After previewing the option last week at its annual Cannes Lions event, Twitter is now rolling out Branded Likes to more businesses, with managed advertisers in the US, UK, Saudi Arabia, and Japan now able to access the interactive, engaging tweet option.

As you can see in these examples, Branded Likes provides the capacity to create custom Like animations on selected tweets, helping to boost engagement and awareness through a simple interactive enhancement.

As explained by Twitter:

“Some moments deserve special attention: a movie or series premiere, a big conference, a new product release, or even a global sports event. For big moments like these when you want to launch something new, drive awareness of your brand, or amplify conversation, we’re building bold, creative ways to stand out on the timeline.”

It’s definitely a stand out offering, which could spark a lot of interest – though it’s likely also beyond the reach of most brands, given the cost and scale involved.

Branded Likes are being built into Twitter’s Timeline Takeover ad offering, which ensures a brand’s ad is the first ad to appear when someone opens Twitter for the first time that day.

Branded Likes will be attached to the Takeover ad, with advertisers then able to select a hashtag (and up to 10 translations of that tag) for their Branded Like animation.

“We work with creative partners including Bare Tree Media for activations running in the United States, United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia, and Carbon for Japan, to create custom artwork for the campaign.”

Branded Likes will then appear for up to 24 hours in the same geography as the brand’s Timeline Takeover, making it a fun, responsive option in the moment to help maximize awareness and reach.

But as noted, it’ll cost ya. Twitter hasn’t provided a specific price range for Timeline Takeover ads, but Promoted Trends, which are somewhat similar, cost around $200k per day, while Twitter was also once charging $1 million for branded emoji hashtags around the Super Bowl. That’s obviously at the highest end of Twitter’s ad costs, but in considering the various elements – including creating the animation and tying into the Takeover push – these prices would provide some scope for the amount you’ll need to pay for these types of activations.

So maybe, not ideal for promoting your upcoming sales promotion, but more for major launches and releases.

But even so, it’s an interesting option, which will provide more variety within the tweet stream.

If you’re interested in checking out what they look like, Twitter had provided this example tweet (tap the Like heart on a mobile device).