Earlier this year, Facebook got filmmaker Kiran Rao to create a couple of sub-ten-second video stories. While one of the ads was about domestic violence, the other was about deep-rooted gender inequality in India. Both the ads directed by Rao were crisp, in the vertical mobile-first format and delivered the message with surgical precision. The micro films ended with the note — ‘It takes a few seconds to show change.’ The ads in the spotlight for this article are from Bertolli India, an Italian food brand. Why discuss Facebook's videos then?
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Facebook's videos with Rao are examples of Thumbstoppers, the social media platform's ten-second-long vertical video ad format that launched in May. The social media platform partnered with leading ad agencies and brands in India for the program.
Unlike, Facebook's examples, these ads do not deal with social issues and are more inclined towards placing the Bertolli brand in warm situations. The kids in the first ad are sharing lunchboxes. Next, a father (the husband of a soldier mom) is "Being There" for his daughter. A wheel-chair bound mother-in-law heads out to a family trip. In the final one, a son wakes up before his mom does and preps breakfast and ‘chai'.
We recently spotted these four ads from Bertolli. The ads are vertical-only, are 10 seconds long and very light on copy. They also attempt the precision exercised in Rao's ads. Does all of this qualify the four ads as FB Thumbstoppers or are they the first of their kind? And to add to the conviction, the ads are active on Facebook only.
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