ClickZ’s Kate Kaye writes that “GE has positioned itself at the forefront of technological innovation in its environmentally-sound product development, so it comes as no surprise the firm has embraced online ad innovations too.”
In its latest effort, the company used live, in-banner video to announce the launch of its health-related initiative. For GE, the live, comments-enabled video ad allowed the firm to reach a large audience in its target markets, while fulfilling its mission to incorporate conversational marketing in its overall strategy.
GE aims to help reduce the cost of healthcare using its technologies and services. Its “Healthymagination” campaign launched last week to get the word out to business executives, investors, and consumers interested in healthcare. The company does, of course, have a vested interest. It offers medical products such as heart disease diagnostic equipment, medical imagery technology, and an electronic medical records system.
To kick-off the campaign, GE CEO Jeff Immelt spoke Thursday in Washington, D.C., and his entire hour-long talk was presented live within expandable display units seen on a variety of business, news, and health destinations. “Part of our strategy is…taking content and raising it out of branded Web sites into the general media consumption stream,” said Michael Clark, principal of digital marketing agency Beeby Clark+Meyler, which handles GE’s digital media buying and planning, in addition to some creative work. “Trying to drive the viewer to Web site destinations to view content is a much greater task than asking them to view content at the media level,” he said. Though the video ads, enabled by EyeWonder, were placed on some consumer-aimed health sites such as Yahoo Health and WebMD, the main targets of the campaign are business decision-makers and investors.
To reach them, ads ran on sites like CNN Money, BBC, Bloomberg, and Forbes. The campaign also bought placements on BBC, AOL News, US News and World Report, MSNBC, Yahoo News, MSN Money, The Atlantic, Huffington Post, Washington Post, and Weather.com. “Our media plan was focused on sites where business executives gather,” said Clark, noting that all ads were day-parted to run only during business hours. “What we found is that the initial engagement rate as well as the viewing time of the audience is much greater than other types of ads that we utilize,” said Clark.
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