Dive Brief:
- Due to constraints of auto-play and mobile video, advertisers are now facing the challenge of having to grab viewers' attention within three seconds and often with no sound.
- Some ad creators -- like Ben & Jerry's and Hotels.com -- have developed ads that work around the lack of sound.
- Other brands are focusing those first three seconds, betting it is enough time to compel the viewer to turn the sound on, like the Capital One spot where Jennifer Garner appears to be tapping on the screen and a volume graphic appears.
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Posted by Ben & Jerry's on Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Dive Insight:
Advertising creatives are doing what they do best. They are having to get creative in the face of the newest change and challenge to ads: the mute button. Traditional methods that have worked for television -- delayed product reveal, slow-ad, surprise ending, recognizable song, etc -- don't work when the user is scrolling through a mobile device and only sees the ad for a few seconds.
Ad makers are having to adjust to the lack of sound, innovating ad spots that turn the tables around through text and celebrity appearances, challenging users to flip on the sound.
Mark D’Arcy, chief creative officer of Facebook’s Creative Shop, told the Wall Street Journal, “We are definitely moving away from disruption to discovery in video ads. The burden of interest is on the creator.” (Facebook is one of the primary places where ad makers encounter the muted scenario.) He suggests this "burden" also presents an opportunity for marketers, as autoplay ads online can generally run longer -- so if you can hook viewer in those first three seconds, you have plenty of time.