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Asda Unilever Procter & Gamble (P&G)

Procter & Gamble first to trial Asda’s new pop-up ad format inspired by Facebook posts

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By Jennifer Faull, Deputy Editor

August 5, 2014 | 4 min read

Asda has begun trialing a new pop-up ad format with Procter & Gamble (P&G) on the website’s homepage based on the format of Facebook posts which have driven the greatest levels of engagement.

The supermaket giant introduced the new format today (5 August) by featuring its own brand products but P&G, Unilever, and Pepsico are amongst the first brands to sign up as partners for the trial period – which ends in January 2015.

The format was created on the back of content used on social media. For the past three years, Asda has been putting posts on Facebook which ask fans to vote for their favourite item.

For example, a post last week asked fans: ‘We love berries – but what is your favourite? Vote A for raspberries, B for blackberries, C for strawberries, and D for blueberries.’

These kind of posts will aim to generate what Nick Bamber, head of digital media innovation at Asda, described as “phenomenal engagement”; the example above pulled in over 2,000 likes and nearly the same amount of comments with people offering their answers.

Asda has taken this type of format to create a pop-up ad, a move it is claiming to be a first for a UK retailer.

Running on both Asda’s desktop and mobile sites, the adverts have been built over the past four months with technology partner Constant Commerce.

They will ask the customer to pick a favourite item out of four and, once selected, the user can opt to place that item in their online shopping basket.

Speaking to The Drum, Bamber said the format had been used on the homepage as that is where users are most susceptible to interruptions.

“It’s about hijacking that part of the journey with something sociable and interactive and if you like something you can add it to the basket before all the noise starts. And it’s a bit of fun really,” he added.

Asda sold the blocks to P&G, Unilever and other partners based on impressions rather than amount of time they will appear on the site. However, Bamber estimated that around one million impressions will equate to the ad appearing for about a week.

In terms of measurement, Bamber stated that all of the standard metrics that you can pull from a display banner will be available but Asda is also able to link an order ID with the person that viewed an ad. It can then be deduced if the customer bought something from a particular ad and then look at how that purchase compares to previous orders and whether they repurchased the featured brand in the future.

Bamber said that personalisation is also on the agenda with plans to leverage data from parent company Walmart's tech partners around location and weather to influence which products are shown in the ads.

Adverts for P&G products will appear on the site from next week.

Asda Unilever Procter & Gamble (P&G)

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