Start-Up Watch COD: Blurb IQ CRANKS video interactivity and metrics!

When video arrived on the digital scene, it quickly became apparent that the interactivity of sight, sound and motion blew the doors off metrics when compared to Flash or gif banners. It is not at all uncommon to see interactivity 10x, 20x, even 30x higher for a vid, even when the video runs in exactly the same ad space on a page.

So I was really excited to hear about a company that says it can boost interactivity rates a FURTHER 10X. Blurb IQ is that company, and it has since become a client of ours because we were so taken by the concept. It works by taking an existing brand asset like a :30 or a :60 and adding questions in an overlay that quizzes consumers on what is being said and shown. Here’s a set of screen caps to show it in action:

By adding game mechanics to the video asset, Blurb IQ appeals to the competitive side in most people. Additionally, once a consumer has played an ad, they can challenge friends to try it. Finally, brands can distribute discounts and other promotions by rewarding consumers who complete the quizzes and score at threshold levels.

Check out these metrics that they have reported from their analytics layer:

90% + unaided brand and key message recall 1 week after 1 exposure to our interactive advertising video platform vs. 2%-3% via TV
Click Thru Rates of 10%-79.8% + versus 2%-4% via other online rich media vehicles online
Triple digit lifts in key branding metrics after 1 exposure
Average length of engagement is 60 Seconds
Average number of brand questions answered per engagement is 7.9 Questions
21.8% conversion rate to advertiser site
5% of visitors end up sharing something with friends. Of these shares 52% are done via Facebook, 26% share via Twitter and 22% share via email.

While I would expect that some of those numbers will decline a bit as the platform becomes more and more common “in the wild,” it’s plain that these folks are onto something very big indeed. Here’s their intro vid:



Naturally, this basic concept can be refined to specific marketing and research objectives. For example, a consumer could be asked about what they like and don’t like in an ad, thus uncovering which executions drive the strongest lean-forward participation and consumer attention.

Their business is currently focused on in-banner vids, and they are partnered with some very large networks to drive faster broad scale adoption, including Adconion and Specific. They offer the interactivity layer on videos in IAB standard units as well as some large sized executions and pop-outs that can help attract even more consumer attention.

Blurb IQ appears also to be interested in fostering greater community among consumers by providing venues, high score boards, and other game tools in order to ramp up the consumer interest and competitiveness even higher. But in my view, competitiveness is only part of the appeal to this concept. We as digital marketers need to be aware that a great deal of time a consumer spends online hasn’t been made all that interactive. While we can choose the content we look at, much of it is ultimately falls into a passive viewing bucket. By making in banner videos the most interactive and interesting content on the page, Blurb IQ makes it far more likely that consumers will find it valuable.

And that, my friends, is how you turn value exchange into a brand enhancer!