ironSource’s ‘4D Interactive Ads’ deliver personalization (and data) through interactivity

A new mobile format from ironSource, a mobile monetization and marketing technology company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, puts a playable “choose your own adventure” spin on ad personalization.

Dubbed 4D Interactive Ads, as in breaking the fourth wall, the units prompt users to make selections from various scenarios, and the ads evolve based on those choices. For example, an ad from a shoe retailer starts by asking users to choose their shoe style, either elegant or casual. From there, the ad is tailored to show shoe styles and products based on the subsequent selections the user makes.

4D uses video as a base and layers on interactivity to add personalization to the ads. The company says the (anonymized) data generated from user choices “can be used to inform marketing and even product optimization.”

“Previously, networks could only pass on data about completions and clicks, which doesn’t say much about who the user is or what they like. With 4D ads, advertisers can ask their users specific questions and learn more about them. Do they prefer to listen to music on the train or at the gym? Are they more interested in makeup or clothes? Answers to questions like this have tremendous value for advertisers,” said Dan Greenberg, chief design officer at ironSource, in a statement. “Understanding consumers is a difficult task. 4D ads make it much easier, giving brands a chance to leverage the intimate mobile medium for what it was meant to do, tear down that fourth wall.”

The new ad format is part of a wave of interactive formats that have sprung up specifically to engage mobile users. For its part, ironSource’s in-house unit, Playworks Studio, has developed a suite of interactive ads that include playable ads, interactive end cards and augmented reality ads.