If you've been working with audio and video ads, eyeblasters, and other interactive ad technologies, the newest release from DoubleClick may seem like a let down. The company's media division today
launched what they term a Shaped Pop-up ad unit, and although it’s not exactly exciting, it's definitely worth noticing.
Developed by DoubleClick Studio, Shaped Pop-ups have the functionality of a pop-up box and use flash technology, but unlike most ad formats already in existence they can be designed in a
range of shapes while still being tagged, trafficked and delivered much like standard banners. Naturally, the Shaped Pop-ups are delivered using DoubleClick's own DART ad serving technology.
And
it seems marketers are already interested. DoubleClick says that in the US this new unit is debuting with global campaigns including a Grey Direct client on Comedy Central.com. Internationally,
Deutsche Telekom is already running two Shaped Pop-ups campaigns for their mobile phone services and Italian watch manufacturer Breil is running a Shaped Pop-ups campaign on Ferrari.net.
The new
unit is part of DoubleClick's latest enhancement to its suite of rich media offerings, which now includes a new ADJ tag system that allows marketers to serve advanced creative, including
Interstitials, Superstitials, DHTML and Shaped Pop-ups across DoubleClick's entire Media network of more than 1,700 sites.
According to a study conducted by Diameter, the online research division
of DoubleClick, rich media technologies such as audio, video and Flash deliver greater impact and conclusively increase branding effectiveness. In addition, different placements for these ads, like
interstitial ads, which are displayed during a transition from one Web page to the next, boosted key brand metrics by an average of 194%.