State Farm and Cablevision are two of the top brands leveraging PadSquad’s new advertisment units for mobile and tablet devices, which feature unique branding on mobile site's skins as well as injections in Web sites' article content streams. Advertising technology firm PadSquad has launched four new mobile ad units that are designed to help brands roll out user-friendly material on mobile Web sites with high-impact, attractive features. Cablevision, Intel, Verizon and State Farm are the first marketers to incorporate the units into their mobile advertising campaigns in 2015’s first quarter. “There are a lot of variables that affect an advertiser’s success,” said Daniel Meehan, founder and CEO of PadSquad, New York. “In our opinion, the most important factors are creative, ad format and targeting technology. Sign up to receive Mobile Marketer Daily. The premier mobile marketing publication. Free! “Our data points show that consumers are more receptive to a brand’s message when it utilizes engaging and interactive creative that is injected at the right moment and more naturally within the context of a user's experience,” he said. “We have an advantage over other mobile media companies, where we literally control the technology stack that powers hundreds of publishers. “This control allows us to innovate faster and execute first-to-market ads that are custom built in-house to help brands’ meet their goals—whether it is awareness or engagement. And, each and every one of our campaigns are executed with the foundation of these three factors.” Branded experiences Brands including State Farm, Intel and Cablevision have all employed PadSquad’s units, which come in four types: Brandscape, Inline Carousel, Wave and Hover. The Brandscape unit provides advertisers with exposure via branding of a site’s skin and offers an ownable opportunity in relevant environments. The Hover and Inline Carousel units are capable of seeding a marketer within a Web site’s article content stream, while the Wave offers animated flow of branding elements that rolls onto the footer of a page with an optimal amount of user disruption. Meanwhile, UGG Australia is leveraging a tablet lookbook, which enables consumers to view a quote from UGG before the advertisement segways into a series of photographs featuring models wearing its signature shoes. A small toolbar on the side lets users flip back and forth through the images, reminiscent of a magazine. PadSquad believes the ad units will help set brands’ marketing efforts apart due to several features. “Format, size, style and timing are the first four features that jump out as being different,” Mr. Meehan said. “Since we power the user experience and monetization with our software, we’re not forced to use standard banner sizes or specifications that most of the market is beholden to. “We have the luxury of parsing content on mobile pages across our platform, then infusing ad units that match the width and orientation of a screen, the styling of the content page, at the time consumer engagement is highest on that page,” he said. “The science behind these innovations is proprietary data that measures the opportune times and places to intelligently integrate ads during a user’s browsing session. As a result, we’ve seen engagement rates increase 64 percent and viewability rates increase 26 percent since we’ve released the new ad units.” Interactive ads Marketers seeking to make a splash on mobile cannot rely solely on stationery ads or banners anymore. Instead, interactive marketing is helping brands make an impression on busy consumers by featuring relevant content and ideas. Verizon is using the mobile Interstitial unit, which PadSquad has offered for the past two years. It opens into a quiz once the ad pops up on a user’s smartphone screen. Consumers are asked geographical questions pertaining to a map of the United States before the unit slides into an advertisement for Verizon’s 4G network. Users can then browse the manufacturer’s products and search for the nearest Verizon store within the advertisement. Carnival Cruises’ ad unit for tablets showcases four panels on one screen, each with a different tab showing a date category, such as “Classic Dates,” “Adventure Dates” and “Foodie Dates.” Once users select a tab, they are shown a variety of different date night activities they can partake in on a specific cruise. As the mobile ad space continues to get more crowded, Mr. Meehan advises brands seeking to bolster their marketing strategies in 2015 to focus on four key elements: ad creative and production, understanding when and where your ad impressions are being served, audience targeting and viewability and measurement. “There still exists too much misinformation and not enough transparency in mobile media,” Mr. Meehan said. “As a brand marketer, you should want to know some simple and key pieces of information when it comes to maximizing your media spend. “Overlaying valuable data like location, device, platform, behavioral, and consumer characteristics will certainly help brands zero in on a qualified audience. Look for mobile partners who have unduplicated audiences that are exclusive to them so you can accurately and efficiently make the most of your mobile ad buys.”