Wraparound Ads Blend Impact With Sensitivity: Sublime Skinz Founder

COLOGNE — Print media are used to wraparound ad formats, which see brands take over the front and back pages of newspapers or magazines.

Online media are also catching up to a format that can both retain the primacy of the original product and offer brands big-league impact.

You may have seen more and more websites offering background wraparound sponsorships. So what’s so good about the idea?

“The CTR is very high, more than 2.7%, with very big viewability,” according to Marc Rouanet, founder of SublimeSkinz, one of the companies offering the ad format. “It’s impactful, but non-intrusive for the user – you can (continue to) see the website.”

Paris-based SublimeSkinz was founded in 2012 and took a $5m investment last year from ‘s Isai venture firm. Now it has offices in London, San Francisco and New York, and has grown from just six staff at the start to 75 around the world. Next up, plans to open up in Asia-Pacific.

But popularizing these formats will depend on getting the various networks and ad-tech software platforms understanding what a wraparound skin really is, and how to trade it.

“We are the first company to put skins on all the DSP platforms,” Rouanet assures. “Now more than 50% of our turnover comes from programmatic. With just one technical element, we can put skins on all the websites.”

 

This interview was taped at DMEXCO ’16. It is part of a video series of industry leaders. The series is sponsored by Videology. For more Beet.TV coverage of DMEXCO, please visit this page.