- Mar 11, 2021
Updated: Sep 7, 2021
Interactive videos can used within content marketing strategies to create immersive and clickable promotional material.
Interactive video engages a viewer, resulting in longer viewing time. Viewers may be able to click on areas of the video to learn more about a product and may even be able to purchase it straight from the shoppable video. Brands can track every interaction that is made within the video, leading to a better understanding of their consumer. Viewers are turned into qualified traffic towards E-commerce sites and as a result, the path to purchase is shortened. 88% of marketers say at least 10% of their content will be interactive in the next two years.
With 300 hours of videos added to YouTube every minute and 500 million people using Instagram stories daily, it is important for brands to be heard above the online noise. So, if you are looking for inspiration for your next campaign, here are our top ten brand examples of interactive video:
1. Quizzes: Personicom X Vyond
Personicom's interaction video allows the viewer to input their details to receive personalised life insurance offers based on their preferences. The cartoon character guides the consumer through the process, turning the mundane activity of shopping for life insurance into an immersive, engaging and easy to understand experience.
2. Shoppable Video: IKEA X WIREWAX
In this video, IKEA turns everyday activities into a David Attenborough style documentary. Throughout the shoppable video the viewer can hover over IKEA's homeware products to view more information and then "shop now" by clicking the call-to-action. This will then direct the viewer to the brands ecommerce to make a purchase. If not, they can return to their previous place in the interactive video to continue the experience.
3. Interactive Social Media Content: VW Golf X Smartzer
Volkswagen and Smartzer joined forces to create interaction videos on Instagram stories and through in feed ads. Smartzer's interactive video platform allowed the brand to create an exciting and dynamic video of the car. Viewers were able to explore areas of the vehicle by selecting each part in the clickable side bar. A call-to-action encouraged consumers to "book a test drive". The ad was highly effective, encouraging a 62% engagement rate and a 27% CTR.
4. Digital Wholesale/ Virtual Showrooms: Le New Black X Kenzo
By partnering with interactive, digital wholesaler, Le New Black, Kenzo was able to create a digital showroom. The brand highlighted their new collection online, when in-person showrooms were prohibited due to the pandemic. Le New Black allows brands to exhibit their products in a 360 degree showroom. So, retailers can zoom, spin, swipe items to view them in detail online. The B2B use of interactive and shoppable video is proving to be highly effective and will no doubt increase over the next years.
5. Interactive, Shoppable Livestream: Walmart
In December 2020, Walmart took to TikTok to launch a shoppable livestream featuring their favourite fashion pieces for Christmas. Viewers could buy the products by clicking product pins and adding them to their cart. A mobile check out would appear at the end of the stream for viewers to complete purchases. The experience was so popular that Walmart is recreating this experience at 9am US time on 11 March 2021 on TikTok. The interactive live stream will be a beauty tutorial lasting 60 minutes, featuring brands like L'Oréal, Maybelline, NYX and Marc Jacobs. Host, Gaby Morrison, will broadcast to her 3.5 million followers on the platform.
6. Customisable Video: Nike Air Max DIA X WIREWAX
When it comes to interaction videos, customisability and personalisation can be the most fun and exciting activity to engage with. Here, viewers can choose their own advert for a photoshoot. The stylist talks the viewer through each product and gives a clear representation of how the clothes may look in real life. The fresh take on style advising helps to bring the offline shopping experience, online.
7. Interactive Travel Videos: Amazing Thailand X Smartzer
Smarter and Amazing Thailand partnered to make this interactive travel video. The interactive areas of the video tell the viewer more about attractions in Thailand and show a realistic and beautiful portrayal of the country. Using a wide range of content Smartzer tagged different experiences, spa & wellness possibilities, hotels, luxury tour packages and some culinary must-go places, which a viewer can explore from the comfort of their own home by clicking on the video.
8. Gamified Experience: LIFESAVER Interactive film by Martin Piercy
This promotional ad for LIFESAVER provides the viewer with scenario based options. The viewer can learn how to save a life by making decisions that affect the stories outcome. The video shows the consumer how to do CPR correctly to save a life.
9. Interactive Livestream: Burberry X Twitch
Achieving 32,000 concurrent views, Burberry took their SS21 fashion show live using Amazon owned streaming service, Twitch. Viewers were given a front row seat to the show from their living rooms, a rare opportunity for many fashion fans. The inclusive stream allowed viewers to discuss the show in a chat room with guest appearances from celebrities like Bella Hadid and Erykah Badu. The community feel generated by livestream made viewers feel connected to the brand and immersed them in a unique online experience.
10. Decide Your Destiny: Netflix's Blackmirror: Bandersnatch
This unique episode of Blackmirror allowed viewers to make decisions for the protagonist to essentially choose whether he lives, dies, succeeds or fails. The interaction video had a possible 35 endings. However, producer, Charlie Brooker, said there could possibly be more and had lost track of how many possibilities there could be for the viewer.
Summary
All of these examples use interactive video platforms to the best of their ability successfully engaging and astounding the viewer. The thrilling content creates a user experience like no other that stays in the mind of the consumer. If brands can successfully harness this technology now, anything could be possible for video content marketing in the future.
Interactive video has proven to be an effective and key tool for marketeers. In fact, video interactivity can increase viewer engagement by 3-4 x more than standard, linear video.
So, it is no wonder that advertising agencies are looking to seize shoppable tech to upscale what they can offer brands.
What is shoppable and interactive video?
Interactive videos encourage user involvement. They have clickable, tagged areas called "hotspots" that the viewer can interact with. Brands tag videos with product information or links to ecommerce to make them shoppable. Viewers may even be able to make a purchase within the ad. Video interactivity might also be encouraged via 360 degree exploration tech, quizzes, livestream, chatbots, calls-to-action and many more.
What is an interactive agency?
An agency offering a mix of Web design/development, Internet advertising/marketing, or E-Business/E-Commerce consulting. An interactive agency can help brands design and implement SEO strategies, create articles for online publications and many more.
How can agencies use shoppable and interactive video formats?
Shoppable and interactive video platforms can step up standard formats used by agencies. For example:
Interactive/shoppable video display ads
Display ads are hugely popular and common with brands. Typically display ads are placed on third party websites in the form of banners, images and text. Here is an example of interactive video display ads with Volkswagen. Viewers could type a command and the car would perform the action. The interactive banner ad makes viewers less likely to ignore it. The fun and engaging experience is memorable for the viewer, making them more likely to consider the product for potential purchase. By partnering with interactive video platforms, agencies can offer brands an exciting ad format like no other.
Interactive/shoppable video ads across social media
With 3.5 billion social media users world wide, agencies should optimise their strategies for platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube and more. Interactive video ads are a great way to stop scrollers in their step. Take Wish.com on Snapchat for example:
Users could shop the items in a carousel below the video. Wish reported that their interactive and shoppable videos encouraged 17 x more engagement than their regular Snapchat ads.
Interactive/shoppable video based pre-roll ads
A pre-roll ad is a promotional video which appears before the video that the user has selected to play. Interactive video can do wonders for pre-roll ads as users are often made to watch them before streaming video on platforms like YouTube. Here is a YouTube pre-roll ad from Boursin that supports video interactivity through a 360 virtual reality experience:
The ad immerses a viewer by taking them on a journey through fridge packed with fresh produce. The explorative aspect encourages the viewer to watch until the very end, without the activity a viewer would be more likely to skip the ad. The experience is fun and memorable and will leave the viewer craving Boursin cheese. Agencies could partner with interactive video platforms like WIREWAX and Smartzer to help their clients create engaging and unique promotional content.
Interactive/shoppable video based Outstream ads
An Outstream ad is an ad shown within paragraphs of text on a website. They are typically without sound until the user hovers or clicks over the video. Here is an example of a flip-book style outstream ad with M&S and NEXD advertising:
The ad is formatted like an interactive catalogue that users can scroll through. The peeled corner introduces a sense of curiosity in the reader, encouraging engagement through the interactivity. By using ad agency NEXD, M&S was able to create a unique and interesting advert which generated a 20% CTR.
Interactivity encouraged through call-to-action
By using interactive video platforms, agencies can help brands tag videos with clickable calls-to-action to encourage higher CTR and engagement. Smartzer's platform allows users to create an interactive overlay by tagging product info to hotspots. This can be via Product APIs, Product Feed, URL's, images, text or manually. Here is an example of Smartzer's partnership with Volkswagen to create a clickable and informative video ad:
Viewers were able to click on the video to display a clickable carousel that would inform them on various aspects of the car. Smartzer also partnered with agency, Inskin to develop effective interactive video banner ads for the new Volkswagen Golf model. The "book a test drive" call-to-action was a simplistic way of encouraging brand engagement as the ad generated a 62% engagement rate and a 27% CTR.
Shoppable call-to-actions
Videos can be made shoppable by creating clickable hotspots. Here is an example of Rituals partnership with WIREWAX on a shoppable video:
The "click to shop" call-to-action entices the viewer to view the products in more detail. Once clicked, the product info is displayed and a "shop now" call-to-action shows, taking the viewer to the brands ecommerce to complete the purchase. WIREWAX's interactive, shoppable videos are 32% more memorable than standard video.
Call-to-actions may present themselves as "install now", "learn more", "sign up to mailing list", "visit Instagram" and more.
Trackability
Interactive and shoppable video is easy to measure and track. Every interaction that occurs within the video is reported back to the brand and they can clearly see performance data from their content.
Summary
Interactive and shoppable videos are key tools that agencies should consider implementing into their advertising strategies. Despite all the demonstrated benefits, agencies are still slow to do this. Shoppable advertising doesn't suit all advertisers as it is usually an expensive format to use. However, for retailers like Which.com, M&S and Rituals, shoppable video can suit their objectives and drive conversions. For auto brands like Volkswagen, interactive is used for effective product discovery. At the end of the day, it is unlikely that someone will see a car ad online and instantly "buy now", but they might "book a test drive".
Additionally, a lot of advertiser like to use existing non-shoppable content and make it interactive. This can work, but often to get the most out of the tech, advertisers should create content with shoppability in mind.
In an interview, Smartzer founder, Karoline Gross, explained that often when interactivity is used many advertisers fail to make full use of the data her company feeds back to them. Advertisers may be put off by any negative feedback that they see. She said, "There's probably a reason why a lot of advertising channels only report things like impressions. But if we want more impactful and relevant advertising, the only way we can really get there is by looking at these numbers, even if they're not always great to look at!"
Updated: Jul 2, 2021
Livestream shopping is THE most talked about trend with marketeers at the moment.
But what does live shopping actually involve? How does it work? How can it help brands to drive sales over the next year?
What is live shopping?
Live streaming e-commerce originated in China. Here, large and small businesses have been streaming with influencers to sell products to a live audience. This gives viewers the opportunity to purchase products demonstrated in the live stream, giving rise to a $30bn market in the live streaming space.
The trend gained momentum back in 2019, but this method of streaming commerce had been around for quite a while before then. Now, livestream shopping has become so popular that brands hire actors and influencers to host streams directly from their bricks and mortar shops. Products are sold alongside the streams and the method has proven to be extremely profitable, especially during the global pandemic.
China has become an e-commerce trendsetter, with live shop tech setting the benchmark for every other country in the world. Now, thanks to COVID 19, brands across the globe are harnessing this tech to connect with customers. In 2021, live stream shopping has become a household name amongst marketeers.
How does livestream shopping work?
Livestream shopping works in a similar way to shoppable video. However, instead of tagging a pre-existing video, you create tags before the stream and add them to your stream as you broadcast. As a result, an overlay will be created over the top of your livestream content that consumers can interact with. During the live stream, viewers are able to click on the products, see full details and add these to their cart seamlessly without leaving the live stream. Brands can use this streaming commerce technology across different platforms, including social media.
Due to the unprecedented times, it is expected that livestream technology will grow exponentially over the next year and potentially double the profit it generated last year. Therefore, we can expect more and more brands to get involved with this technology.
The benefits of livestream shopping
Streaming commerce is incredibly profitable and can even help brands save money with content creation.
With shoppable livestreams, brands no longer need to spend loads of money on producing high budget ad campaigns. This is due to the simplicity of the "see now, buy now" ethos of streaming commerce. All brands need to do is select products suited to their consumer who will then willingly engage with the stream. The consumer will learn about the products displayed and purchase them after or during the stream. The organic nature of streaming commerce removes the expectations associated with high production videos. Livestream shopping is supposed to be a real-time personable experience and by using influencers content becomes even more relatable to the consumer.
Streaming commerce helps capture the attention of the consumer in real-time, attracting them to the product and allowing product purchase through the same platform or via a link to the brands e-commerce. This provides an engaging, authentic experience for a consumer. Influencers can help drive conversions as many people look towards the trustworthy opinion of others before buying products.
Following the livestream, brands can save the video and use it as promotional material for those who were unable to attend the event. By allowing consumers to shop live, brands create interactive and profitable content that connects with audiences.
How can I introduce live shopping for my brand?
There are many ways to introduce live shopping. One option is through in-platform formats. Recently, Instagram has released a live shopping format within their app, available in the US, ‘Instagram Live Shopping is available for any Instagram Business accounts that have Checkout capabilities’. Instagram allows users to activate their live shopping tool while streaming, allowing customers to purchase products displayed. Viewers can also interact with the host via a chatroom.
Amazon has introduced 'Amazon Live' which allows viewers to watch and interact with a streaming video and buy the products used from Amazon. Influencers are are taking advantage of this new modality since they can advertise their products in action and answer customer questions in real time. Amazon Live has caught the attention of many and is now one of their most valuable features.
Another highly effective channel for live shopping is brand's own e-commerce sites. Hosting live video shopping sessions on brand's websites has multiple benefits; turning your e-commerce site into a highly engaging content destination, driving higher converion rates as customers watching the live stream are already on your website in the mindset to shop, and the ability to provide customised live shopping experiences to match your brands requirements. Smartzer is the leading platform that supports livestream shopping on e-commerce with instant setup on platforms such as Shopify. Here, you can learn more about how Smartzer's technology works and how brands are using it to add products to their live streams.
Check out an example of Smartzer's stream with Clarks below!
Conclusion:
It is clear that livestream shopping can be highly beneficial for brands and the future of e-commerce. With a variety of modalities to choose from, brands should consider the rapid growth in streaming commerce and the role that it will play in online shopping over the coming years. It seems now is the time to seize the opportunities available to shop live.
If you’d like to know more about how to make your next livestream shoppable feel free to contact us or request a demo.