounts.

Additionally, the GPS capability of most tablets gives brands the option of including a map of or an opportunity to search for nearby locations.

However, research from Robb Report has shown that video-enabled ads receive three to four times more click-throughs than a simple link to the brand’s Web site.

Additionally, multi-page ad units that include a variety of interactivity such as hotspots, videos, slideshows, scrolling ads and links to editorial saw click-through rates in the double digits, per Robb Report.

For example, Audi had a six-page interactive ad for its A8 model in the October iPad issue that featured a video, a slideshow and multiple tap-for-more-information icons (see story).

The six-page unit combined 50 pages of layered content, contained links to the site, local dealers and the A8 iPad app.

Audi's interactive ad for the Robb Report digital edition

While engagement is normally positive for any brand, a call-to-action is necessary for the brand to see an ROI.

However, there are a few obstacles that luxury brands should be aware of when creating an interactive ad.

“The most important element of an interactive ad is having a clear call-to-action,” said Shenan Reed, chief media officer at Morpheus Media, a Createthe Group company, New York.

“Morpheus is seeing that readers will interact with these ads as long as the content is seamless,” she said. “If the ad interrupts the users’ experience, they are going to be much less effective.”

Indeed, as more luxury-focused magazines become available on tablets in the coming year, high-end marketers can expect to see more of their competitors creating interactive ads.

“Luxury brands are still experimenting and we will start to see more of them creating richer ads,” said Rachel Resnick, manager of client and media strategy at Morpheus Media, a Createthe Group company, New York.

“Once advertisers see the success their competitors are having with interactive ads, they will start to follow suit,” she said.

Final Take
Kayla Hutzler, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York

Kayla Hutzler is an editorial assistant on Luxury Daily. Her beats are automotive, consumer electronics, consumer packaged goods, financial services, media/publishing, software and technology, telecommunications, travel and hospitality, real estate, retail and sports. Reach her at kayla@napean.com.