Can you believe that it was just a year ago with Ad Age was questioning the viability of Instagram ads ?
… just because in-stream ads worked on Facebook doesn’t mean they’ll also work on Instagram, regardless of how artfully they are made. For one thing, the Instagram experience is more focused, forcing users’ attention onto a single image perfectly framed by a smartphone screen before they can scroll past. Ads will be more conspicuous there, which is what’s attractive to marketers but also potentially disruptive to users.
Now with the variety of images being created by brands specifically for Instagram it seems that users have begun to embrace ads in their feeds. Albeit, Instagram is going to have to offer more than targeting by age and gender if they want to continue progressing their ad service.
Below are just a few recent examples of Instagram ads popping up from the country of Turkey to non-profit Charity Water. It seems that these feed invaders are here to stay and continuing to grow. Users can just hope that the photography will continue to evolve as fast as the brands signing up.
1) @turkey_home puts their best tourist foot forward with breathtaking images of country landmarks.
2) It’s hard to imagine @charitywater having the advertising dollars for the normal minimum, so we’re hoping Instagram is cutting deals for non-profits.
3) @nestletollhouse joined Instagram a little over a year ago and is sitting at a low 9.9k followers. We can assume their sponsored ad were as much as a play at brand awareness as building new followers. With their playful, tongue-in-cheek approach to content creation we can bet they’ll see success.
4) Who doesn’t remember when @weightwatchers popped up in their feed? It left you wondering if Instagram was trying to tell you something. But with their punny captions and compelling photos many may have stopped for a double take and pondered their weight.
5) We’re not quite sure if this @wendys ad is pure genius or a little bit insulting. Is this terribly dressed guy supposed to be embodying a real hipster, or is he supposed to be posing as a hipster wannabe”? Either way I’m sure the fast food population didn’t stop to think twice.
6) Yes @nesteausa I do want to refresh with friends…but you only have 660 and I don’t want to look at your weird photos with logos slapped all over them.
