Creating Effective Mobile Advertising Campaigns This document pertains specifically to creating Mobile Display Ad Campaigns running on the Google Ads network. It is intended to provide recommendations for creating effective rich media campaigns, including strategy for translating traditional desktop campaigns into the mobile environment, as well as general design guidelines and implementation specs. (For detailed specs for all ad units please visit http://creative.admob.com/specs/) VERSION 04 : MARCH 26, 2012
Strategic Recommendations The Mobile environment is different then desktop. People are phyiscally out in the world engaged in activities, their connectivity can be inconsistent and their attention is divided. It is important to keep these factors in mind when strategizing and designing mobile ad units. Be Fast and Load Quickly Connection speeds are slower on mobile devices, and the signal can fluctuate while a user is interacting with a banner, an interstitial or a site. You can t rely on a user to wait long for content to load or actions be processed. This means units must load quickly, file sizes should be limited and pre-loaders or pre-loading experience should be incorporated. Be Useful and Actionable Users are already shopping with their mobile device, make it easy for them to respond by providing useful information or tools to make purchases or find products. Utilize location based data and provide store locations, directions, product availability and contact info. Incorporate social networks to make content more sticky. Be Clear and Concise Space and time are limited for users interacting with content on their mobile devices, the message of a campaign should be simple, short and easily understood. People will not stick around to read lengthy copy or extensive details, they want pertinant information first and then the ability to dig deeper if they want more information. Copy sizes should be large enough to read at arms distance. Small text won t be as easily engaged with. Be Engaging and Entertaining Design for interruptions and short spurts of activity. People use their mobile devices during times of waiting or in transport. They are looking for ways to entertain themselves. Mobile video and game content are among the top mobile content consumed. Apply gamification techniques to increase engagement between an audience, the brand and an ad unit.,
Be Fast and Load Quickly Mobile connection speeds fluctuate User s attention is divided Provide interactivity or payoff quickly Loading screen to indicate something is happening Interstitials or site should load quickly File sizes should be as low as possible Or incorporate a pre-loader or pre-loading experience Recommended File Size: HTML 5 Banners: Max 100k Full Page Expandables/Graphical Interstitials 500k (graduated download) Video : Max 30 seconds, 300k ipad executions have more bandwidth as users are often on wireless connections.
Be Clear and Concise Headlines should be short and to the point Body copy should be limited to high level useful information Provide links to more detailed info for those who want more Type must be large enough to read at arms length Small text is not as easily engaged with Recommended Type Sizes Header copy is recommended between 16 and 24pts Body copy no smaller than 11pts. Legal or disclaimer copy can be 8pts HEADER COPY LARGE ENOUGH TO READ
Be Useful and Actionable Include a clear Call to Action, Users are more likely to click with a mobile applicable Call to Action Make the CTA feel tappable or look like a button CLEAR AND TAPPABLE CALLS TO ACTION Integrate interactions and payoffs that align with user behavior, such as: - Compare Prices, - Locate Store, - Read Reviews and Product Information - Get Directions - Share with Friends. Call to Action Specs Thumb/finger friendly Lower right hand corner Must feel Tappable Minimum hit size of 33 x 33px. Ideal hit size of 44 x 44 px CALL TO ACTION IN LOWER RIGHT HAND CORNER
Be Engaging and Entertaining People use mobile devices to entertain themselves during down time Videos and games are the top in mobile content consumption Utilize gamification when possible and relevant Video content and intro animations should be short or user-initiated GAME TO TEST YOUR BARISTA SKILLs Examples: Badass Baristas http://creative.admob.com/t1/vertical_templates/ent/ 500c Motors http://creative.admob.com/t1/vertical_templates/autos/
Navigation and Dimensions Design for variability in height For Mobile Sites keep key navigation in upper area of unit Maintain clearspace in top left corner on FPX/GI Navigation should be finger friendly Tappable area min 33px tall, ideally 44px CLEARSPACE IN TOP LEFT NAVIGATION IN UPPER PORTION OF UNIT Dimensions (see following pages for visual diagram) ios FPX/GI : 320 x 480px ios Landing Page/Mobile Site (in-app browser): 320 x 437px ios Landing Page/Mobile Site (Safari) : 320 x 358px ios Landing Page/Mobile Site (Safari w/out nav bar) : 320 x 417px Android Landing Page/Mobile Site : 320 x 427px ranging up to 569px Android FPX/GI : 320 x 427px ranging up to 569px Orientation If applicable design for both portrait and landscape Or lock the orientation FINGER FRIENDLY HIT SIZE MIN 33PX TALL
Dimensions: iphone Visible Area The visible dimensions of a unit are dependent upon where the traffic is coming from and the environment in which they are served. 320 x 480 no browser bar scrollable 320 x 437 browser bar at bottom scrollable 320 x 358 browser bar at top and bottom scrollable 320 x 417 browser bar at bottom iphone status bar at top scrollable Full Page Expandable/ Graphical Interstitial (served from a banner in a mobile application or served when an app is launched) Landing Page/ Mobile Site (accessed from a FPX or GI or a banner served in an application) Landing Page/ Mobile Site (accessed from a banner in a mobile site) Landing Page/ Mobile Site (accessed from mobile YouTube)
Dimensions: Android Visible Area 320x480 (depending on device ranging to up to 569px tall) no browser bar scrollable 320x427 (depending on device ranging to up to 569px tall) browser bar at top Android bar at top scrollable Full Page Expandable/ Graphical Interstitial (served from a banner in a mobile application) Landing Page/ Mobile Site (served from an app or mobile web)
Dimensions: ipad 1024 x 724 in-app browser bar scrollable 768 x 980 in-app browser bar scrollable Full Page Expandable/Graphical Interstitial (served from an ipad banner in an ipad application) Full Page Expandable/Graphical Interstitial (served from an ipad banner in an ipad application)
Dimensions: Android Tablets 1280 x 800 in-app browser bar 1024 x 600 in-app browser bar Full Page Expandable/Graphical Interstitial (served from an ipad banner in an ipad application) Full Page Expandable/Graphical Interstitial (served from an ipad banner in an ipad application)
Interaction Principles When designing interactions for mobile devices it is important to consider the hand-held nature of the experience. The interaction is touch and gesture oriented (swipes, taps, drawing, etc.) which are not done with a mouse. This requires larger target areas, visible content and actions, rather than mouseover or hover actions, which designers often rely on for desktop sites. The possible actions should also be explicit, (native conventions in ios don t always translate across platform) so provide users with hints such as an autoplay swipe carousel or an intro animation showing the interaction. Capabilities There are rich new capabilities on mobile devices that allow for different interactions between people, data and their physical surroundings such as multi-touch input, GPS location, device positioning from an accelerometer, integrated audio and video. These capabilities are supported differently across the various operating systems and ad serving platforms. Please see the following table for some examples of capabilities within the Google Ads Platform.. SOCIAL GAMES MONETIZATION INTERACTIVITY PLATFORM Android ios 360 View Swipeable Image Gallery Swipeable Video Gallery Video Inline Video Timer Countdown Accelerometer Click to Call Click to Buy Click to Calendar Click to SMS Store Locator Click to Youtube Slot Machine Drag and Drop Memory Twitter Feed Googleplus Feed Facebook Feed X X X