Display Ads: Video and Rich Media

Twentieth Century Fox are set to launch a serious cool online campaign for the release of the 'Dollhouse' Season One DVD boxset ('Dollhouse' is the latest program from Joss Whedon - he of Buffy and Firefly fame). The campaign utilises a suite of video and rich media display ads that, I hate to say, you would just never get to run in Ireland (publishers would flip a lid over the file size and CPU usage). As well as being able to watch 5 different in-banner video clips, the ads also allow you to follow Eliza Dushku on Twitter and send her messages, all directly through the ad.

Once you rollover the ad, it expands left revealing a panel to watch the videos and read/post from/to Eliza's Twitter feed. All logging-in to your account etc. is done straight through the ad. The banner does use a level of moderation and it is possible that your tweet could end up appearing in the ad.

Unfortunately I couldn't embedd the ad here for you to see, but you can pop over to the EyeWonder site to see a full demo of how it works..

Michael Rosner, senior vice president of global sales at EyeWonder, said: "We've recently seen brands using Twitter in different ways to help promote a product or service, but we wanted to take the technology a step further by giving users the ability to tweet directly in the ad unit.

"Given we wanted to launch this new rich media feature with a premier partner, we used Fox's Dollhouse season one campaign, as the social aspect of it allows people to share their thoughts on the show and drum up excitement about the Blu-ray/DVD release."

A Breif History of the Internet

With Microsoft desperately pushing Internet Explorer 8 in every possible way, they have released a series of videos exploring the internet and its many fads and phases. This is their 'Brief History of the Internet' video - worth a watch...

Nike: IAM1

I try not to post too much about the same brands but sometimes (or quite often with these guys to be honest) a brand has a couple of really good campaigns going at the same time. This is Nike's new work for Air Max 1 - IAM1 Journey. It's based on a journey through five European cities to seek out and discover the unusual urban spaces they have, through the eyes of of designers, artists, musicians and media creatives. A brilliant video.

Now Look What You Did

I've been doing a bit of research on production companies and going through show reels etc. Some of the work out there at the moment is simply amazing - cgi and animation that would put Hollywood to shame. One company MAKE, a Minneapolis design studio that specialises in motion graphics and animation, are doing some really cool work. Unfortunately it was a pair of public service announcement videos of theirs that caught my eye. The two videos, "Cigarette" and "Trash", are both fully animated and were pushed through a dedicated microsite. Their message is all about your actions having an unexpected affect on the environment.

Is it just me or would you agree that they're a little bit too much? I mean, whatever about "Cigarette" which is possibly just funny, "Trash" on the other hand is just depressing.

Display Ads: Sound or No Sound

I got involved in a really stupid conversation yesterday about whether sound had a positive or negative impact on online advertising. I took the stance that sound in itself means nothing and it's all about how that sound is used. Obviously if you're talking about in-banner video then it's pretty essential, but beyond that, what does it do for actual engagement in non-video ads?

My point seemed to be lost on my co-conversationists so I said I'd find them examples to show my point.

Consider the following two ads. The first uses sound as its main engagement. The call to action is to engage and create sound. The second, however, is driven by a complete absence of sound. IMHO both are good, low weight, eye-catching ads. They serve there purpose and 'get the job done'. The creative is simple but hard-working. What impact does sound have? Well a great deal, but both by its presence and absence.