Corporations latch onto branded Slide widgets
Corporations are starting to experiment with the new branded widgets available from Slide.com according to a story by Kate Kaye at ClickZ.
Slide advertiser Discovery Channel has also used NewsGator’s widget platform to push out its own content associated with programming such as “Shark Week.” Advertisers like Red Bull and Warner Bros. Records have tried out widgets, too.
“There are lots of conversations and CMO-level dictates to do something with widget advertising,” said Chawla.
The proliferation of widget advertising is pretty well documented throughout the online space and it’s interesting to see corporations try out the idea. But it’s something that everyone involved needs to be careful with. It’s important to add value to the user experience with things like widget. It can’t just be an ad - it has to be something that enhances what the user is trying to do.
Remember, the decision to have the widget is up to the user. Users don’t have to add the branded widget if they don’t want to and they can also take it down whenever they want. So corporations need to take a long term approach with widgets and not just create one offs that they never follow up on.