As part of our ‘Favorite Brand Experience’ series, we’re pleased to bring you an interview with: Alain Emile, Creative Director at tuskluv
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Your idea about the perfect working day?

A couple of years ago I would probably say working from home, but honestly I love being able to come into my office really early - 6′ish, put on some good music and finish my entire workload before 5pm Then be able to play some soccer or enjoy the city before the sun goes down.  That gets the status of “perfect” because getting here at 6am is short of a phenomenon.
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Your muse best comes when?
The subway hands down. I feel like the train is personally taking you to work and you need to get your thoughts straight before those doors open. This is assuming you are not cramped in the subway with 200 plus. Then my muse clearly switches to potential escape plans.
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What needs to be changed/improved in order to achieve ultimate engagement with users? 

I think there is a lot of user interaction that we see as new or innovative in online advertising when it is in fact ubiquitous to people’s everyday life. Being able to actually shop, send video messages, book tickets, buy music, all these call to actions could very well take place within the ad. We need to take a step into not only using the rich media space to promote but also to execute. I would love to be able to buy a dvd or download an album from an ad without even rolling off.

Favorite Brand Experiences?

The favorite one I worked on is the Dentyne Make Face Time by far. My favorite one in Eyeblaster’s stash, I would have to say Pepsi’s Dear Mr President by R/GA

Dentyne’s Make Face Time is my personal favorite because not only did we get a chance to be part of this award winning campaign with McCann but we also got to concept and illustrate the online execution. In this case it was an anti-campaign to keep people ON the computer as opposed to out making face time. Plus who does not love a Sumo destroying an emoticon.

R/GA’s Pepsi campaign, well I love it for everything I wrote in regards to ultimate engagement. They took this technology which almost everybody has and have been using for a while and they simply made it available in a very limited space. Also it was done for the right reasons and not for the sake of uploading video. I love when the ideas are so good they require next level execution.

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The impact of the recession on online advertising?

Ah Dr Recession. For a small shop like Tuskluv this has brought on both positives and negatives. For one, a lot of companies felt the need to advertise and try to connect with their audience in these rough times. Being a small shop we got a lot of business because we could negotiate a lower price. But at the same time, on the other side of the spectrum, a lot of bigger companies that previously did not offer interactive started getting into the mix in order to generate more. For the most part we were in a good spot because we started working with a lot of these companies as their creative shop for their interactive needs. The negative being that this nurtured a whole new level of companies that positioned themselves between us and the client. Needless to say that’s another tier you need to go through when billing. Clients started paying a little bit later than usual and then their clients as well. So when it trickles down, my company was basically the last one down the chain to get paid. This brought on some heavy cash flow problems that were almost impossible to deal with and forced my already small shop to get even smaller.

This month’s Blast Newsletter spotlight campaign was by Tequila Sydney and Carat Interactive for Nissan, which used a map in banner to enable users to discover inspiring 4×4 adventure destinations via Google Maps, whilst positioning the Nissan Patrol as the ultimate 4×4 for the journey.    Other hot campaigns to watch include CBA Financial Health Check, 2 great O2 campaigns, a Transformer Skin, a Mazda Sidekick, an IKEA banner with Dynamic Content, a banner for Wolverine gaming and an ad for Robinson Fruitshoot that lets you color over the page with juice bottles.  Enjoy!

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Following is an excerpt from an article I recently wrote for iMedia: 

“Online video is considered one of the most promising online advertising channels, with a forecasted ad spending of $1.67 billion in the U.S. by 2013 (according to JupiterResearch). Over the years, a seemingly endless procession of start-ups has entered the space, with myriad solutions touting inventory creation, ad management tools, and optimized functionality. Judging by projections and innovations, the in-stream space is the place to be, but that still doesn’t necessarily guarantee monetization.

Let’s face it, despite the hype, in-stream advertising has not lived up to expectations. So we, as an industry, need to take immediate action — or online video and in-stream advertising risk going the way of Second Life. ”

For survival recommendations, see the full article in iMedia.

Ronnie Lavi | Manager, Product Planning and Business Development

Eyeblaster was just awarded a ClickZ Marketing Excellence Award for our Mobile Marketing Tool – Channel Connect for Mobile. The Awards recognize the technologies, and companies that made a positive difference in the online marketing industry in 2008, moving the industry forward by providing brilliant examples of what can be accomplished.

Here’s what the judges had to say:
“Eyeblaster offers a clearly differentiating product that ports a capability that advertisers are already familiar with to the mobile Web. This should spur further improvements in the area of mobile Web ad serving.” -Davis Brewer

Take a look at this article originally published in iMedia Connection featuring five of the best campaigns in digital advertising from the past month, .  They serve to inspire and include skins, videos, 2 rocking boats and … beer.

• 1. Canal Odisea Titanic (Spain)

Agency & Creative: Remo

Link: http://tinyurl.com/cz-titanic

This expandable banner campaign produced for The Odyssey Channel recreates the fateful story of the Titanic by taking over the page at the moment of impact with the iceberg.  It is designed to draw the attention of viewers to the variety of documentaries offered by Odyssey, and includes impressive sound effects and visuals.

 

• 2. Monsters vs. Aliens (UK)

Agency: MEC Interaction
Creative: Feref
Link: http://tinyurl.com/cz-monsters-aliens

By rolling over this ad, the user’s mouse pointer becomes a hand, which activates a wild home page takeover and a creative movie trailer.  Users can then enter a competition for a Nintendo Wii or play a game entitled Gallaxhar Invades (a trip down memory lane for those who remember Space Invaders).

 

3. Boat that Rocked (UK)

Agency: Mediacom
Creative: Feed
Link: http://tinyurl.com/cz-boat-rocked

1960′s colours set the mood of the movie using a home page skin.  Once the user clicks on the expandable banner, the ad opens with a rocking  boat, inviting the user to a high seas adventure.  A trailer, with an option to watch in full screen, and rolling movie reviews provide a rich user experience.

 

4.        Rickards

Agency: mediaedge: cia toronto

Creative: Pixelpusher

Link: http://tinyurl.com/cz-rickards

This skyscraper ad expands to let the user play with the amount of beer left in the glass.  The accompanying voices either cheer or complain depending on how much beer is left.  Users can click through to the Rickards site to see more.

• 5. Norton: Need for Speed

Agency: Grey
Creative: Godfrey Q and Partners

Link: http://tinyurl.com/cz-norton

And for the techies out there, check out the Norton Bandwidth Meter, which measures your bandwidth speed in the ad.  Users can then ‘get Nortonized’, uploading a photo or using a webcam to create a personalized widget of the Symantec Internet Threat Meter.  The widget regularly updates itself when you are connected to the web and keeps you up-to-date on the latest threats online.