Here's a really nice use of rich media advertising. Developed by Web Chutney for New Delhi based Mohan Music Palace, the banner aims to help stem the decline in usage of the Harmonium, a traditional Indian musical instrument. Targeted at various music sites and users who showed an affinity for musical instruments, the banner turned users laptops into a digital harmonium replicating the experience of playing the Harmonium. Not only does the ad demonstrate a clever user of rich media technology, it was also extremely effective in terms of interaction rates and an uptick quote requests. Just goes to show that rich media ads can be an effective tool when used properly. Check out the case study below.
As you may have noticed from previous posts, I'm a bit obsessed with the media bridging opportunities where mobile is the glue that connects all other forms of media. There's still a long way to go until it's seamless and elegant, but there's been some really nice progress, especially over the past six months.
One of my favorite examples (logrolling alert) was developed by my talented colleagues at Doubleclick (Scott Harmes - creative, Roberto Stocco - dev) in conjunction with Toaster Ltd. The tech is called 'Channel Connect' and basically creates a communications channel between a desktop advertisement (such as a Youtube masthead) and an HTML5 mobile site. It's not just limited to one user, so you can actually create an ad experience with multiple users competing/collaborating on the experience at the same time. I think it has a ton of potential and look forward to seeing how agencies push these executions going forward.
Dubbed ‘Channel Connect’, this new Rich Media feature enables you to create more ways for users to connect with your brand.
What is it?
Channel Connect is a new DoubleClick package of Flash components and JavaScript libraries used to establish a communication channel between a desktop advertisement and an HTML5 mobile site. The opened channel can be used to send any kind of information in either direction between a user’s mobile device and their desktop.
How can I use it?
Channel Connect turns a smartphone or tablet into a new input device, allowing users to interact with brand content more tactilely than a simple mouse. Any Rich Media ad can be enhanced by switching mouse-interactions to gestures: turn a user’s mobile into a game controller or graphics tablet for maximum active engagement.
On a separate note you'll notice that it uses a QR code to initiate the mobile part of the experience. That's definitely where most of the media bridging stuff falls down, so it's interesting to see Layar's announcement a few days ago that they're creating an easy way for publishers to turn standard print content into a simple augmented reality experience. Really interesting stuff...
Lately it seems like there have been an increasing number campaigns bridging different forms of media, particularly in terms of connecting smartphones with out of home digital signage (remember this McDonald's example from Sweden). Additionally we've been seeing increasing amount of executions that use audio (particularly Shazam) to bridge between TV and a smartphone experiences. One of the nicest executions I've seen comes from Red Bull & NBC. Fans watching NBC's snowboarding competition - Red Bull Supernational had the opportunity to use Shazam to get video from the snowboarders POV, thus creating a nice two screen experience during the broadcast. Check it out below:
The second example comes from Germany agency Agenta as part of their activation as sponsors of the German Basketball Federation. Using their smartphones, people could connect to the billboard and use their phone as a virtual basketball to play a free throw challenge. At the same time a camera snapped pictures of them competing and uploaded/shared it amongst their Facebook friends.
Really nicely done, especially in terms of linking participation offline with a sharing mechanism online. Check out the video below for more:
The third example was created by JWT London for the National Centre For Domestic Violence. They installed a series of interactive billboards in London's Euston station. The first billboard shows a man shouting at a woman with a call to action encouraging users to use their phone to 'Stop This Now and Drag Him Away.' Users could scan a QR code or go to the website to drag him away via their phone which pulled the man further and further away from the woman and across the other connected billboards while displaying anti-violence messages.
It's a laudable effort, but I'd be curious to understand how well it actually worked it and how many people took the time to participate. Was it clear what was happening on all the connected billboards or was interaction just limited to the one and then continued across after a user began taking part? Anyhow, check it out below:
I've been seeing some really innovative rich media banner advertising lately. I particularly like this execution for IKEA, the smallest store in the world. In order to demonstrate how IKEA helps you make the most of any space, they've fit an entire IKEA store (all 2800) products into a web banner. From this 300x250 MPU you can browse, click or buy anything that you could in a full-size IKEA store. Check out the overview video below.
The ad was developed by Ogilvy Action Dubai. Have a play around with the live version of the banner here: http://smalleststoreintheworld.com
Quite simply, Project Re:Brief may be my favorite project to come out of Google. Despite the fact that we're in the midst of a revolution in display, video and mobile advertising, many people still question whether these new advertising mediums can tell an emotional story or build brands. Project Re:Brief answers that question by taking four of America's most iconic advertising campaigns and re-imagining them for the web. The blog post announcing the launch of Project Re:Brief explains it more eloquently than I can:
This year, digital advertising turns 18. Over nearly two decades, waves of innovation have transformed the medium—it’s come a long way since the blinking banner ads of the early Internet. But we think the most exciting changes are still to come, as marketers and agencies increasingly embrace technology to enable new types of creativity, and build online ads that don’t simply inform, but delight and engage their audience. For example, what if an online ad could bring together two strangers on opposite sides of the globe? Or let you follow a real-life adventure as it unfolds? We wanted to find out. So we started an experiment, both to celebrate 18 years of online innovation, and to link advertising’s digital future to its storied past: Project Re: Brief. We started with four iconic ad campaigns from the 1960s and ‘70s from Alka-Seltzer, Avis, Coca-Cola and Volvo, each considered groundbreaking in its day. The advertising legends who made the original ads then came out of retirement to rethink their original “brief,” this time, using the full range of technological tools at their disposal, to reach consumers in today’s digitally connected world.
I highly, highly, highly encourage you to go to the Project Re:Brief and watch the videos, but more importantly experience new ads (and the original) for yourself. In fact, I just sent a Coke to You can check out the intro video below:
You can see how the re-imagined Coca-cola Hilltop ad works below. Amazing! It really brings to life what can happen at the intersection of technology and creativity.
The Parrot AR.Drone, in my humble opinion, is probably the coolest toy/gadget on the market. They've done a fantastic job showing off the capabilities and experience of the drone through various media, primarily Youtube videos (see their channel here). A recent rich media campaign developed by Beacon Tokyo takes things a step further in bringing the user closer to the actual experience of piloting a Parrot AR.Drone. In a media bridging exercise, a user is prompted to scan a QR code in the interactive banner. That then triggers their smartphone to act as a controller for a virtual AR.Drone on your screen. You can then fly around, shoot at the site, which eventually collapses and prompts the user to watch more demo videos or go off to Facebook or Twitter. Take a look in the video below. Reminds me of the Doubleclick media bridging Christmas card/demo, Snowball Fight.
Again, just a really nice way of bringing users closer to the actual product experience and showing rather than just telling.
UPDATE: You can experience it for yourself here:
http://ardrone.gallery-site.net/
