Updated: Jun 18, 2021
How to transform a breadth of onsite content into shoppable and interactive experiences
Photo: Courtesy of Brown Thomas.
Introduction
The year 2020 will, for most businesses, be one to forget. Store closures and global pandemic measures have forced many into administration, and economic stability seems to be a little out of reach. When the going gets tough the tough get going, however, and despite the onslaught of negative impacts this year, some more agile businesses have managed to adapt appropriately, particularly towards online. Brown Thomas and Arnotts, two of Ireland's most iconic department stores, have had their doors closed for the majority of the year. The teams however sought to turn that on its head and ensure that each customer is able to have an online experience to match what they can offer in-store. As part of their digital transformation, one area the team has been looking at is onsite content. With an abundance of inventive content ideas, the team set out to find ways to elevate that content, by making it interactive and shoppable.
Execution
Video: Womenswear AW20: New Dawn - Smartzer interactive & shoppable campaign video, mobile & desktop.
Over the past few months, Smartzer has been working closely with teams at Brown Thomas and Arnotts to deliver upon their shared ambition towards creating engaging and shoppable onsite content. Prior to the latest AW20 womenswear and menswear collections on Brown Thomas, a fully customised shoppable video player was built by the team at Smartzer to seamlessly match the Brown Thomas style onsite. Aside from the custom style, the player was also fully integrated into the Demandware API, allowing for up-to-date product information to be instantly pulled into the Smartzer editor and player. Furthermore, the player also featured an add-to-cart functionality, enabling users to directly add items to their basket while viewing the videos.
Gallery: (Clockwise from top left) Max Mara AW20, Charlotte Tilbury Live Event, Arnotts Gift Grotto, Arnotts Christmas Tree Decorating.
Once the Brown Thomas player was set up and the AW20 videos run live, the teams then took the opportunity to then apply different types of content to the player. What started with regular fashion campaign videos then opened up into a whole breadth of content across the Brown Thomas and Arnotts websites. From makeup tutorials to Christmas tree decorating, the technology was applied successfully across many many different use cases and displayed strong results throughout.
Results
Average Engagement Rate = 55%
Average Click-Through Rate = 18%
Conclusion
Capturing consumers online has become a big focus for businesses in 2020. For Brown Thomas and Arnotts shoppable video has been a perfect accompaniment to their growing online content repository. Not only has the work achieved delivered fantastic results for the team, but it also is a good example of how to make your content go the extra mile online. From a shoppable video perspective the work has been a great testament to the adaptability of the Smartzer overlay, with a whole range of content benefiting from the technology.
Updated: Feb 12, 2021
How JD Sports amplified their 2020 Christmas TV Ad online by making the video shoppable to inspire and enable purchase with Smartzer technology
Photo: Courtesy of JD Sports
Introduction
With the likes of Virgil Van Dijk, Rita Ora, and Maya Jama gracing our screens, it's hard to miss the JD Sports Christmas TV Ad 2020 featuring an interactive video. The Ad features a host of big names on the UK Sport and Music scenes, with each of the celebrities wearing the hottest apparel available to buy at JD Sports. The campaign provides some valuable look inspiration to all ages, however, connecting the star-studded content to the products themselves is a separate challenge. For their latest Christmas campaign, JD Sports, therefore, sought to transform the online ad into a fully shoppable experience using Smartzer's interactive video platform.
Execution
Video: JD Sports interactive Christmas TV Ad, Desktop user experience.
Having utilised Smartzer's shoppable video platform over the past few years, the team at JD once again turned to the tool in order to connect their latest collection with their star-studded Christmas TV ad. In preparation for the campaign, the existing Smartzer Shop the Look overlay was reworked into a fresh new design and functionality. Seamlessly integrating with the JD Sports brand guidelines, the overlay enabled users to click on each celebrity in the video and browse the items they were wearing. The pop-ups had a dynamic vertical scroll for desktop users as well as a mobile-optimised landscape scroll functionality, making it easy for users to browse multiple items within each look. The interactive video campaign was also run in each of the JD global markets, which made the most of Smartzer's multi-region and multi-language support within the videos.
Results
Video CTR = +15%
Video Engagement = +30%
Conclusion
Christmas is a time when brands get to flaunt some of their most iconic content. From emotional animations to blockbuster film sets, consumers each year are treated to a whole host of inspiring adverts between their favourite broadcast TV shows. Historically, Christmas ads in the UK have often operated high up the purchase funnel for consumers and are primarily used to drive awareness. Not only did this year's JD Christmas online approach deliver a holistic brand message to users on-site, but through the use of shoppable video technology, it also helped drive consumers further down the purchase funnel. With the growing importance online this is a perfect example of how brands can make the most out of their seasonal content and provide users a frictionless experience online.
Get in touch for more details about the Smartzer interactive and shoppable video platform 😎
Updated: Jun 23, 2021
HOW TO CONNECT CONTENT WITH COMMERCE AND STRENGTHEN THE ONSITE CONSUMER JOURNEY USING SHOPPABLE AND INTERACTIVE VIDEO
Photo: Courtesy of Ralph Lauren
In August 2020 Ralph Lauren launched a new shoppable video series featuring characters from the Netflix show Elite. A series of video shorts with different characters from the show, including Jorge López, Mina El Hammani, Ester Expósito, Álvaro Rico, Sergio Momo and Itzan Escamilla were shot on the beautiful island of Tenerife. Each video featured the astute characters outlining their rooted connections to nature, while subtly revealing their core motivations in the show. To complement the content, the Forces of Nature collection from Ralph Lauren was a golden selection of classic items, perfectly supporting the look and feel of the Elite show.
Objective
Generating exciting content for customers onsite can be a daunting task. However, the seamless Ralph Lauren and Netflix Elite partnership is a fantastic example of how to make beautiful content that not only aligns creatively with both parties but also captures the eye of customers onsite. Brand partnerships with the film and television industry are often not maximised to full potential, with the connection between the on-screen content and product sometimes being left to a visual reference for fans to pick up on. For the Elite 2020 Forces of Nature collection, Ralph Lauren, therefore, sought to explore ways in which to enrich their onsite Elite content and provide new and innovative ways for users to explore the collection while viewing the videos.
Execution
Video: Ralph Lauren x Elite, Forces of Nature campaign page (Desktop).
The Ralph Lauren Elite campaign videos were made interactive using Smartzer interactive video platform. This enabled viewers to click on the videos and discover more information about the products worn by the characters as a 'Shop The Look' functionality. The videos also featured a carousel on the left-hand side featuring all the shoppable looks, this enabled users to easily browse the full collection while watching the content. The Smartzer interactive and shoppable video is also fully mobile-optimized which enabled the vertical edits to be easily applied within the same piece of content for mobile users, providing them with a tactile user experience (see below). Given the reach of the Elite show's audience, the campaign was also launched globally with each market seeing an automatically language and currency optimized version of the shoppable video experience.
In addition to the shoppable videos, the campaign featured an automated retargeting campaign. Products clicked in interactive videos could trigger automatic retargeting ads across the Google network.
Images: Ralph Lauren x Elite, Forces of Nature campaign page (Mobile).
Results
Interactive Views = 33.94%
CTR = 7.86%
Conclusion
Brand partnerships of this scale with Film and Television franchises can provide businesses with an opportunity to create, sell, and market new and existing products through an alternative creative lens that truly resonates with their consumers. Connecting the content to the commerce opportunity has often proven difficult, however. The Elite Forces of Nature campaign not only demonstrated how video e-commerce technology can overcome such challenges but also showed how simple it can be to enrich users' e-retail experience online by making it interactive.
Get in touch for more details about the Smartzer interactive and shoppable video platform 😎