• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, July 22, 2009

Advertisers are providing an easy way for consumers to reach through ads and communicate with brands. Fox Home Entertainment, with help from EyeWonder and Moxie, has launched a rich media ad that not only streams Twitter tweets, but allows people to jump into the conversation through the ad.

The ad unit promotes "Dollhouse" Season One, scheduled for release July 28 on Blu-ray and DVD. Through the Twitter application programming interface (API), the rollover ad display tweets from "Dollhouse" star Eliza Dushku's Twitter feed and invites people to sign in to their own Twitter accounts to share their thoughts on the show.

A built-in moderation module, manned by humans, screens all submissions. Each brand moderates their respective ads. If approved, the tweets could appear in the ad. The ad also features a photo gallery, video vignettes from the show and commentary from "Dollhouse" creator Joss Whedon. The ad runs through August 3 on various male-targeted and science fiction sites.

Michael Rosner, SVP of global sales at EyeWonder, says that while Fox opened the door to allowing people to sign into Twitter from the ad, the media company isn't the only brand that has started streaming comments in ads.

A live streaming feed for General Electric (GE) focusing on their healthy imagination campaign let people speak their mind. The 40-minute online broadcast highlighting words from the CEO and panel discussion streamed live comments from users on the left-hand side of the ad, Rosner says. "It's different from the Twitter feed, but these things in combination come together to create a powerful experience," he says.

In May, EyeWonder worked with agency Beeby Clark + Meyler on a live campaign for GE. During GE CEO Jeff Immelt's hour-long live speech on healthcare, 4,000 comments were submitted from viewers. The comments went through a profanity filter and were moderated for content. About 1,200 were displayed in the ad. Still, 8% of viewers who were served the ad rolled over it to expand and initiate the video.

"I'm looking to send an ad to the moon," Rosner says, when asked what's next for rich media ads. "We are hearing conversations around augmented reality."

Similar to other agencies, Rosner says EyeWonder plans to continue to push the limit and create something others haven't thought of before.