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Marketoonist | Tom Fishburne

Marketoonist is the thought bubble of Tom Fishburne. Marketing cartoons, content marketing with a sense of humor, keynote speaking.

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Instagram advertising

August 9, 2015

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There are suddenly many more marketers trying to figure out how to resonate on Instagram. Last week Instagram opened the advertising floodgates, dropping the minimum spend and switching on an Ads API so that brands can start campaigns without talking to a rep. This is after a lengthy trial-and-error period with pilot campaigns.

As so many brands rush into Instagram at the same time, it will be interesting to see what approaches work and what falls flat. In the short-term, we’ll probably see a lot of “tire kickers” – brands reusing assets from other social campaigns and treating Instagram like an extension of Facebook. I think these tone-deaf brands on Instagram will come across like clueless parents entering their teenagers’ rooms.

In the long run, marketers will need to pay close attention to how people use Instagram and come up with creative ways to enter that world that aren’t one-size-fits-all. Instagram ads that resonate won’t feel like ads you’d find everywhere else.

My favorite recent Instagram campaign is this choose-your-own-adventure game from Old Spice. They creatively hacked the tagging function on Instagram to let people follow a story from post to post.

You awaken in a dark cave. In the distance you see a faint light, in front of you is an open bottle of Old Spice body wash. Go toward the light—maybe it’s a way out? Grab the Old Spice? Tap image once to use tags to navigate.

A photo posted by Old Spice (@oldspice) on Jul 30, 2015 at 10:33am PDT


I’m looking forward to that kind of creative trial-and-error experimentation from brands. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how brands should approach Instagram.

(Marketoonist Monday: I’m giving away a signed cartoon print. Just share an insightful comment to this week’s post by 5:00 PST on Monday. Thanks!)

Filed Under: advertising, social media

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