Instagram’s Carousel Ads Introduce Links

Just the other week Instagram revealed its latest advertising product, carousel ads.

Carousel? That name sounds familiar

Just like the Kodak 'Carousel' slide projector (of Mad Men fame) carousel ads are designed to share stories with multiple images. Based on community and advertiser feedback that a single photo sometimes just isn’t sufficient to share the whole story, Carousel ads enable multiple photos to be shared in a single update. Watch the video below to see it in action.

So, how does that help me?

Carousel essentially increase Instagram’s flexibility for advertisers. They describe the format as bringing “multi-page print campaigns to mobile phones”. But the benefits don’t end there: the ads allow a link to an external website. Instagram’s own suggestions of the format’s potential include an auto maker revealing their newest model's beauty shot along with various internal views, or a fashion brand revealing their latest collection with supplementary images focussing on some of the key pieces and additional looks. Is there anything else can it do? Really that’s up to your imagination (or creative agency!) but it can definitely provide that multi-page magazine experience or a more editorial-style story told in pictures and captions. Some additional cases we can think of are an art gallery teasing their latest headline exhibition, a movie studio releasing trailer teasers, or a furniture company showing the process from sketch to product or your own kitchen.

And what do we think?

The call-to-action feature is what we're all talking about here. Since it’s not possible to link to external sites (except on profiles), links are a very clear incentive for brands keen on driving traffic to their own properties to trial the format. All benefits aside, we suggest a few words of caution while the format's still in its early days. The subtle gallery markers may be missed when a viewer is idly scrolling through their feed, and this combined with the CTA button’s absence until the last slide may result in a lower click through rate than initially hoped.

More information and helpful reading:

Take a look at their official announcement on the Instagram for Business Blog (and while you’re there take a gander through their other posts to get some other insights into the potential of the platform for business). Have you tried this out? Got a response to the video? Or any of your own opinions or applications for the new format? Comment below! Edit 14th April 2015: looks like Instagram's advertisers have had the chance to create their own campaigns with the new format and they match up well with some of our own suggestions. Take a look.