Unlocking Cannes with the Key to Context: Conversation Ads

AnnouncementsStaff•June 17, 2024June 17, 2024

The way we look for answers online has never been more complex. As AI and influencer-generated content proliferates, people are seeking real, human content they can trust. At Reddit, we're answering the call for authenticity the best way we know how: conversations. This guiding principle sets the scene for our third activation at Cannes, which launches today and centers on the key to context. Context and conversation go hand in hand, and against this backdrop, we're excited to announce our latest ad placement, which will sit within the discussion thread as part of our new and improved Conversation Ads offering.

Our first major event as a public company, Cannes Lions 2024 brings Reddit back to the Croisette to showcase our recent progress towards becoming the leader in contextual advertising. We're highlighting these efforts by bringing to life the conversations on Reddit through our immersive activation, "The Key to Context: All Roads Lead through Reddit," which opens today for event-goers.

Conversations are our superpower

At Reddit, we're building for the future of contextual advertising because we believe finding your people based on what they're actively interested in is the best way for brands to drive meaningful connections that their audiences want and trust. And, as the most trustworthy platform to inform product/brand decisions, we know that 2 in 3 redditors would purchase a product if they saw an ad about it on Reddit (1).

(re)introducing Conversation Ads

To this end, we're thrilled to kick off Day 1 at Cannes by announcing a full revision of ads on the conversation page, our fastest-growing ads surface, and where 47% of Reddit screenviews happen (2). With redesigned creative featuring larger, more premium media, advertisers can appear where users are researching or discussing the topics they care about. We have also commenced testing on an all-new ad placement that lives seamlessly between individual comments in Reddit conversations. It's specifically designed to reach audiences right at the moment they are most leaned in and primed to take action. Under the new name "Conversation Ads," advertisers will also benefit from new brand safety controls, including specific ML tooling to further enhance confidence, coming later this year.

"People on Reddit thrive in conversations and the comment threads are where they go to dive deep. It's the most contextually relevant space on our platform and a huge opportunity for advertisers to reach relevant audiences when they are actively seeking out information on a specific topic," said Reddit EVP of Business Marketing and Growth, Jim Squires. "Our latest updates to Conversation Ads will not only drive performance through an elevated design, they will expand advertiser reach and relevancy as our clients can now show up in the heart of these high-intent, highly engaged discussions."

Driving performance through conversations

We've found that layering Reddit Feed and Conversation Ad placements together drives Action Intent more than twice as strong as Feed only (+2.44% to +5.46%) (3). Brands whose campaigns included both Feed and Conversation Ads also saw +83% higher brand awareness compared to Feed only (4).

Long-time Reddit advertiser Lenovo added Conversation Ads to their campaign mix early on as part of their evergreen strategy on Reddit. Lenovo employed a multi-placement strategy, enabling Reddit's algorithm to optimize their performance goals across Feed and Conversation Ads. By letting Reddit's systems do the work for them, Lenovo's Conversation Ads became a powerhouse performance driver, with unprecedented gains in efficiency including a cost per acquisition (CPA) 40% lower than the campaign average in 2023. Lenovo's Conversation Ads strategy continues to improve their CPA 30% year over year and has already helped them achieve their early 2024 campaign goals (5).

"Existing and potential Lenovo customers are actively talking about our products across Reddit," said Lenovo Executive Lead, Global Media COE, Rick Corteville. "By letting Reddit's dynamic optimizations automatically allocate our placements across the site, we found that Conversation Ads were the key to unlocking this engaged audience where they are ready to hear from Lenovo. We're glad for this collaborative approach with our Reddit team, which has driven both understanding and business value for us."

Reddit's Cannes HQ is located at the Intersection of Prom. Robert Favre le Bret and Rue Buttura, and open from Monday, June 17 to Thursday, June 20 from 9:00 am - 6:00 pm (CEST) for scheduled meetings. For all Cannes Lions badge holders, we are open from Monday, June 17 - Thursday, June 20 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM (CEST) daily as well as Friday, June 21 from 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM. Guests are strongly encouraged to RSVP via our website, here.

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1. Source: Reddit Custom Survey, U.S., Let's talk about your purchases & Social Media, n=8000, A18-60, Monthly Social Media Users, August 2023. Statistically significant confidence level = 95%; Competitors: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, TikTok, X; Categories: Mobile Service, Gaming, Electronics, Travel, Banking, Beauty, Fashion, Alcohol
2. Source: Reddit Internal, Global, Q1 2024
3. Source: Kantar Brand Lift Plus Attribution, 2024. n= 19 campaigns. *Action Intent = measurement of how likely a consumer is to take action (purchase, sign up, etc. based on main client KPI) Results shown are percentage point lift (delta) indexed to Feed only performance.
4. Source: Brand Lift Average provided by Kantar for Conversation Placements, results from Q3 2022 to Q2 2023 (n=40 campaigns)
5. Source: Reddit Internal, Global, Q1 2024