ThingLink and Viewbix

ThingLink

I first learned about ThingLink during my summer internship at AdGent Digital. Cameron Yuill (CEO and Founder of AdGent) invited me to lunch with ThingLink’s Chief Marketing Officer, Neil Vineberg. The purpose of the lunch was to discuss a new wave of innovative marketing: transforming still image ads into interactive tools that encourage audience engagement. ThingLink allows for the implementation of links from various platforms: YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and SoundCloud. Embedded videos and SoundCloud tracks can even be played directly from the ad, so there are no annoying page transfers.  ThinkLink also offers a real-time analytics system that tracks user engagement. This helps administrators analyze their successful and not-so successful campaigns.

As you can see below, my stats were highest while I was actively creating campaigns in June and July.

ThinkLink real-time analytics

After I had lunch with Cameron and Neil, I immediately began to use ThingLink on Rateable‘s Tumblr (Rateable is AdGent’s iPhone app that I was in charge of promoting). Not only is ThingLink incredibly easy to use, it’s also quite fun. I was amazed at the number of ‘clicks’ and ‘hovers’ I had in a matter of hours. I also learned that there is a strategy to using ThingLink for high-end marketing campaigns. I created numerous ThingLink mock-ups for AdGent’s various Fortune 500 clients. This involved a lot of research which included: learning the company’s latest marketing campaigns, the company’s latest videos relating to those campaigns, the company’s most relevant websites relating to those campaigns, any positive press relating to those campaigns, and the company’s various social-media accounts. I then had to implement all these links strategically into the still image. One important rule about ThingLink is that you have to choose your links wisely. Don’t saturate the image with a million tags. Be specific with your ad campaign and tell your story coherently.

Here’s a good example from ThingLink’s blog

ThingLink in action

Viewbix

Although ThingLink is an amazing platform it lacks in one area, video ad marketing. ThingLink is only applicable for still image ads. Needless to say when I discovered Viewbix this morning I was pretty stoked. Viewbix (either by coincidence or tact) filled the job that needed to be done in interactive video marketing. Viewbix is exactly like ThingLink, but for videos. Links can be embedded into a video in the top right corner, and audiences can engage with these icons while watching the video. According to Viewbix “More than 20% of the viewers who watch a video in a Viewbix click on the call to action button. More than 40% engage with at least one of the apps inside the player itself.” Viewbix also offers a real-time analytics system that allows administrators to track audience engagement.

Final thoughts on both platforms

ThingLink and Viewbix lead us further from the old days of boring ad text and disjointed company websites. Interactive ads are the new wave of online marketing, where images and videos uniquely and concisely tell the story of your brand. Interactive ads are a one-stop-shop for audiences who should know more about who you are and what you do. By implementing both platforms into your online marketing campaigns, you show audiences that you’re down with what’s new in social media. These days it’s all about staying ahead of the game and riding the wave of new innovations.