Timberland & Quaker Oats testing new ad formats from PadSquad to stand out on mobile

New York-based PadSquad is aiming to shake things up in the mobile ad creative world. The firm — platform meets creative agency — is focused on creating new rich media formats for mobile. It counts Intel, Verizon, The Home Depot, L’Oréal, Cover Girl, PepsiCo and Best Buy among its customers. On Wednesday, it launched five new formats.

PadSquad ads follow the tenets of native in-stream ads — show in-line with the content, complement the site’s environment — while adding the element of user control and creative tailored to the brand.

“As the mobile ad industry moves toward increasingly automated and easily scalable solutions, who is left focusing in on the creative?” asks Daniel Meehan, founder and CEO of PadSquad. “Everyone is trying to solve mobile advertising’s problems with technology, but few are taking the time to overlay iterative creative solutions in tandem with ad tech. We’re having fun shaking things up.”

For Timberland, PadSquad developed an ad to promote the flexibility of the brand’s SensorFlex Comfort System. A short preview of the ad below hints at the user control aspect of the ad that occurs after a user expands it. Scrolling and shaking or tilting the device lets the user create a “virtual flex test.” The unit is performing 143 percent higher than PadSquad’s overall engagement rate and beating Celtra’s retail industry benchmark for expandable mobile ads by 307 percent, according to PadSquad.

Quaker Oats has just begun testing PadSquads’ new Chatter Bot unit. Delivered in-stream, users can interact with the ad unit to get recipe recommendations.

The formats introduced Wednesday are:

• Mosaic: A full-screen format that includes an infinite vertical scroll of the creative canvas, enabling brands to create an interactive content hub.
• Chatter Bot: Integrates chatbot technology into mobile ads with a predetermined, brand-safe conversational decision tree. See the Quaker Oats example above.
• Glide: Introduces an intriguing brand element via a timed creative “peek” to build curiosity.
• Reveal: Native, in-line rich media format that naturally reveals itself at natural break point in the article stream.
• Switch Screen: Uses device orientation changes to tell a brand story via sequential messaging.

CBS, Complex Media, Hearst and Perch are among the company’s supply partners.

“The standard approach to mobile in-stream ads disrupt user experiences and don’t leave positive impressions on consumers,” said Meehan. “We take a multi-dimensional, interactive and unique approach to each brand we work with to transform new mobile ad formats into customized brand experiences.”

About The Author

Ginny Marvin

As Third Door Media’s paid media reporter, Ginny Marvin writes about paid online marketing topics including paid search, paid social, display and retargeting for Search Engine Land and Marketing Land. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She provides search marketing and demand generation advice for ecommerce companies and can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.