Client:
IHOP

Product:
Facebook Canvas Interactive Ad Unit

My Role:
Given my previous experience with the Facebook Canvas ad format, I was essentially given full creative control over this project. I came up with the UX flow, visual design, handled some video editing and animation, and oversaw the asset handoff and launch when the ad went live.

Problem:
IHOP asked us to help them launch a new digital campaign that entices customers to come in to their favorite location in the morning or at night. The goal was to increase traffic throughout the day so that they would stay busy, as most locations are open late.

Audience:
This audience is fairly active on social media, and we had developed social content for IHOP for a few years. This gave us great insight into what they responded to the most, which was close up photography, and highlighted the fact that we had an opportunity to reach them on the go with their phones, which is ideal for convincing them to stop in for a bite any time.

The Solution:
We knew that the best chance to draw the most attention would be to get the delicious food they love in front of them on their phones. We decided to build an interactive Facebook Canvas mobile ad unit to complement other digital tactics and hopefully make a user want to stop in at a location. 

Project Details:
Click or tap an image to read additional details.

Outcome:
This was very well received by our clients, and a great exercise for us to get more experience not just using the canvas format, but using it in innovative ways that give users a choose your own adventure type of story. Although this only ran for the length of the current promotional window that year, the numbers speak for themselves. This unit had 25% engagement, which is very high with today’s scrolling and short attention spans. Also, it performed at 196% of Facebook’s benchmark performance numbers for Canvas ads.

Lessons Learned:
I think the main thing to take from this project is that you can keep an experience very simple and still have it be effective. We had only b-roll footage to work with and not much of a story to tell. Under normal circumstances, IHOP would have been promoting new styles of pancakes or a specific new theme, but this was going completely back to basics based on the goal. Using some careful editing, we were able to show off a few of IHOP’s more popular meals and items and offer up something pretty robust in people’s news feeds and it resonated with the audience.