You’re Going to See More Vertical Ads on Your Phone

Snapchat has spent the past couple of years trying to persuade advertisers to abandon their training and instincts and shoot video promotions in a way that mobile phone users will watch full-screen—vertically, that is. Its pitch: Portrait ads on Snapchat get twice as much visual attention as landscape ones, because viewers don’t have to rotate their screens.

It hasn’t been an easy sell, though. Artistic principles aside, simultaneously shooting a vertical video and a conventional one may require an additional camera plus a reconfigured set, to say nothing of a concept that works in Snapchat’s 10-second slot, as opposed to the standard 30-second TV spot. While a lot of big brands have tried it—including Amazon, Pepsi, and Marriott—vertical hasn’t gone mainstream. That may be about to change.