Many advertisers incorporate social elements in their ads but lose the magic of the social experience in the process. Our goal is to capture the magic of social and make ads feel like content experiences. That authenticity sets us apart and drives great results.
There are a number of benefits to adding social elements to ads. But, adding social elements in inauthentic ways won't capture attention.
When social elements lose their luster:
Spaceback's approach focuses on the authentic social experience. It's not about fitting social content into an ad; it's about creating a more authentic experience for the audience by bringing this social content to life outside of the walled gardens. It's about having ad creative that resonates, performs, and engages users.
But what does it mean to have an "authentic" social ad? It means running a piece of content programmatically where the creative isn't an afterthought but rather the primary focus of the ad. Let's take a look at a few examples below.
First up, we have three images from Buick. The image in the middle is the original Instagram story. The image on the left looks a lot like a standard banner ad despite having some elements that were pulled from the Instagram story. It has a high-quality image of the car but lots of text overlays that distract from main content.
On the right, we have a Spaceback Social Display ad creative. Immediately, you can see the compelling social elements like the brand profile and avatar (including the brand verified checkmark), number of likes and comments, and the caption with a hashtag. There's also a call to action to "Learn More" that brings you to the product page, but it's important to note that clicking on the social elements will also bring you to the original social media post. Which ad would be more memorable to you?
Now, let's take a look at these Tarte Cosmetics CTV ad creatives. The above creative is something we're seeing a bit more frequently across CTV. The video is definitely compelling, showing a creator testing out a new product, but it doesn't necessarily appear to originate from a social platform. It just looks like a cheaper production video shot on an iPhone that's showcasing a new product.
Now, let's focus on this Spaceback Social CTV example of the same video. It includes all the familiar elements from Instagram Reels (social metadata, brand avatar, profile information, caption, etc.), so you can immediately tell that it came from Instagram. Plus, there's the inclusion of a QR code and the product on the side, really filling out the additional space provided when working with vertical video on the television screen, in addition to making this a shoppable creative. Taken all together, it captures the magic of social. And, it has a high-production value and really appears to be a premium TV ad.
Spaceback helps advertisers capture more attention by unlocking social content on the open web and on CTV. 86% of consumers have banner blindness, meaning they scroll right past ads without a second thought (Publift). We encourage you to choose the compelling content, not the safe content; the performance will speak for itself (just check out some of our case studies).
