Facebook unveils mobile Canvas for brands to get creative

The new product is intended to open up new creative possibilities for advertisers and address the issue of slow-loading ads not optimized for mobile, which often result in a disjointed and frustrating experience.

“What's remained top of mind for advertisers is how challenging it is for them to tell compelling brand and product stories on mobile in ways that are enjoyable for people and effective for their business,” the company said in a blog post.

Chris Jones, head of creative technology at Facebook Creative Shop said the creative community “was a priority” when Canvas was designed and built.

“It's a product that represents our commitment to creative craft and delivering the best mobile experience for businesses and people,” he added.

The new ad product supports interactive elements such as animations, carousels, product catalogs, tilt-to-view images, and videos.

These “Canvases” load nearly instantaneously, as much as 10 times faster than the standard mobile web, and appear linked to from News Feed ads on iOS and Android.

They are identifiable by a little upwards arrow that denotes that the full-screen experience will unfold.

Brands can build Canvas ads with a self-serve tool or work with Facebook to create campaigns. According to the company, lead times are usually between two to three weeks ahead of a campaign launch.

Canvas is now available to all advertisers globally. In Asia, the Creative Shop team, led by Fergus O'Hare, will be providing support and partnership with brands.

Valerie Cheng, most recently at JWT, will be joining the Southeast Asia team to partner closely with brands in the region.

ASUS created a Canvas with the theme “end bad gifts” during the 2015 holiday shopping season for Japan and Australia.

According to Facebook, the tech brand saw a 42 percent increase in clicks on its ad, and people who clicked into their Canvas spent an average of 12 seconds viewing the content.

In addition, 70 percent of the people who clicked on the Canvas ad went to the ASUS website after exploring the Canvas.