Are Brands Closing In On The Answer To Skip Ads With Conversation Media Marketing?

What feeling does this visual evoke? A smile and a lot of childhood memories.

It’s the iconic Dhara refined oil ad. Most of the teens in the late '90s could relate to jalebi eating as almost a ritual during festivals or special occasions, and bargaining with their mother for that extra piece.

Add to this relatability, a cute storyline and boom, you got a memorable and evergreen ad.

In that era, when Linear TVs used to be the only mode of entertainment, a brand’s ability to do compelling storytelling used to be a game-changer. People viewed ads as stories and talked about them later, which led to viral word-of-mouth promotion.

But as we know, times have changed. With the internet, we have more content to gobble than we need or want. This swarm of content relegated these humble ads, from entertaining content to an intrusive element.

Most of the viewers today have their hands hovering over the skip-ad button, which is an option on most digital platforms or change channels during a commercial break time on Linear TV.

Yet there are some ads that we watch, talk about, chat about and share on social media.

Like this Dove's real beauty sketch campaign. It’s hard to not connect with the ad as it tugs tightly with our value system - that each of us looks up to others and underestimate ourselves.

Or this recent Cadbury Dairy Milk remake of a 90's Cadbury Ad made with an interesting feminist twist.

Now, let’s take a step back and understand the purpose of ads.

The goal of an ad is to drive sales. The immediate outcomes might vary depending on which stage of the consumer purchase journey is the ad made for.

A top of the funnel activation aims to build awareness and recall, while a bottom of the funnel activation aims to drive purchase or CTA (call to action).

A TV commercial is a top of the funnel activation which intends to make users emotionally connect with the brand story - what a brand is, what it stands for, etc.

With the evolution of content consumption and newborn skip ad tendencies, brands need an innovative medium to reach out to the audience and engage them without being intrusive.

Three factors that make users engage with an ad today.

• Relevance - is the ad content relevant to the lifestyle and value system of the target audience that the brand wants to focus on?

• Creativity - is the creative language used in the ad interesting enough to spare a moment in watching it?

• Timing - is the ad being served at the right moment?

As traditional TV started losing ground in meeting these objectives, digital platforms filled this gap. With their precise targeting capabilities, they have been helping brands target the right users and achieve their marketing objectives.

One problem these social media platforms still couldn’t solve was the timing.

Imagine a user listening to a business growth podcast on Spotify and being served with a Big basket ad. She would be least interested in engaging with the ad since she is not thinking about the grocery delivery service. Translation: the user intent is not around grocery so she feels her thought process has been interrupted. Thus, the ad will probably not achieve a favourable outcome.

Conversation Media Marketing As A Solution

Conversation media marketing allows contextual integration of brands in everyday conversations, which users do on chat platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram chat, Messenger, etc.

Imagine yourself speaking to a friend about binge-watching, content (like emojis, stickers, and memes) around your favourite show is suggested to you, which you can choose to share.

Apart from being unique, brands find this solution useful for three reasons:

• The timing - the content gets to the user at the perfect time. Hence, their inclination to go down the purchase funnel is higher.

• Better reach - the user is not just viewing the content but also sharing it with friends or family, which multiplies the reach and engagement.

• Lasting Recall - And the content share means users actually find it appealing enough to share with their loved ones. The users also love sharing branded content, as it helps them convey a complex idea or thought in a creative and visual manner, which enhances their communication experience.

One of the best things about conversation media marketing is that it brings back the culture of word-of-mouth promotion with the least effort.

Like, this prime video sticker marketing campaigns they made for Cinderella in collaboration with Bobble AI. The stickers are so versatile that they can fit right into everyday conversations.

McDonald’s also did a campaign where it leveraged Friendship Day and Independence Day themes creatively with conversation media marketing. In just 15 days, over 400,000 users shared these stickers across platforms.

Bobble AI is a major player in the Conversation media space. Over the last year, it has helped brands across categories, small and big, create immense value through the platform.

Is conversation media marketing the answer to solve the skip ad tendencies? Yes, to a significant extent. The brands always need to be on their toes to leverage the best marketing channels that help them achieve the brand objectives.