Brian Prows, of the IM-Mobile Podcast, recently interviewed Tom Foran, Crisp's Chief Revenue Officer, about mobile advertising.  Listen to Brian and Tom discuss rich media, mobile advertising tracking, and the state of the industry over at the IM-Mobile blog or subscribe on iTunes to catch up on all the episodes. 

Are you a publisher whose mobile website has a very targeted, loyal audience but gets relatively modest traffic?  If your mobile site receives under five million page views per month, the site sponsorship is your best move.  Even higher-trafficked sites can utilize sponsorships of site sections.

A mobile website sponsorship can provide a much more impactful brand experience than any level of banner ad buys.  At Crisp, we work with publishers and advertisers to create a very custom experience.  This includes skinning the site in the sponsor’s colors, creating fixed placement ad units, and offering “brought to you by” branding.  Combine these with some of Crisp’s rich media ad units such as the home page takeover or location-aware banners ads and you can offer an advertiser something really interesting in mobile.

We recently worked with Fast Company to create a mobile site sponsorship package for Lexus to promote its Lexus IS Convertible.  Fast Company readers are savvy professionals with a passion for technology and design.  Lexus was able to tap into this audience through an exclusive site sponsorship that included a full-screen, homepage takeover ad unit, expandable ads and integration of the Lexus logo and colors into the mobile site design. The campaign performed very well, including a >10 percent click-thru rate (CTR) on the homepage ad.

So don’t relegate your inventory to ad networks for measly CPM rates.  Talk to Crisp about how we can help you create mobile ad sponsorship packages to maximize your mobile revenue and offer your advertisers lasting value.
 

While standard MMA banners may deliver higher click-thru-rates (CTRs) than online, they fail to deliver on the full promise of mobile advertising. This is why more brands are experimenting with ‘beyond the banner’ mobile advertising options and more and more vendors and agencies are innovating on engaging ad units.

When designing a rich media mobile advertising experience, you need to walk a very fine line between engaging the user and annoying them. After delivering some very compelling mobile advertising campaigns for major film studios, automotive manufacturers, and financial services companies, we have settled on some best practices that deliver results that please advertisers and publishers while creating a novel, enjoyable, and informative experience for the consumer.

Best Practices for Mobile Advertising – Full Screen Ads

Full screen ad units are a great solution for brands looking to extend existing campaigns into mobile in a way that makes a big impact. Agencies can take existing, pre-approved IAB standard 300x250 ad units and serve them as full screen home page takeovers or interstitials on smart phones. However, they can also be confusing to a user that hasn’t experienced this type of interaction on their mobile phone before. Some simple steps to take include:

1. Frequency Capping – the first time the ad appears it is interesting, the second, it is an annoyance. You need to frequency cap to limit impressions to no more than one to two a day per visitor.
2. ‘Layer’ the Ad – use a gradient or other creative technique to make sure the site is still visible beneath the ad, so the user doesn’t think they’ve arrived at the wrong destination.
3. Ability to Skip – offer the ability for a user to skip the ad. This is common practice online and intuitive to users if made visible.
4. Time Out – the ad unit could time out after approximately 7 to 10 seconds, so without taking any action the user is still directed to the content.

Using these best practices, we have been serving full screen home page takeovers and site interstitials that deliver upwards of 20 percent click through rates. Mobile advertising is real and it is working. Just ask us.