Blog

When Sony spent 60 million on online advertising in 2013, it was widely discussed in the press. When Playstation and Xbox started battling each other regarding TV ad spend in 2014, Sony’s online advertising efforts were sliding under the radar. It’s time to shed some light on how Sony managed to somewhat secretly run some of the most noteworthy advertising campaigns of 2014 according to Google.

A couple of months ago, Google featured Sony as an example of successful engagement campaigns. In particular, Sony was pointed out for the use of lightbox ads.

Sony's Use of Lightbox Ads

Lightbox ads are created with Google AdWords and are an ad format of engagement campaigns. Lightbox ads are a great way to leverage the power of video on websites outside of YouTube via the Google AdWords Display Network. They are basically like banner ads but upon hovering, they expand into a pop-up like window and play a video. At the same time, the website behind the video window is being greyed out to keep the viewer's attention on the ad.

Sony successfully used lightbox ads to advertise several products including Xperia, 4k Ultra TV and Playstation. Additionally, Sony Pictures advertised the movie trailer of “Annie” with lightbox ads as well.

Using New Ad Formats

There are several lessons advertisers can learn from Sony. One is to experiment with new ad formats as soon as they are launched. Engagement campaigns only rolled out recently and Sony jumped on board sooner than most advertisers. Taking advantage of new ways to advertise before competitors get the hang of it can give any business a competitive edge. Additionally, the risk to explore engagement ads was relatively low because AdWords is already well established and performance can be tracked easily. Additionally, campaigns can be highly customized which reduces unnecessary costs.

Furthermore, Sony used an advertising platform that offers a lot of control regarding budget allocation and targeting. One of the reasons AdWords is so popular is because you can see and control daily ad spend and bids, when the ad is shown, and who is viewing the ads. Besides the fact that this makes it easy to remove unprofitable traffic sources, it makes it easy to significantly scale campaigns within a matter of days.

Online Video Advertisements

Last but not least, Sony invested in video, one of the most engaging ways to advertise. Video conversion rates are usually high and costs per view are anywhere between 2 and 10 cents. This beats most cost-per-click based advertising formats, especially when it comes to competitive industries like B2B services and law. According to YuMe, Sony has increased spending on video advertising last year to better market their brand — as has Microsoft, much to Sony’s despair.

Video campaigns can be paid or free depending on the traffic source. Typical platforms for video advertising include Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, AdWords, Yahoo!, tumblr and Facebook. JCPenny has recognized the power of video and is following in Sony’s footsteps. The company recently ran a video campaign via Twitter with a cost-per-view of $0.04 and mentioned that it was the most successful social media campaign they ever had.

Famous examples of successful video campaigns run via Google include the #ALSIceBucketChallenge which was integrated with Facebook and triggered more than 2.4 million challenge videos (YouTube and Facebook combined). Also successful is the Always #LikeAGirl campaign which resulted in 53.3M views for the original video on YouTube alone.

If you are not running video campaigns yet or would like to check on your competitors to create an ever-so-competitive campaign Sony style, take advantage of Semrush and find the exact keywords competitors are currently betting on.

Do you have any questions or success stories about advertising with lightbox ads and video campaigns? Please share with us in the comments!

Innovative SEO services

SEO is a patience game; no secret there. We`ll work with you to develop a Search strategy focused on producing increased traffic rankings in as early as 3-months.

A proven Allinclusive. SEO services for measuring, executing, and optimizing for Search Engine success. We say what we do and do what we say.

Our company as Semrush Agency Partner has designed a search engine optimization service that is both ethical and result-driven. We use the latest tools, strategies, and trends to help you move up in the search engines for the right keywords to get noticed by the right audience.

Today, you can schedule a Discovery call with us about your company needs.

Source: