Fans Can Create Callaway Golf Ads for ESPN.com
In what looks like a win-win for the advertiser and publisher, Callaway Golf has launched a promotion that lets users create their own banner ads to post on ESPN’s homepage.
What makes the initiative attractive to ESPN is that after fans create their ads, they post on their Facebook walls. Fans’ friends could then click on the ads, which direct them to ESPN.com. Fans who opt to make their own banner get a choice of four possible quotes to supplement with their own message. The ad promotes Callaway’s new line of RAZR Driver and Iron golf clubs.
This is the first time user-generated content has been featured on ESPN’s homepage. Ad agency Eleven created the effort.
Customizing a banner ad with user-generated content seems to be a new trend; Callaway’s not the first brand to try it. Last month, Saab launched a similar promotion via Facebook in which fans could write their own banners. By providing a level of audience engagement, both brands are trying to improve the historically low response rates for banner ads, which perform even worse on Facebook.