• by February 28, 2005

By Kate Kaye

In the late '90s, when most advertisers considered the Web a mere novelty, creative typically took a backseat to technology. Then, the medium was the message, or more often, the technology was the message. Ads were constricted by small file sizes and limited formats. Web sites were suffocated by superfluous design and little utilitarian value.

It's no wonder traditional agency creatives, and their clients, eschewed what at the time was a second-thought medium. The dot-com bust didn't help in terms of establishing legitimacy for interactive media in the eyes of TV-centric creatives.

Though there are plenty of examples of intrusive formats and less than engaging design, the Web is enjoying a growing popularity among agency creatives, many of whom have high hopes for the interactive medium. Barriers between interactive and traditional agency departments are beginning to crumble. No longer considered merely a direct marketing medium, the Internet has become a significant forum for branding.

The fact that the Web encourages a two-way dialogue between consumers and brands increases the potential for consumer engagement with those brands. In short, skeptical creatives are becoming inspired to participate in uncorking the medium's true potential.

In years past, technology often got in the way of good ideas online. Today it's opening the door. "A lot of minds that weren't used to thinking about the interactive space have started to, and that has given way to some really fresh thinking," observes Jeff Benjamin, interactive creative director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the agency behind Burger King's cheeky Subservient Chicken campaign.

He says many agency creatives he knows haven't found most interactive advertising to be emotionally compelling until recently. Now, "everyone's just so interested in the interactive space; they want to do the next cool thing. &Technology, to a degree, has sort of caught up to them."

Subservient Chicken, Dominant Consumer One of the reasons why the Subservient Chicken campaign received so much recognition, is not only because it parodied Webcam pornography and featured a clucker in garters, but because it encompassed trends that are gaining traction with advertisers. In fact, the "Get chicken the way you like it" slogan evinced both the campaign's approach, as well a broader marketing movement towards consumer-driven branding.

The campaign site allowed users to command a guy in a chicken suit to do their bidding, in essence giving control to the consumer in a far more genuine way than simply letting them choose from a series of pre-determined actions. This represented a new form of storytelling, involving original content that required user-interaction. "Subservient Chicken really is useless unless someone is playing with it," Benjamin remarks. Because the site was empowering, entertaining, and engaging, millions of consumers made the campaign a viral hit by sending a link to their friends.

Efforts that work well are those "that allow the customer to participate and become a part of them," stresses John Rich, vice president and interactive creative director at TM Interactive, a division of TM Advertising. With the help of advertising technologies and escalating broadband penetration, the agency invited consumers to help create a brand story for American Airlines. The initial Web ads extended a TV and print campaign and featured streaming video of home movies that were meant to evoke the reasons why people fly. Those ads linked to a campaign site that allowed users to submit their own home movies. The latest iteration of the airline ads includes video streams of the home movies submitted by real people telling their personal stories. The ads also feature a fare-finder tool to enable consumers to locate fares directly within the ad. "Now we've truly opened up a dialogue with people," Rich explains.

"Control over one's own media ex-perience is what made people love the Net in the first place," suggests Ted Kacandes, creative director at Glow Interactive.

A recent campaign developed by the agency for The History Channel's "Alexander the Great" included an expandable banner ad unit that when scrolled over, revealed several layers of content-like video, story background, text, a multiple choice quiz, and a registration form used as a reminder to watch the show. Expandable banners and other such ad formats are becoming more prevalent, in part, because of their ability to connect people to content and experiences without removing them from the page. In this way, the brand comes to the consumer, rather than the consumer having to shift gears to go to the brand.

"We look at our banners as mini-sites," Kacandes says.

Ryan Mathews, president of Black Monk Consulting and a commentator on global consumer trends and branding, refers to the new brand dynamic as "revolution from the bottom up." The only hope for brand survival, he contends, is for companies to allow consumers to actively engage in building brands. Advertising employing opt-in approaches and deep interactivity, Mathews believes, will enable the revolution.

Interestingly, as more immersive content and engaging experiences have migrated online, none of it would be possible without enabling technology. For example, technology enabled Burger King's feathered fetishist to perform countless feats for hundreds of people at any given time. It's also possible that some creative ideas would never have come to fruition without the existence of certain ad formats offering manageable file sizes that stream video.

Thin Line Between Love and Hate "Technology needs to be thought of within the same context as creative, otherwise there's too much conflict," maintains Ian Schaffer, president of Deep Focus.

Online ad targeting has become increasingly fine-tuned, so creatives must be more aware of the technical capabilities behind their ads. Otherwise, Schaffer notes, "Ad creative doesn't necessarily speak to that right person, at the right place, at the right time."

To promote the release of the new Ludacris album from Def Jam, Deep Focus developed a campaign that took the artist's tunes directly to his audience, while fans were already in the frame of mind to interact with their friends. When teenagers logged onto AOL Instant Messenger, they could click from within their Buddy Lists to start a 15-second expandable video and audio clip, and buy the album directly from the ad.

"The distance between vision and concept, and actually running an ad has decreased completely due to technology," argues Gal Trifon, co-founder and CEO of Eyeblaster.

He agrees that agency creatives are becoming more aware of the capabilities of online ad formats, so they are more comfortable exploring creative options and back-end components like data capture, without the risk of promising things they can't deliver. While technology companies sweat the tech stuff, they allow creatives to focus on what's important to them: ideas and messaging, Trifon says.

While he says a love/hate relationship exists between agency creatives and ad technology providers like Eyeblaster, PointRoll, Eyewonder, and Unicast, Schaffer concedes, "Competition between rich media vendors is really helping. They come in here all the time and say, Here's all the new stuff we're working on.' They're providing ways to do things that didn't exist before."

Plus, Schaffer adds, creatives can rely on the tech developers to test and refine new formats before they're available to the general market.

Admitting to a certain degree that technological innovation influences online creative, Yanti Arifin, director of creative services at Tribal DDB asserts, "The way things change will depend on what users are looking for." Of course, inviting consumers to control and/or interact with online advertising only works when consumers are actually inspired to interact and wield that control.

Viral buzz spurred by efforts like the Subservient Chicken, Fallon's BMW Films series, and American Express' Webisodes starring comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Superman, have prompted advertisers to demand similar viral marketing hits from their agencies. But the truth is, what appeals to consumers who help promote branded entertainment efforts is not the viral intent, but the quality of the creative content itself.

Now that broadband is increasingly commonplace, more advertisers are viewing video-centric branded entertainment efforts not merely as exceptions to the rule, but as viable examples of what they can do. Brad Kay, CEO of Merkley Interactive, the digital arm of Merkley + Partners, New York, believes branded entertainment has been done more effectively online than in other media. "There's a correlation between the diminishing effect of ads in the television medium and the rise of branded entertainment online," he notes.

"What [campaigns like BMW Films and Subservient Chicken] are doing is they're making creative famous," says Joseph Jaffe, a former interactive media director at TBWA/Chiat/Day, and president and founder of consulting practice jaffe LLC.

"That itself piques the curiosity of the people who hold the purse strings, i.e. the client," he says. But Jaffe warns that conjuring up the next blockbuster branded entertainment campaign is "not like going to the fast food counter and saying, I'll have a No. 7.' It's just not very easy to replicate."

Rei Inamoto, global creative director at AKQA, New York, is concerned that too many advertisers are focused on what propels popular campaigns rather than what's at the heart of their success  the messages themselves. "By saying, Let's do an online film project or let's do a viral campaign,' advertisers are using the means to drive the solution as opposed to starting with the message."

Lars Bastholm, AKQA's executive creative director, puts it another way: "When a client says they want a viral campaign, it's essentially the same thing as saying, We'd like a great idea.'"

Bungie, a game developer, and Microsoft, marketer of the Xbox video game console, had a great idea that manifested in the site AKQA launched to promote Bungie's "Halo 2" game. AKQA built a site with text in the unknown tongue of the Covenant, a group of aliens who are on a mission to destroy mankind in the game.

The agency, which actually developed the language, predicted it would take "Halo" fans a week or two to decipher the unrecognizable lexicon. But they underestimated the rabid dedication of the game's devotees. Within 48 hours of launching, thousands of people had visited the site and cracked the code.

Creative Camaraderie Developing creative concepts like these go beyond simply re-purposing offline assets for the Web, something many marketers fall back on. "The ability to create deeper content takes you beyond the quick two-frame banner," says Dorian Sweet, vice president and creative director at Agency.com, San Francisco.

As traditional creatives begin to make interactive a central campaign element, agency organizations are transforming to accommodate more holistic approaches to campaign development. A common theme these days among agency creatives and executives is the eventual disappearance of so-called agency silos, or structural divisions that separate the TV people from the Web people.

"Now the idea is king and who it comes from isn't," Sweet says. "Technology has helped blur that line. It's allowed everybody to have access to the same thing."

A Running Start Adidas' A3 Megaride travels through all kinds of weather online and off

How do you demonstrate durability and endurance in an online ad campaign when there's no voice-over to explain how a product works or to tout its benefits? That's a typical challenge with online advertising and one Carat Interactive was charged with answering when it developed an online campaign for Adidas' new A3 Megaride running shoe. The campaign, which started in January, has run in two- to three-week flights and supports simultaneous national and spot TV commercials.

Using Flash, Carat brought the brand to life by portraying movement through a variety of seasons and weather conditions. The banners, which ran in several sizes, depict a single shoe running through rain, then stepping through a field of lush green trees, which turn into red and orange fall foliage. As the shoe continues running, the season turns brisk and the shoe steps through snowflakes, which evolve into a picturesque Currier & Ives winter scene.

"Adidas specializes in functional technology," explains Mike Yapp, creative director at Carat Interactive in Boston. "We used the seasons to communicate that the shoe will run as long as you run. They show passage of time."

The headline "Run, Enjoy, Repeat" drives the durability point home, while the visibly clear heal of the shoe shows how its bladders absorb the impact while running. The last frame introduces "The Unstoppable Megaride," available exclusively at Finish Line stores.

To reach its audience of young male fitness enthusiasts who are active in multiple sports, Carat turned to Microsoft's MSN. MSN's home page reaches "13 million consumers in one day" and 360 million unique users worldwide per month, according to Gayle Troberman, director of custom brand solutions for MSN. Ads appeared in the upper right hand side of the home page, as well as on MSN's Fox Sports and Health & Fitness pages, and in Yahoo's! chat environment.

The ads click through to a microsite where visitors can look at the technical specs of the shoe in more detail. The campaign also includes an e-mail to Finish Line customers. Brian Mathena, Carat's media supervisor for the Adidas America account, declined to release results for the effort, but said that "Megaride is meeting our expectations for success at both the media and retail level." Lynn Russo

Virgin Airways Upper Class Cabin Campaign Ads engage visitors in some airplay

Virgin Airways likes to project a brand image that is as unconventional and whimsical as its founder, Sir Richard Branson. So when the British airline wanted a new online ad campaign, Miami-based Crispin Porter + Bogusky went for a style that was "a little left of center," according to Jim Poh, director of creative content distribution. The campaign struck an offbeat, entrepreneurial tone, far removed from the typical corporate business traveler approach that other airlines take.

The Flash-enabled and PointRoll banners engage visitors, while promoting the comforts and benefits of the sleeper seats in Virgin's upper class cabin. That feeling comes across in "Haircut," an ad that allows visitors to upload a personal photo and then give themselves a haircut. The ad drives home the giveaway  customers who fly in the upper class cabin receive a free haircut.

Or, to promote free massages in the air, one banner enables visitors to move a pair of hands in a massaging motion. A warning reads, "Depressurization may occur in event of massage." In another ad that specifically states, "No bouncing allowed," visitors break the rules by making a person jump up and down on the full-size sleeper seats. A fourth ad invites visitors to interpret dreams.

"We wanted executions that were engaging, even if people weren't booking right then," Poh says. "If you had an experience with Virgin that entertained and engaged you, in the future, we thought you might consider them."

Banners targeted price-conscious consumers interested in low fares via Sidestep, Overture, and Yahoo! Travel, and Google beginning last May. A business-oriented campaign was added last September on Hoovers, BusinessWeek Online, and the Financial Times' site. Ads ran through last month. The online campaign ran simultaneously with print, including ads in Wired, Time, and The Economist.

Poh declined to release specific numbers, but said that Web site traffic and airline bookings were up in 2004, and that interaction rates for the banners were double the average that Virgin experienced in the past. Lynn Russo

Sharp Electronics' Aquos Flat-Screen TV Online game reveals product benefits

If you watched television last fall, you may be familiar with Natalie, Mike, and Peter, three individuals out to find three secret urns buried long ago by legendary anthropologist Dagobert Steinitz. The fictional story, developed by Sharp Electronics and its agency Wieden + Kennedy, New York, was designed to get consumers curious and engaged, while exposing them to the benefits of its Aquos flat-screen TV.

To reach Sharp's target audience, early technology adopters who might be willing to spend at a higher price point for their next TV, the company launched a global TV campaign that targeted the United States and Europe. The TV effort was matched with an online campaign on MSNBC.com that blurred the lines between advertising, journalism, and gaming. The online component tied directly into the TV commercials and included articles written by MSN writers, along with ads for fictitious companies that drew people into the game.

Each character was assigned a product benefit of the Aquos TV: truer color, greater detail, or enhanced sound. For instance, in one TV commercial, Mike is driving to a rendezvous with Natalie, but there's music coming from one of his teeth (enhanced sound), and it distracts him. He nearly hits her and swerves, driving his car into a swimming pool.

On MSNBC.com, an article appeared on "How to Survive a Driving Emergency." One of the tips was, "How to get out of a submerged or overturned car." The article and the tips were real, but adjacent to the article was a faux advertisement for Steinitz Towing, which specializes in "aquatic auto extraction." Another article, featuring a photo of Natalie on the phone, discusses "bone conduction," a fictitious solution for cutting down on crowd noise when you're on your cell phone.

Clicking through the faux ads brought viewers to Web sites created for the fictional companies. A link appeared on their home pages for MoretoSee.com, the official Web site for the treasure hunt and for the Sharp Aquos flat-screen TV. The left side of the home page contained story information, and the right side promoted product benefits.

Consumers not only got hooked on the digital drama, they were able to participate in it as well. They were invited to conduct their own hunt for the third urn by following clues left in the characters' journal entries. One clue was offered at the retail level to draw players into stores. The first registered participant to submit the correct answer for the location of the urn won a $10,000 entertainment package. Sharp also gave away several flat-screen TVs.

The campaign was developed in conjunction with MSN's Creative Connection program, which was designed to help MSN clients push the envelope in online creative. "It worked really well on a couple of levels," says Andy Carrigan, agency producer of the Sharp Aquos work at Wieden. "We were trying to get people familiar with, and spending more time with the brand than they were previously. This campaign definitely put Sharp's Aquos flat-screen TVs on the map and gave them cultural relevance they didn't have before."

MoretoSee.com received over 1.5 million unique visitors who spent, on average, eight minutes per site visit. One-thousand registered users posted 10,000 messages on the site's community board. "Sales have far surpassed last year's numbers and achieved all of the sales goals for the period the campaign ran in," adds Ty Kendig, an account supervisor at Wieden. Lynn Russo

Putting the Honey' in Honeymoon Toasters, flatware, and crystal may be de rigueur gifts for the bride and groom, but isn't going on a great honeymoon a lot more fun and memorable? Happy couples everywhere can register to have their friends, family members, and wedding guests give them the honeymoon of their dreams thanks to Starwood Hotels and Resorts' Honeymoon Collection.

The Web site for the campaign, created by Merkley Interactive, offers descriptions and photography of the chain's most romantic and exclusive properties. Starwood, which partners with WeddingChannel.com on the effort, offers couples the opportunity to sign up for the honeymoon registry and a concierge service. There's also a guest travel feature where couples can book and manage a block of rooms for their guests. When couples book rooms for wedding guests, they can also customize their own wedding Web site with content and photos.

"It's a strategy around addressing the needs and desires of a specific customer segment," says Jennifer Hyman, manager of leisure strategy, Starwood. "It's a very personalized experience." Hyman says January was the Honeymoon Collection's most successful month to date, with nearly 100 registrants, and between 400 to 500 honeymoon bookings through the program.

Merkley built and designed the site, created the information architecture, handled hosting and programming, as well as coordinated online advertising placements. The agency also designed print ads, collateral, and managed e-mail marketing to WeddingChannel.com's list. Tobi Elkin