Advertisers Eying Digital Comics

Are digital comics the next big thing in online advertising? According to the marketing website Clickz, major comics publishers and digital comics providers are currently exploring that possibility. But by "advertising" we don't just mean a pop-up ad for a dating site on your digital issue of Iron Man. The article "Digital Comics Show Potential As An Ad Platform" explores all the marketing possibilities, which include advertiser sponsorships for free first issues and custom comics like the recent Inception: The Cobol Job -- which was essentially a free advertisement for the movie.

Why would ads on digital comics potentially perform better than print? Well, if the same demographic & keyword targeting technology was used on the digital comics reader as is currently used on Google, Facebook, etc., ads specifically aimed at the user could flash at the bottom of their comic book. So instead of blindly advertising Yum Yum Bars to the average Superman comic reader, you could target that ad to the contingent most likely to enjoy Yum Yum Bars. Further, you could track user engagement by how many people clicked through to the Yum Yum Bars site.

Advertising on digital, from a marketing research standpoint, is a far more exact science than advertising in print.

Then there is the whole concept of integrated marketing, which is touched upon by the sponsorships & custom comics mentioned earlier.

SAMPLE INTEGRATED MARKETING CAMPAIGN FOR YUM YUM BARS
1. Three-way partnership between digital comics provider, comics publisher, and Yum Yum Bars. The digital comics provider furnishes the advertising platform, and the publisher furnishes the content.

2. Free digital download of "Strongman" #1 sponsored by Yum Yum Bars.

3. Ads promoting the free issue featured on "homepage" of digital comics store. Link to free comic.

4. Ads promoting Yum Yum Bars featured during the "Strongman #1" comic. This could be a physical ad worked into the "pages" of the digital comic -- but most likely a banner ad of some kind that is present via the digital comics reader. This ad could be clicked off, or collapsed into a one-line ad that is less intrusive. The ad would, of course, lead to the Yum Yum Bars site.

5. There could also be an interstitial ad for Yum Yum Bars flashing halfway through the comic -- similar to what Hulu does with their ads. You can't scroll past this ad.

6. Now, the comics publisher could also work with Yum Yum Bars to create a custom comic featuring Yum Yum Bars.

7. A digital comics provider could also offer free "comic bucks" for anyone who clicks on certain ads or downloads custom comics.

Really, the possibilities are endless here; it opens up a whole new realm of advertising & marketing via comic books.

Source: http://comicsforipad.blogspot.com/2010/08/advertisers-eying-digital-comics.html