Brands use rich media to add interactivity to banner advertising.  This interactivity increases click rates through expandable banner panels, videos, location finders, games, and other features.  For a great example, check-out our recent rich media banner for John Deere which won a Beanie Award from Pointroll.

Recently, the value of rich media has been questioned as ad exchanges have reduced the CPM’s of traditional banner ads.  The theory is that brands don’t need rich media interactivity if they can beat the cost per click through ad exchanges.  It suddenly looks like the cost to produce and serve rich media isn’t worth the increased click rate.

The problem is that most marketers expect their advertising to do more than deliver cheap clicks.   Brands need a deeper level of engagement with the 99.9% of users who won’t click through.  Rich media campaigns often see interaction rates of 5% or better (50 times higher than the click rate).  Here are three ways that interactive rich media banners deliver better engagement:

1 – Interaction improves message recall and association.  Good teachers don’t just lecture; they engage students with dialogue and activities because they know interaction increases message retention and comprehension.  The results from an Eyeblaster/Microsoft study of 800 campaigns shows that the same is true for shoppers interacting with ads.  Interactive banners were more than twice as effective as non-interactive banners at lifting recall and message association.

2 – Interaction leads to consideration.  Any good sales person wants shoppers to touch the product because interaction makes it easier to imagine owning it.  That is why test drives, product samples, and dressing rooms improve sales.  The same is true online.  Give shoppers an opportunity to interact with your product and you move them further down the path to purchase.

3 – Interaction makes your brand convenient.  The top 3 rules of retailing are “Location, Location, Location,” because shoppers demand convenience.  People behave the same way online.  They don’t want to leave the site they were visiting and they don’t want to hunt for buried information.  Rich banners allow shoppers to explore features without leaving the site they were on.  It is like having a showroom in the exact neighborhood the shopper is already in.

Using ad exchanges and other tactics to achieve low-cost clicks is still an important strategy for many marketers.  But brands should not walk away from the engagement delivered by rich media.