Time Sensitive
Consider implementing Time Sensitive ads as a lower-funnel strategy to drive conversions by retargeting users who have visited your site, but did not make a purchase or take action. Countdowns can be a great way to encourage a purchase before a sale ends, before inventory runs out, or prior to a tentpole event. By showing the current time the audience is located in, it can provoke action before the end of the day.
Time Sensitive ads are so versatile, they can be used for a wide variety of verticals. Countdowns can be used for registration deadlines, upcoming sporting or musical events, new product releases, webinars - and of course, e-commerce sales. Current time ads can be used for evergreen commodities, such as buying groceries, food delivery, transportation and health and fitness. Paired with messaging that invokes that there is still enough time in the day to complete a desired action, or make a purchase. In either scenario, Time Sensitive ads are a great fit for most PR campaigns, whether they are actively seeking donations, signatures, engagement with a movement etc. All in all, 'the time is now' approach is here to stay, because it brings in big results. Amidst a sea of content, Time Sensitive ads tend to stand out from the competition and create the poential fear of missing out.
Process & Research
Both types of Time Sensitive ads utilize JavaScript to fetch the desired time of day, or date in which the countdown will end on. The script pulls the current time provided by the audience's device, and therefore will be reflective of timezone. Numbers can be customized with whichever fonts desired by the advertiser, whereas the clock hands as displayed above can be customized by colour. Current time ads can alternatively be displayed as a digital clock, which Ritter Sport also tested for their Choc-o' clock campaign.
To truly understand which type of ad would perform better for a specific campaign, I would often recommend running an A/B test between the current time ads, and the countdowns. While they can both serve as a strong reminder to take action, requests for countdown ads were slightly more popular compared to current time. This is likely due to retail and e-commerce brands leveraging coutndown ads for Black Friday, Boxing Day and similar sales events. While both examples are useful for a standard campaign flight, there can be unique schedules for implementing Time Sensitive ads in a campaign. For example, a sports betting advertiser could use a hybrid option, that would countdown to the same time everyday to encourage placing bets on specific sporting events. The ad can reset everyday to to countdown to the evening, and simply adjust the campaign set up to run on specific days with the desired sporting events.
Considering these ad formats are highly adjustable, it's always intriguing to implement them into an advertiser's campaign strategy in order to compliment the campaign goal, call to action, and timing.