An Open Letter to Advertisers in New Zealand

Dear advertisers

One of the most anticipated native advertising platforms and the latest to grace our shores is here – please don’t break it.

Beautiful Instagram is about to lose its virginity in NZ, by joining the dirty world of advertising and offering native ads via its parent Facebook, or API. We’re excited by this as much as you are, but equally bracing ourselves for what might become a train wreck of brands clambering over one another to present themselves in front of those hard-to-reach under-30s.

We love Instagram – it’s visually appealing, highly social and made to fit in your pocket. This is very much aligned with our core belief, that advertising should be convenient, targeted and engaging – in essence, relevant. We believe if advertising is convenient, targeted and engaging, people will accept it into their lives, maybe not like long-lost brothers and sisters, but at least like a neighbour’s kid who comes over to ask for biscuits.

There’s absolutely a place for advertising on Instagram, but it needs to be relevant. Go ahead, run some Instagram ads, we sure will be, but turn your relevance-radars on first. Be a responsible advertiser. Firstly, check the creative – Instagram is an image-biased, mostly mobile platform i.e. you don’t have a 20’x60′ billboard to play with.

Secondly, as mentioned before, Instagram’s mum and/or dad is Facebook. Facebook have been busy over the last decade compiling masses of data on its users, which while a wee bit frightening, is a good thing when it comes to targeting your ads. Please use this targeting when advertising on Instagram – not only will it help to avoid the train wreck, it will help your job prospects due to the fabulous ROI you’ll get.

Thirdly, be engaging. Easier said than done we know, but if we, as advertisers, collectively work on producing engaging ads and together take responsibility to maintain the wonderful experience Instagram can offer, chances are we won’t break it, users will stick with the platform, and all will be well in the world.

Kind regards

Jeremy