Leo Burnett has introduced a new advertising unit for Facebook called the Comment Ad. The new unit was revealed Wednesday at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Developed by Leo Burnett Chicago, the new ad unit – the eighth premium ad unit offered by the social networking site – lets brands spark online conversations by posting a video, photo, link or status update that appears both as a post on the brand’s Facebook page and as a separate ad unit.
Whenever Facebook users comment on the update, it becomes visible to their friends as part of their newsfeed – generating additional earned media for the brand at no extra cost, while simultaneously enabling it to be at the centre of the ensuing conversation.
The Comment unit was one of several submissions from Leo Burnett in response to Facebook’s 2010 call for submissions for new units that were “inherently social by design.”
Leo Burnett and its clients have two months of exclusivity on the ad unit. Current clients using the Comment unit include Allstate, Buick, Hallmark, Samsung and The Ronald McDonald House Charities.
“The Comment ad is a great example of word-of-mouth marketing at scale,” said Mark Renshaw, chief innovation officer of Leo Burnett USA, in a release. “It’s an organic way to get brands into the conversations that hundreds of millions of Facebook users are having every day.”
