MAM
Facebook’s New Ads Bundle Signals Growing Importance of Interactivity in Online Advertising
New Delhi: Facebook is rolling out a suite of new interactive ad solutions today including Poll ads, Augmented Reality (AR) ads, Instagram poll stickers for Stories ads, and Brand Playables. The new Ad solutions released today are built on people’s natural desire to interact, engage, and touch. Interactive Ads enable instant two-way communication and get people involved, which is a natural fit for how people, especially the youth, engages on mobile phones. With the festive season coming up in India, this suite of interactive Ads can help advertisers engage with their consumers in new and interesting ways.
"At Facebook, we build for people first. This means our products, services, and Ad solutions have evolved to meet people’s growing desire to engage and participate in ideas. This is also a key reason why they have delivered consistent business results for our advertisers, large and small. In the age of reducing attention spans, Interactive Ads are one of the most effective ways of holding the attention of the consumer. They are also easy to execute – a poll Ad can be created in just five seconds. The new Ad bundle will especially add value to brands looking at high-engagement festive campaigns,” said Sandeep Bhushan, Director and Head of Global Marketing Solutions (GMS), at Facebook India.
Increasingly people want to participate in a brand’s big idea and they’re using innovative ways of doing so – less words, more GIFs, Lives, Reactions, emojis, face filters, and stickers. In turn, brands and people are becoming more intertwined and it’s changing digital advertising from a one-way push communication to an ongoing dialogue powered by creativity. “This behavior is unfolding across our family of apps. Already, 60% of businesses on Instagram use an interactive element such as @mention, hashtag or poll sticker, in Stories every month. What started with exploring new things on mobile has morphed into vast and varied conversations that welcome people’s participation and will eventually immerse them into shared experiences. To help brands further embrace this trend, we are announcing new ad solutions that encourage a playful experience between people and businesses, and deliver results,” said May Seow, APAC Creative Strategy Lead, The Creative Shop at Facebook.
Facebook is now bringing video poll ads to Facebook mobile Feed, globally available this month. Poll ads allow advertisers to insert polls to video ads and enable an interactive, personalized advertising experience. Facebook is launching three variants of poll ads, and each will support the reach, brand awareness objective (BAO), traffic, and app installs objectives:
· Poll Only: enable advertisers to interact with their target audience to drive brand lift.
· Poll plus Watch & Browse: enable advertisers to capture peoples' preference for personalized journeys on their websites.
· Poll plus Watch & Install: enable advertisers to interact with people and drive them toward an app install.
Advertisers can insert a poll question and two corresponding response options to a video ad campaign in the Facebook mobile News Feed. “In early findings, we’re seeing poll ads in Feed drive increased brand awareness and conversions. For example, in 5 out of 9 brand lift studies, we observed poll ads increased brand awareness compared to video ads,” Seow said.
In addition to interactive questions, people use face filters and fun animation in the 1 billion stories shared every day across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. For businesses, the augmented reality opportunity is clear. For WeMakeUp, a US-based cosmetics brand, AR Ads on Facebook enabled customers to try on its latest shade of lipstick, and as a result the brand drove a 27.6 point lift in purchases with the average person spending 38 seconds interacting with the ad unit. Facebook is now expanding this AR opportunity to more advertisers, entering open beta for AR Ads globally over the next few months.
Lastly, Facebook is also expanding its playable ad format that allows people to play a game to drive downloads, conversations, and brand objectives. Uber India used the Playable format for a campaign during the 2019 Cricket World Cup and saw 3X higher Ad Recall Lift Rate and 10% higher click through rate (CTR) compared to other brand awareness campaigns.
The expansion of playables is now available for all advertisers globally.
Brands
Jubilant FoodWorks faces Rs 47.5 crore GST demand, plans appeal
Tax authorities flag alleged misclassification of restaurant services
MUMBAI:Â Jubilant FoodWorks Limited has landed in a tax tussle after receiving a GST demand of Rs 47.5 crore from the office of the additional commissioner of CGST and central excise in Thane, Maharashtra.
The order, issued under the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, relates to an alleged incorrect classification of certain services under the category of restaurant services. According to the tax authorities, this classification resulted in a short payment of goods and services tax for the period between the financial years 2019-20 and 2021-22.
The demand includes Rs 47.5 crore in GST along with an equal amount as penalty, in addition to applicable interest. The order was received by the company on March 13, 2026.
In a regulatory filing to the BSE Limited and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited, the company said it disagrees with the order and believes its arguments were not adequately considered.
The company is preparing to challenge the decision and plans to file an appeal. It added that once the redressal process is complete, the demand is likely to be dropped.
Despite the sizeable figure attached to the notice, the company said it does not expect any material impact on its financials, operations or other activities.
The disclosure was signed by Suman Hegde, EVP and chief financial officer, who confirmed that the company received the order at 19:06 IST on March 13 and has already initiated steps to contest it.
The development places the quick service restaurant major in the middle of a tax debate that could hinge on how certain restaurant-linked services are classified under GST rules. For now, the company appears ready to take the matter from the tax office to the appeals desk.
