People come to Reddit for countless reasons: to learn, to fuel passions, to seek recommendations, to ask for advice and solve problems – the list goes on. Whatever the reason, we know that redditors are deeply engaged in the topics that interest them. Free-form ads are our latest ad format that empower advertisers to easily engage on the platform in the same way as our users. Its “free form” layout allows advertisers to share in-depth information with Reddit by combining multiple media types, including image, video and text using ready-made templates. As our most native ad format yet, free-form ads are designed to look and feel similar to the type of content redditors share with each other, inviting maximum engagement from the community.
Introducing free-form ads
Free-form ads are inspired by one of our popular user post types, the megathread, a post type known and beloved by redditors as a one-stop-shop for discussions about popular topics. Just like the megathread, free-form ads encourage multiple users to come together, get the information they need and deep dive into the topic at hand. All of this makes it one of the best formats to launch a product, introduce a brand to a new audience or share a seasonal shopping guide.
The open-ended nature of free-form ads means advertisers have the freedom to explore different types of creative to build a bespoke brand experience, facilitate in-depth conversation with Reddit audiences and share a comprehensive voice on platform. Our new building capabilities within the Ads Manager (which include topic templates like “brand introduction” and “product deep dive”, with more to come), make it easy to create, edit, and launch free-form ads at scale with minimal lift. Free-form ads are clearly labeled as "Promoted" just like all ad formats on Reddit.
“Free-form ads give advertisers the flexibility to build an ad of any length, using multiple media types, with a look and feel that’s native to the platform. This format encourages a mix of content, context and creativity from brands, while driving strong performance and brand awareness,” said Jim Squires, EVP of Business Marketing and Growth at Reddit. “Free-form ads are unique to Reddit and its one-of-a-kind communities. As we continue to invest in our ads product roadmap, it’s important to draw from what people love most about Reddit and create opportunities for businesses to be a part of that.”
Join the free-form conversation
Advertisers like Just Eat Takeaway, Kraft Heinz and Leica are among the brands already driving upper funnel results through free-form ads. In our early testing, we’ve seen free-form ads outperform all other ad types in average click through rate (CTR) by 28%, as well as increased community engagement when comments are enabled.
It’s not surprising given we know that people are more likely to be interested in seeing brands share information about their products on Reddit, more than other platforms across categories – a differentiator that Philadelphia cream cheese leaned into.
Looking to build brand affinity and showcase the versatility of its iconic brand, Philadelphia cream cheese along with their media partner, Carat, and creative team, The Kitchen, asked Reddit’s highly engaged culinary communities to share the ways they use “Philly cream cheese” to take their recipes to the next level.
The brand leveraged our free-form ad format to showcase the refrigerator staple’s versatility, with product details and recipe inspiration. This effectively prompted the Reddit community to “get a big list going and bond over” their shared love of cream cheese. The ad did just that, generating over a thousand comments in a single month, a 91% Upvote rate and a +42% higher click through rate from the brand’s previous Reddit benchmark. The cream cheese icing on the cake? The Philadelphia team continues to use the redditor comments as inspiration across a range of marketing outputs.
“By testing Reddit-unique free-form ads, we saw rapid engagement and community buzz that exceeded our expectations,” said Senior Brand Manager at Philadelphia cream cheese, Keenan White. “Our partnerships with Carat, The Kitchen and Reddit demonstrate the potential of combining iconic brands with passionate online communities to create authentic digital moments. The inspiration from consumers in the Reddit comments was so good we’ve let it guide and inform our strategy ever since."
Free-form ads are available today to all Reddit advertisers globally via the Reddit Ads Manager. To learn more about the new format and other advertising options on our platform, contact us.