Defining brand widgets
What is a widget? A widget is portable piece of content that non-technical users can add to their webpage, personalized homepage, desktop, blog, or social network. Typically, it takes on a graphical form and will work like a mini application or program. Some display content, while others provide services or share data from another website. Widgets are also referred to as "gadgets" or "social applications."
A dedicated brand widget is a widget whose creative is designed to engage a user with a specific brand experience, one in which the brand message is intertwined with the content. Brand widgets are distinguished from other widget advertising options such as sponsored widgets, those in which a brand advertiser may place their logo or tagline adjacent to the content of a third party, or ads in widgets, where a widget containing third-party content may contain a standard IAB ad unit.
Brand widget examples
Types of brand widgets
Widgets, including brand widgets, are designed with one of two primary environments in mind: a computer desktop or a social web page. Desktop widgets are most commonly installed on user desktops and desktop platforms like Google Desktop. They are also installed to personal start pages, such as NetVibes or MyYahoo. Typically utilitarian in nature, desktop widgets often include news, weather, clocks, or even casual games.
Hotel Indigo, part of the Intercontinental Hotels Group, created a utility widget targeted to frequent business travelers. The widget's content included information about restaurants and activities in the vicinity of each hotel, hotel news, and quick links for booking rooms. No matter what the content type, desktop widgets are used by and exposed to only the user who installed them.
Social widgets are commonly installed on social networks and blogs, and typically contain elements of entertainment, self-expression, or communication. JC Penney's Arizona Jeans brand created a social widget to reinforce its brand message of "Create a Style All Your Own." The widget enabled users to upload a photo, customize it with a variety of picture frames, hair, hats, and accessories. Users could then place the customized picture on their profile page, share it with their friends on social networks, and see a gallery of friends' creations. Social widgets are most importantly defined by a "one-to-many" opportunity for exposure, meaning they can be interacted with and viewed by both the user who installs the widget, as well as that person's network of friends.
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