Awards 2017: Ernest

CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW

Montreal menswear retailer, Ernest, has been helping men look their best for over 60 years. Looking to engage dapper men age 35-55 Ernest decided to bring their new collection right to their fingertips. With an innovative engagement strategy and shoppable video they put a boutique shopping experience in a display ad.

Shoppable video technology has an extremely high barrier to entry, requiring a large investment with limited distribution avenues. However, Ernest utilized the HTML5 Contobox platform with existing video assets to build a scalable solution distributed across IAB standard display units.

Ernest was able to create an immersive experience that brought their video assets to life with expandable rich media. Once a user expanded the ad the video would play with in-video hotspots that allowed users to view items and their price – they could then decide to go directly to the item’s purchase page or continue the video. The unit also featured a hotspot gallery, a lookbook and a store locator for users that would rather make in-store purchases.

The media strategy cast a wide net across business, finance, men’s lifestyle, sports and technology verticals with a cost-per engagement pricing model. This ensured Ernest only paid for 100% viewable engagements, utilizing free impressions for awareness and paying for interested users in the consideration phase.

Striking the right balance with cost-per-engagement, Ernest was able to leverage shoppable video to drive incredible results. Including an engagement rate 200% higher than the rich media industry standard. This phenomenal engagement drove a click-through-rate on impressions 2X higher than standard display industry benchmarks. Ernest’s mix of upper funnel and mid funnel tactics with shoppable video proved to be a perfect fit driving 635% more site traffic to their website than any prior campaign.