CANNES – Innovative video ad formats like Fox\u2019s JAZ pods and NBC\u2019s Prime Pods are a welcome change in the drive to improve viewing experiences, but to OMD\u2019s John Osborn it\u2019s all about experiences. \u201cIt think for us, we need to shift the conversation from formats to experiences. And I think that represents a really interesting intersection point for us as marketers,\u201d says Osborn, who is CEO of OMD USA.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re living in a day and age when there\u2019s no shortage of innovation,\u201d he adds in this interview with Beet.TV at the Cannes Lions International Festival<\/a> of Creativity. \u201cCertainly innovation has come in the form of different ad formats. If you look at what Fox has done with JAZ pods and NBC with Prime Pods, you\u2019re really seeing a different way of delivering messaging in a variety of different formats.\u201d<\/p>\n As for experiences instead of formats, he believes complexity isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing. \u201cIt think that provides an opportunity for us as sort of Sherpas, if you will, working with the clients to figure out exactly what the right formats are and what the right choices are for clients to make. To distill it down to brilliantly simple solutions that ultimately are an economic multiplier for the clients we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n But old habits can and will endure. Osborn<\/a> invokes the \u201cour own worst enemy\u201d adage when discussing change in advertising.<\/p>\n \u201cOur immediate impulse is to take something that\u2019s innovative, that\u2019s been proven out in a test and win format and to productize it. And then we set a pricing structure to it. And there are no real benchmarks for that so it leads to a lot of questions.\u201d<\/p>\n A better approach is to \u201cjust constantly strive for the right kinds of innovation, figure out the right measurement formats, and then collectively what does it all mean for the marketers we work for,\u201d Osborn says.<\/p>\n