This social media hiatus has me reading more long form content on the inter webs. The advertising geek in me always notices the ads around articles, especially on mobile.
I peep the creative, the user experience (to hell with impossible close buttons, the IAB sees it all!), & the ads in relation to the article.
Last week I came across an R.Kelly article because the algos pay attention to click bait things I read. As I scrolled down I saw some Showtime ads featuring my boys Desus & Mero. Being the territorial Bronx woman that I am, I immediately thought "wtf?!". Rational, advertising professional me said "This is a programmatic buy, there's no way OMD purchased a take over on Newsweek specifically on the R.Kelly story".
Based on the ad, this is a 100% an acquisition play. The CTA is actionable for non-members (even though Im already a member so the targeting is off) while utilizing their latest hit show that is topical and FOMO in nature. You know, the kind of show that keeps convos going at the water cooler and if you missed it just grab your water and peace out.
The strategy makes sense and programmatic lets you do that at scale. What you sacrifice is targeting control where your ads may or may not end up against controversial articles. You could argue that in todays world, every article is bound to be labeled controversial depending on which side of the issues you sit on.
Strategy aside, I love the boys and the brand too much to ignore this miss.
Tell their people to call OMD and negatively target key words to avoid their ads showing up against R. Kelly articles.
Oh & uh tune in every Thursday because the brand is strong! JM.
