Playful pre-roll / Challenging the traditional format of pre-roll ads to drive engagement is a daunting task when you consider pre-rolls are skipped after five seconds 90% of the time. Pre-rolls are typically intrusive and stop the viewer reaching the content they want. So when a brand successfully does something new with this format, you notice. In 2017, Snickers created a pre-roll ad which was also a game, to get people spending more time with the brand. Similarly, US insurance brand Geico chose short, funny ads over the typical TVC format. Crucially, pre-rolls work best when brands design content specifically for the medium. By turning the ‘Skip Ad’ button into a way of expressing an opinion, Danish Crown created a fun way for the viewer to interact with the ad, driving engagement. As a result, the average view time for the ad was 93% longer than the average pre-roll.
Smart targeting / To reach the people who needed to hear Danish Crown’s product quality message most, the brand targeted the demographic on LinkedIn, which is well suited for B2B comms. Compared to the run-of-the-mill pre-roll ads on the professional social site – which mainly consist of CEOs offering interview advice – the brand’s tasty visual stands out. Then, to engage and appeal to chefs, Danish Crown relied on a common personality trait in the profession – pride in one’s work. A chef’s job is about judging the quality of the food they create, so the brand created a scenario where the viewer must choose to skip when the bacon isn’t cooked to (their idea of) perfection, or wait until it is.
Product proof / As well as a compelling way to engage viewers, The Big Danish Bacon Pre-Roll also serves as an appealing product demo. People that spend one, five or 12 minutes watching the bacon cook are staring at Danish Crown’s product looking its best. It’s visual proof that the brand’s product is high quality. The viewer can see that the bacon isn’t showing any typical signs of low-quality meat while it cooks. And while the strategy may not be mind-blowing, the longer you look at a delicious piece of bacon, the more you will think about going out and buying some. Adam Wright at Iris Worldwide made a similar observation when Domino’s asked people to watch a live stream of an ice sculpture melting to win free pizza. ‘At the end of the day, if you talk about Domino's long enough, you really, really fancy ordering a pizza.’
