TV is still the primary medium for generating consumer awareness. But, as Cory Treffiletti points out in a MediaPost blog post, online video is the primary outlet for consumer interaction and one of the “strongest support vehicles TV will ever have.”

Increasingly, advertisers who want to effectively build their brands and convey their messages will need to combine the reach and impact of TV with the interactivity of online.

That, as you’ve discovered, is where the power of the Mixpo platform lies. Using the platform, you can bridge the TV-online gap for advertisers by taking their existing TV spots, adding interactivity, and running them online as Xspots.

The key step in that bridging process is “adding interactivity.” The more strategically you take advantage of the interactive possibilities Xspots offer, the more effective those Xspots will be.

A strategic approach to Xspot interactivity involves:

• Clarifying the advertiser’s goals.
• Adding engaging overlays.
• Identifying the appropriate clickthrough URL.
• Customizing the INFO menu.
• Performance testing different versions.

Clarify the advertiser’s goals

The most important step in defining an Xspot response strategy is clarifying the advertiser’s goals. Unless you clearly understand the desired response, you can’t possibly build an effective strategy for generating it.

For example, an auto dealer’s primary objective may be to generate enthusiasm for a new hybrid SUV and drive more dealership traffic.

An insurance company may want to localize a national campaign by providing viewers in all parts of the country with contact information for their closest agents.

With specific objectives like these in mind, you’re ready to move to the next step, adding engaging overlays.

If you’re creating your first Xspot, you might want to take a look at What do I need to get started?”.

Add engaging overlays

Overlays are interactive text, image, and video elements that you add on top of the visual content of an Xspot. They are also your primary tool for achieving an advertiser’s objectives. Need more of an introduction to overlays?

Text and video overlays in an expanded Xspot

Watch the entire baseball Xspot in context.

You have a lot of control over how overlays look and behave. The following examples give you a taste of what’s possible.

Knowing that the auto dealer wants to increase awareness of the new hybrid SUV and drive dealership traffic, you might propose adding overlays that invite viewers to sign up for a test drive. For example, you might animate a transparent image overlay of the new SUV so it appears to drive on to the screen, at which point a text overlay appears with the test drive invitation. Viewers who click the overlays open a lead capture form where they provide their names, email addresses, and test drive appointment times.

To the insurance Xspot, you might add overlays that contain variables tied to a data file that lists agent names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and zip codes. In response to a viewer’s IP address, the overlay dynamically displays the contact information for the closest agent.

Want to see more overlays in action? Visit the Xspot Gallery.

Identify the appropriate clickthrough URL

If you filled out the advertiser’s Profile, the clickthrough URL you provided in the Profile is automatically associated with the new Xspot. For example, the Profile clickthrough URL might be the advertiser’s home page.

When you create a new Xspot, be sure to confirm that these Profile defaults make sense in the context of the Xspot’s objective.

Because the clickthrough URL is the URL for the webpage that opens when viewers click anywhere in the Xspot, it’s particularly important to get that URL right. For example, for its test drive sign up Xspot, the auto dealer might prefer a clickthrough URL that directs viewers to a page devoted to the new hybrid SUV.

For more information about setting the clickthrough URL, see How do I link to specific webpages?

Customize the INFO menu

Every Xspot automatically includes an INFO menu. Options on the menu give viewers additional opportunities to interact.

By default, the INFO menu includes two interactive options:

• Contact Us.
• More Info.

The URL and email address that you provided when you created the Xspot are automatically associated with the Contact Us and More Info options.

To increase the likelihood that viewers will click the options, it’s best to customize them. For example, in the auto dealer Xspot, you might want to customize More Info to say Find Us! and link the option to a map to the dealership’s location.

In the insurance Xspot, you might want to customize Contact Us! (as shown in the following image) to say Email [Agent's Name], where the agent’s name and receiving email address are generated dynamically in response to a viewer’s geographic location.

Customized INFO menu in an expanded Xspot

Watch the entire insurance Xspot in context.

For step-by-step instructions for customizing the INFO menu, see Can I customize the Player INFO menu?

Performance test different versions

One of the best ways to make Xspot interactivity as effective as possible is to compare the performance of different calls to action.

For example, the auto dealer’s goal is to raise awareness of the new SUV model and drive dealership traffic. One possible way to achieve that goal is to give Xspot viewers the opportunity to sign up to test drive the new model.

Other possibilities include offering viewers 0% financing or a cash back incentive when they download a coupon from the dealer’s website.

The only way to know which offer has more appeal is to randomly present them to viewers and see which generates the most response.

In the Mixpo platform, it’s easy to run Xspot versions simultaneously in the same Player and track the performance of each version. Learn more.