Doubleclick Rich Media - Media Bridging Desktop & Mobile

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.

Have a play with the demo here or for more details read below (full post on Doubleclick Rich Media Gallery blog):

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...

Media Bridging Examples: Red Bull, ING, & NCDV

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:


via Digital Examples

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:


Additional Articles: PSFK | Creativity | Digital Buzz Blog | AdFreak | Mashable

Happy (Belated) St. Patricks Day...

...but that's really just an excuse to post the hilarious Guinness - Round Up Your Mates video.

via Andrew Bent