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 😎
Updated: Feb 12, 2021
HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR FACEBOOK AD CAMPAIGNS INTO ENGAGING INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES
Photo: Screencapture of MINI Countryman interactive video.
Objective
Seeing as the dwindling physical connection people have with product discovery is under threat from global pandemic measures, it is more important than ever to provide customers with more engaging and tactile ways to discover products online. For the latest MINI Countryman SUV Campaign, Wavemaker UK sought to buck that trend and provide their audiences with a more engaging and entirely new way to get to know the new car.
Execution
Video: MINI Countryman interactive ad, Instagram user experience.
In preparation for the campaign, the Smartzer custom interactive overlay was used to combine existing MINI Countryman Campaign assets, creating a standalone interactive experience that effortlessly blended with the onsite and Social environments. The interactive player was then placed as a call-to-action URL within the Facebook ads manager on a range of different ad sets and campaigns. Alongside a smart media plan orchestrated by the team at Wavemaker UK the ads were run across the Facebook ad network, for audiences to find and engage with. While interacting with the video, users were able to discover the range of different new features on the car and click-through to the MINI Countryman landing page.
See the user journey below:
Images: MINI Countryman Interactive campaign, Facebook user journey.
Results
Video CTR = over 24%
Conclusion
Many prospective car buyers are avoiding all but essential travel reducing footfall in car dealerships across the UK. One sure way, however, of enticing customers and making up for the reduced footfall is to inspire consumers online earlier on in their product discovery journey. With Smartzer interactive technology the teams at MINI and Wavemaker were able to achieve exactly this. Interactive and shoppable formats have historically been primarily used to reduce the path to purchase, but in times like these, the opportunity to use these technologies to boost engagement and bring audiences closer to the product in industries with large purchase funnels is vast.