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There was a time when Instagram was an ad-free playground for fans of square, filtered photos. Those days are long gone.
Today, with Instagram’s single-day ad format, Marquee, enterprise brands are finding major success engaging Instagram users. Sony Mobile Hong Kong used the channel to lift awareness, message association, and ad recall during their release of its C5 and M5 phones. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment blew out its release of Furious 7 with Marquee, garnering millions of views and its highest video completion rate ever.
But for content marketers interested in Instagram, do the high returns of Marquee justify creating more ads that interrupt users? And will ‘Grammers grow weary of this new format, just as they have other platforms?
For Bryan DeSena, social media account director at global communications and advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi LA, creating a seamless storytelling experience (ad) comes down to a critical understanding of the platform.
“In the simplest terms, all brand-published content on Instagram qualifies as native advertising,” he says. “Some of the content is promoted, and some is not, but ultimately brands and everyday users have access to nearly the exact same space in the feed. For advertisers to be most effective, we find ways of creating content that is specific to the platform.”
Slowly and methodically, the app has eased its four-hundred-million-plus user base into the idea that it can be much more than a place to look at 1:1 ratio pictures of food and people in flannel. In the last few years, it’s introduced everything from videos to new aspect ratios—not to mention a steady increase of advertisements, including targeted ads that know what you’ve been up to on Facebook (and beyond).
The features were delivered so subtly that it’s easy to forget that the ability to post fifteen-second video clips on Instagram was never really intended for us average ‘Grammers. However, in order to get ready for the big changes that have happened over the last few months, we had to get used to seeing our friends share videos before we could handle what happened next.
Moving Pictures
Video is a really, really hot format right now. That’s pretty obvious. But as Instagram becomes more open to advertising as a brand and a user base, this is a major inflection point for the app as a video delivery channel.
The thing is, fifteen seconds isn’t appealing for major enterprises that are used to thirty-second and one-minute TV ads. Facebook is poised to become the new go-to for video advertising, and Instagram is a key part of its product suite. Even though users are limited to fifteen seconds of video, the Instagram Marquee feature offers major advertisers up to a full minute of video content, delivered at important times; it’s like a crazy lovechild of The New York Times’ Mobile Moments and Super Bowl ads—it brings uncanny timeliness to mobile platforms specifically to promote extra-special events.
Marquee videos aren’t here for a long time, they’re here for a good time (say, during New York Fashion Week or mid-Super Bowl, when ads and product launches are at their buzziest).
T-Mobile was lauded for its Super Bowl ads featuring Drake, which it also blasted via Instagram Marquee as one of the first brands to place a 60-second spot in users’ feeds. While Marquee was officially unveiled last September, at the time, the platform was only willing to offer advertisers 30 seconds of video. And it’s been quite selective about who gets to use these boosted, break-the-rules videos. Michael Kors had a smash hit with its Marquee ads, the first ones on Instagram. They launched when video was still limited to 15 seconds for everyone, but the ads led to 2.6 times more traffic to Kors’ website while the campaign was active. They delivered what felt like a feature-length fashion film in fifteen seconds, and ended with an action item: a single hashtag that generated big buzz during the fashion show. Imagine the potential of minute-long videos like T-Mobile’s Marquee piece from the Super Bowl.
It’s Tricky
As a result of its selectiveness, Instagram marketing via video, especially Marquee, remains remarkably effective. It’s hard to scroll past an auto-playing video of Drake in something that looks almost like the ‘Hotline Bling’ music video but has some unplaceable twist. Videos are still relatively rare on the platform, which means they get noticed. This is by design, like every feature change in the Facebook portfolio. What’s intriguing is the way Instagram decided to implement the Marquee feature—that is, as a limited, boosted way to display timely content. Rather than let advertisers saturate the minimalist feed with lengthy videos, the app’s decision makers have (wisely) made longer, sponsored videos a rare commodity. This makes them harder to tune out and more in-demand; and it also signals a particular take on the timely and targeted content strategy being employed by all major platforms lately.
Though video will become more common, major advertisers will always have access to exclusive features like Carousel (swipe-able photos) and Marquee (lengthier videos), which Desena believes helps maintain their distinctiveness. “Savvy Instagram users are typically aware when they see something new and different about a piece of content. As advertisers, when we demonstrate that we are adding value to a user’s Instagram experience, they will naturally reward the brand by sharing or engaging.”
Finding a healthy balance between profit and maintaining user appeal using isn’t easy, but so far Instagram has done a great job carefully curating its advertorial content. Marquee and its photo counterpart, Carousel, offer advertisers functionality not available to the public, which serves two purposes: it catches the attention of an audience used to being delivered content within an extremely narrow set of parameters, and it provides formats more familiar to enterprises, from TV-length video to multiple-image campaigns. For the brand looking to create standout digital storytelling, Instagram marketing is an excellent platform. As for me, I’ll keep posting pictures of dogs and coffee.
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