Recently released in the APAC market Eyeblaster TV is a high impact advertising format that appears over the page.  Eyeblaster TV contains video that displays automatically for up to 30 seconds with audio on or off and scrolls with the page.  Here’s five reasons why I think Eyeblaster TV will be a success for both advertisers and publishers ..

1. It works for advertisers because it provides a simple solution to TV advertisers in the face of constantly declining TV reach. Eyeblaster TV uses their existing TVC and extends reach online. The high investment involved in TVC production can be amortised across the digital channel.

2. It works for publishers because it gives them new inventory to sell which equals a new revenue stream. Eyeblaster TV does not use existing ad space allowing publishers to monetise their pages more effectively.

3. Eyeblaster TV is measured in traditional media terms – reach and frequency. Death to the click!

4. Opens up opportunities with prized verticals, as Pippa Leary, Managing Director of Fairfax Digital – Media, notes … “Encouraged by technology innovations like FDTV and the growing consumption rates of online video in Australia, we are seeing more categories, including FMCG, move their brand advertising online. Marketers are harnessing the incremental reach garnered through a predominantly light commercial TV viewing audience on our network.

5. You can run customised skins to enhance the brand impact, my favourite example of this:

Pioneer – Custom Skin

Ross McNab | Sales Director APAC

Tom Buchok - Interactive Producer at Preston Kelly

My muse best comes when:  Listening to music.  When I’m jamming out to Rhapsody with my Sennheiser HD-280 headphones ,  I’m able to get my best work done. Lately, I’ve been listening to Delta Spirit and Pela .  I’m always looking for new tunes; if you have any recommendations, leave a note in the comments section.

Your idea about the perfect working day: We’ve got this great coffee shop, Taraccino, near the agency.  Good days start with a large coffee from there.
As an interactive producer, the perfect work day includes any of the following:
- Helping scope out a brand new online strategy
- Working with my developers to solve a tough problem
- Seeing fresh, innovative designs that accomplish all of the campaign objectives
- Getting everything done early

I’d say that’d be a pretty good day!

Your favorite interactive campaign : 

 Lean Mean Fighting Machine’s “Non-Stop Fernando” for Emirates.  The concept was brilliant – Fernando talks for 14:40:00 about his home town of Sao Paolo, the amount of time of the new direct flights from Dubai to Sao Paolo.  The rich media banners did a fantastic job of delivering the idea – and tied-in perfectly to the campaign website.  Social media was used to connected to Fernando, as well.

And the attempt to get a Guinness World Record was a smart add-on.  In terms of design, there is a nice continuity between the overall campaign concept and the continuous  hand-written-looking motif.  It is no surprise such a great campaign came from Lean Mean Fighting Machine – they are rockstars in the digital space.

Other sites I visit for inspiration:  By far, the most inspirational site for me is Bannerblog .  The founders and site moderators are dedicated to finding the absolute best online ads and posting them to Bannerblog.  I visit Bannerblog often because they keep it fresh, interesting and current.  It’s a great site.  (And also where I saw Non-Stop Fernando for the first time.)

Some other sites that I find helpful are: A List Apart,- Gary Vaynerchuk’s site,  37Signals’ blog – Signal vs. Noise ..and all of the wonderful people I follow on Twitter give me inspiration daily

Changes that need to take place in the industry: Dean Donaldson wrote a post on this blog about moving away from click-through rates – I think that’s an important aspect to the evolution of the online ad industry.

I think the industry is doing a good job working towards online-specific content, and I want to see that continue.  It’s no secret that content meant for a :30 spot or full-page magazine insertion doesn’t necessarily translate into online advertising. Recently, I’ve been thinking about the publishers’ role and I’d love to see some comments about it:

Publisher websites need to do more to improve display advertising.  There are just too many websites out there selling low-impact, derelict placements.  How can advertisers feel confident about their media buys if many sites aren’t optimized for ad visibility and engagement?

Over time, we’ve seen major players improve their sites: CNN.com is a good example.  They’ve added that 336×280 placement to their homepage over the past 18 months or so.  That’s smart.  Silicon Alley Insider has similar, high-impact 300×250 placements on its site.

The smaller sites need to follow this lead. I see too many sites selling placements that are 728x90s in the footer, or 160×600′s below-the-fold, etc.  While these smaller sites may offer nice targeting – especially geographic – the media they’re selling isn’t as powerful as it could be.

What do you think?

As the world watched in eager anticipation of change-afoot following the recent US Presidential election, I personally was waiting with baited breath for the results of the Eyeblaster Awards 2008. With all eyes being on the US, New York has not failed to deliver another card up its sleeve and has truly celebrated the very best in digital advertising – and it looks like this year there was more than a couple of show stoppers. As U Talk Marketing highlighted, “breakthrough creative from mythical zoo animals and colourful apparel to touch screen innovation,” this is change happening in real-time, and here is why.

North America Nominees

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International Nominees

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2008 is the year when cross-channel advertising finally came to be, moving beyond mere banner adverts online into how to work with consumers to deliver brand communication as they look for information across all media. So it is great to see OMD Los Angeles and AKQA London walking away with the first award for the most effective use of cross-channel campaign integration for their respective US and International markets.

OMD used an effective integration of search vs. display advertising to drive awareness and increase viewership for both Beverly Hills 90210 and America’s Next Top Model. Now I personally have got to review the data and have seen the resulting high conversion rates, and the effectiveness of combining both search and display together. When analyzed across a single report, I can tell you to see it in black and white it is incredible how consumers become aware of something from a variety of media sources, and then need to seek further qualification before finally converting. It is the most natural process for human behaviour as little display media in the real world expects a consumer to respond immediately, but expects they need time to digest and research – to finally have a means of evidence on a campaign by campaign level is incredibly powerful for media justification. To see the types of adverts or search terms that are being utilised throughout the conversion life-cycle… this kind of approach is going to revolutionise strategic planning for that advertising community moving forward.

As for AKQA London and their multi-faceted global attempt to raise the profile for Nike surrounding the European football championship, AKQA managed to deliver one of the largest video widget campaigns ever attempted. It ran across more than ten countries and managed to strike chords with a challenging audience though a range of humorous videos that they kept seeding out through the banners and allowed users to pick up the content and add it to their own social networks, homepages, blogs, etc. Anyone who has ever sat at one of my presentations will know just how passionate I am about this campaign that has managed to circumvent all the assumed rules of social network advertising and bring a brand and their audience together to create a hard-core group of brand advocates in their exceptionally personal environment. For a brand to have earned real-time access to a consumer’s personal space by invitation is truly ground-breaking. Again, it is this kind of approach that is revolutionising the interplay with brand communication by allowing the users to get involved where they are and choose how they want to proceed, and once more give us a timely reminder of the change in today’s consumer behaviour.

As for the evidence of the very best in Rich Media;

HP TouchSmart by Goodby Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco won the North America People’s choice for a superb creative that managed to dazzle and entertain the average consumer for two whole minutes – no mean feat in today’s fast-paced world – and help convey the future of touch screen computing with stunning 3D navigation, slick video, and product info leading to where to purchase. When you think of two minutes dwell time, that’s four times the average duration of a TV spot, and at the user’s own discretion and choice. Digital effectiveness indeed!

Springfield by OnTwice Interactive, Spain won the International People’s Choice for a page and eye-turning creative piece that shows how to take a traditional clothing catalogue and enhancing it with animation and video. This market never ceases to deliver creative inspiration. Utterly simple in execution, but is just stimulating for a consumer to get involved with a brand where they are, in a way they are historically familiar for this sector and ultimately drive a deeper desire for purchase intent.

San Diego Zoo by M&C Saatchi, Los Angeles won the North America People’s Choice and well it should. This is a beautiful execution that reminds me of Dr. Doolittle’s ‘Push-me-pull-you’ where users can design their own animal, send to their friends encourage a viral nature, but in essence it is all about a zoo is a learning experience of discovering new animals, and re-addresses the notion of mere animals in captivity. Armed with the creating of names for your newly designed animal, it again is ensuring consumer attention moves way beyond the mere paid advertising and becomes a talking point amongst friends. Laced with interaction and armed with viral and word-of-mouth marketing, I simply love the balance of strategy and technology here.

Non-stop Fernando by Lean Mean Fighting Machine, UK took the International Judge’s Choice. No surprise these veteran’s of digital advertising yet again push the limits of what can be done in a publisher’s space on behalf of a brand and managed to deliver 14 hours 40 minutes of video into a banner for Emirates. These guys simply do not believe in technical specifications and is a testament of how to collaborate with an ad serving vendor to achieve the impossible. Touching on the personal intrigue we have in a big-brother way observing other people’s lives, you can’t help but keep jumping around the time frame to find out what Fernando is up to next. Advertising that can truly hold attention, we all have so much to learn.

When we add in the fact that one last year’s winners Adidas ‘Impossible is Nothing’ took a Cannes Gold Lion award earlier this year, am sure you will agree, 2008 has laid on an amazing show of inspiration for the industry from across the globe.

David Carr

Head of Interactive

Chemistry Communications Group Plc

 Your inspiration best comes when:  When you’ve got a really rich problem to solve that will let you explore interactive media’s real potential – when you can move away from advertising into storytelling. When you’re challenged to create something useful, usable and delightful that engages people and helps them connect, either functionally or to show-off across real and digital spaces. When it’s about creating a useful embodiment of the brand that affects the real world, not a metaphor or a distraction, not a tool with a logo. Then you’ve got to turn-off the screens and get out in the real world with real people and the inspiration will hit you. Play more and this is the best job in the world.

• Your idea about the perfect working day:  When we have the space to break out of role silos and work together. When we can start forgetting who is a designer and who is a developer, who is a creative and who is a planner, and start nurturing a really rich idea that needs everyone’s help. When despite the last minute hiccups, amends, blue-screens of death and races against crazy deadlines you can go home at the end of the day and say “WE made that, and it’s bloody brilliant.” Oh and a lie-in would be nice.

Your favorite interactive campaign and why:  My favorite interactive campaign changes almost daily generally accompanied by the feeling of “I wish we’d done that” or “damn it, we were doing that, let’s start again”. But the campaign that is currently very much in the “I wish we’d done that” box is Barbarian Group’s CNN T-Shirt Headlines campaign.

CNN.com’s T-Shirt Headlines Project used small T-Shirt icons next to headlines to draw peoples’ attention to their improved video offer. Clicking on the icon would lead them to a custom t-shirt shop where they could purchase a t-shirt with the headline on it. The shirts were emblazoned with the “I just saw it on CNN.com” tagline, along with the date and time of the headline. People could choose shirts with headlines they liked, were appalled about, found surreal, or just whimsical by actually interacting with the videos. It also spread the wider word as people wore the shirts, gifted them to their friends or broadcasted their purchase on their Facebook News Feed.

Brand Reality Creative like this is organic not viral, it has more usage loops and can be used by people for self-representation. It nurtures and incentivises invites and it cares about the retention rate rather than chasing installs through brute force. It is not the archetypal one hit widget – the type that cluttered up your old Facebook Profile page, the Viral App that is essentially spam.

David also recently worked on the innovative Emirates campaign:  Emirates is the only long haul airline to fly from 6 UK airports. Despite this most people still associate mid and long haul flights for business or pleasure with Heathrow or Gatwick. Miles Better used geographic and behavioural targeting coupled with in-advertising mapping to encourage people to fly from their local airport. It demonstrated the ease of getting there by plotting a route and showed how quick the trip would be. The campaign was part of the 6 UK Airports strategy that combined brand led comms, direct response offers, and even brand utility applications to increase passenger numbers for Emirates flights at Newcastle, Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester.