The Wall Street Journal Mobile Ad Innovation project was established to redefine and raise the quality of mobile advertising. Using WSJ.com and the WSJ mobile apps as our platform, we worked collaboratively with four strategic partners (Amazon, Lexus, Ralph Lauren, SAKS Fifth Avenue) that allowed us to innovate, iterate and break new ground.
The outcome is four new ad formats that provide a rich and engaging experience not found in traditional mobile advertising. By using imagery, video and touch interactions, each format provides a framework for immersive storytelling and brand experiences. Each of the units perform significantly better than their traditional counterparts and saw increases in engagement and user satisfaction.
The four formats include:
Full Screen Carousel
The Full Screen Carousel is a single placement that expands to a full screen experience when tapped. Creative is presented in a carousel and can be imagery, portrait video or a combination of both. A call-to-action button is featured on the last slide of the carousel.
Story Arc
The Story Arc is a combination of three placements throughout a feed or article that share a singular brand narrative. The first placement is a single image with a call-to-action, designed to be the beginning of the story. The second is a carousel with 3–4 images, including a video slide that can expand into a full-screen experience. The last placement is a single image and call-to-action ideal for completing the story and providing a final call-to-action.
Story Unit
The Story Unit is a single placement designed to share a brand narrative in a single placement. The unit includes 5-6 slides that are a combination of images and video. When a video is included, it is shown as an individual slide that can be expanded into a fullscreen experience. Parallax images can also be used to span multiple slides and give the unit a more immersive feel.
Variable Height Unit
The Variable Height Unit is a flexible variation on a traditional unit. Dynamic height allows the unit to adapt to different styles of creative (portrait or landscape) and provides a more visually compelling experience. This unit enables creative to be cropped as it was originally intended. This unit can be particularly effective for vertically oriented products or campaigns.
Marketing Site
As part of the WSJ Mobile Advertising project, a standalone marketing site was also created ‘to document the specifications and finding of each ad formats. Example videos and templates also provide potential advertisers with greater insight into the products.
The design, prototyping and marketing site for this was project was created by Thomas Williams, Cory Etzkorn, Paula Ishihara and Adele Morgan.
