New Mobile Ad Units Will Speak To Consumers, Literally

Phone-8ball-BIf a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s the value of a voice? That’s what Madison Avenue is about to find out as one of the biggest developers of voice and language translation technologies releases a new mobile advertising format enabling brands to literally talk one-on-one with consumers. The format, dubbed Voice Ads, is being rolled out by Nuance Communications, the same company that powers natural language voice programming for Google Voice and Apple’s Siri, and it’s already looking at applications for other media, including out-of-home and television.
 
The new mobile voice formats have already been beta tested by three major shops -- OMD, Digitas and Leo Burnett -- and have become part of the offering of one major mobile rich media advertising platform, Celtra.
 
The new formats overcome a major barrier for marketers seeking to reach on-the-go mobile media users, especially on small screens where text or even rich media banners just won’t cut it. Instead of relying on the screen to communicate, the ads enable brands to literally talk to consumers.
 
At least three major mobile ad networks -- Millennial Media, Jumptap and Opera Mediaworks -- have agreed to offer the Voice Ads formats.
6 comments about "New Mobile Ad Units Will Speak To Consumers, Literally".
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  1. Mike Einstein from the Brothers Einstein, April 1, 2013 at 12:18 p.m.

    We've now gone from figuratively turning up the noise to literally doing so. I can see folks now in the grocery aisles yelling "shut the f__k up!" at their smartphones.

  2. Anthony Baker from Technorati Media, April 1, 2013 at 1:21 p.m.

    As long as the audio remains user-initiated, these ads could offer a higher degree of engagement with less attention required directly towards the device. Of course if they're as annoying as interactive phone trees or "personal automated assistants," expect to see consumers walking down the street screaming "Yes, yes, YES, I said YES" into their mobile devices. The sweet sound of progress.

  3. Srini Dharmaji from GoldSpot Media, April 1, 2013 at 1:28 p.m.

    Interesting to see if these voice ads are auto-play or need to be clicked. And how this is different from Radio ads. There is technology available to play only the audio portion of video ads, which in essence delivers the same effect.

    Agree with your comment on static banners, but, the statement on rich media banners is presumptuous. Celtra's brand of rich media banners may not cut it, but, there are other compelling rich media banners that are delivering to advertisers.

  4. Cece Forrester from tbd, April 1, 2013 at 5:21 p.m.

    Oh, just we need. More random noise added to the public cacophony as we walk down the street trying ever harder to mind our own business and not succeeding as perfect strangers appear to address us. Now every marketer in the world will pile on. And do you doubt the SFX will take obnoxiousness to new heights?

    I hereby request someone come up with technology (perhaps combining that ingenious TV-B-Gone remote with whatever it is that makes noise-canceling headphones work) that can put REALITY on mute. I would pay good money for it!

  5. Cece Forrester from tbd, April 1, 2013 at 6:28 p.m.

    make that "just what we need."

  6. Kris Patel from Zig Marketing, April 2, 2013 at 2:58 p.m.

    I agree with Anthony Baker. Hopefully the ad units will be user initiated or at least mutable. This type of unit also makes me wonder how successful it could be seeing as many devices are kept on silent, especially those in business, school, etc. This kind of technology could lead to disruption of the negative sort, not good for many of our brands. Albeit if Gilbert Gottfreid were to interrupt my day with a candid reminder to purchase that book sitting on my Amazon wish-list I wouldn't mind it much.

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