Insta Reels, the new advertising territory for brands?

Reels undoubtedly are one of the most loved features of Instagram. While they have been an instant hit among users, brands too are now taking note of the advertising possibility that Reels offer. From Cadbury to Coca-Cola, many big brands are investing in Insta Reels on a larger scale. Recently, Britannia Nutri Choice Protein unveiled a campaign on the platform with creator Danish Sait. The launch of the campaign on Reels is being seen as an exception as brands still prefer TV commercials over a digital campaign.

What makes advertising on Reels attractive for brands is that fact that India is the largest market for Instagram globally with about 230 million users. According to a Hootsuite Digital report 2022, Instagram’s ad reach has jumped by 21 per cent (more than 257 million users) over the past year. Ads on Instagram reach almost 1.5 billion users each month, with more than 1 billion users reached through Instagram Stories alone.

Talking about the new trend of advertising on Reels, Shradha Agarwal, Co-founder and CEO of Grapes Digital, says, “Audiences today are consuming Reels in a big way, and so brands too are focusing on the medium as it helps grab the attention. Considering the fast-paced lives that people live these days, they prefer content that does not require a lot of searching and figuring out what to watch. At the same time, they also want fresh and engaging content. Reels cater to these changing consumer behaviors that make space for brands in the active lives of the consumers with short-form videos. Marketers go behind Reels, apart from static and video posts, because of the vast engagement level.”

Short video is a hugely important content format for marketers to leverage, as demonstrated by a Wyzowl survey where 73% of respondents said they most like to learn about new products or services through short videos.

While adapting to the latest trends, the advertising sector offers a lot of opportunities for brands to capitalize on. Likewise, brands, in an attempt to reach their audience, make use of a wide range of options available to them either in the form of a 360-degree approach, TVC, digital, or ‘phygital’ medium. They employ a mix of different mediums depending on the budget, objective, and target audience. The priority is to establish engagement with the audience with the right kind of content. In recent years, brands are expanding their approach and opting for regional and short-form videos as well to connect better with the audience.

“Reels are a great way to show your brand's fun, creative, and quirky side. So, even if the purpose of your Reels is to generate traffic, views or clicks, make sure to keep them fun. Besides Reels, advertisers can leverage other advertising trends like influencer marketing, omnichannel marketing and AI applications like machine learning and deep learning to reach their audiences like never before.” explains Mitesh kothari, CO-Founder and CCO, White Rivers Media.

What adds to the popularity of the Reels is the fact that it is easy on the pocket for brands. “Ideally, Reels won’t need the kind of production a TVC would need. So metrics of investment and budgets change. Ideally, the 30-60 rule applies here as well. Nearly 30% on production and 60% on promotion,” says Umang Puri, Creative Director- North, FoxyMoron(Zoo Media).

However, though advertising on Reels is fast gaining popularity, it is definitely not being seen as an alternative to more popular mediums like TV, as Kumar Awanish, Chief Growth Officer, Cheil India, shares. “Reels, YouTube shorts and other digital platforms can be complementary to TVC but they can never replace TVC.”