For over 15 years Rich Media has been the umbrella term for interactive advertising formats that search the boundaries between technical limitations and topnotch digital craft. Rich Media advertising in its advanced form still does that today and offers creative agencies the advertising playground to come up with tomorrows standards.
Programmatic as an opportunity
Because of its legacy, Rich Media is perceived as technically difficult and expensive and therefore requires big budgets in production and media. In a sense that is true for more advanced campaigns but for many formats there is an accessible setup where the learning curve for production is flat and inventory through programmatic buying is available for any budget.
Because of the standardization and accessibility programmatic buying has brought, Rich Media formats are within reach for any buyer with access to inventory. Over the last years there have been programmatic formats like Automated Page Takeover, Mobile Swipecube, Mobile Interscroller and more that have proven to be evergreens that last. As a result these evergreens have a standard set up that work well by design and to lower the bar for any advertiser that is still in doubt about using Rich Media there is now a website to find out by yourself if you want to get started.
Start easy and become advanced
On this new "easy rich media" website, anyone can give it a try to upload and test their first Rich Media design and get familiar with how the brand leaves an impact. It works just with images and video that most brands already have and .psd templates are available. I advise anyone who is still questioning how Rich Media adds value, to kick-off with your first designs and maybe run a first campaign on a budget to become more comfortable with the offer. More importantly, it might encourage you to explore your skills and become an advanced Rich Media specialist and start defining tomorrows standards yourself. I will be happy to guide the way.
Bastiaan van der Geer: bastiaan@weborama.nl.
