• by Staff Writers , September 6, 2007

Video units are critical to creating online campaigns that engage.

AKQA
Visa/Real People, Real Stories

PJ Pereira, Creative Director; Kristen Stewart, Art Director; Karen Hutchinson, Copywriter; Jen Watts, Account Planner; Barbara Alperin, Project Manager; Dianne Hayashi, Group Media Director; Noel Aragon, Media Supervisor; Amelia Milo, Media Planner; Sarah Skinner, Assistant Media Planner. Creative Development: Vinny Abeygunawardena, Brad Johnson, Kelly Grimes, Alan Brimm, Ian Bauer, Bill Emmack, Terry Lee

While most consumers have at least one credit card, few could distinguish between the security features offered by the major credit-card brands. Given the heightened attention on privacy and security, especially in the online arena, Visa sought to emphasize its security features in a host of "real people" vignettes.

Each vignette shared a true account of a cardholder story, captured through digital video and carried via in-banner videos, expandable banners, video pre-rolls and a microsite that collected the stories. To up the campaign's visibility, Visa secured high-profile placements on major portals, emphasizing shopping sites during the holiday months and entertainment ones during the summer.

Additionally, Visa and AKQA employed MobiTV technology that allowed the customer vignettes to run as interstitial commercial placements during viewings of full shows on ABC.com.

* WINNER *
CREATIVE DIGITAL GROUP
EyeWonder

EyeWonder: Mike Griffin, Jason Scheidt, Carrie Shetler, Ryan Manchee
Creative Digital Group: Ed Alba, Jacob Warhaftig, Park Fowlkes, Joel Boorstein, Whitlock Dunbar, Ethan Stokes

Eyewonder could well have faced the shoemaker's-kids syndrome with its 2007 Client Testimonial Campaign: taking such good care of
its clients that it didn't think to mind its self-touting projects. It's a tribute to the rich-media provider's creativity, then, that the Testimonial Campaign presented the firm in such a clever way.

For the campaign, EyeWonder took a production team armed with a high- def camera to the offices of clients in New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. Once there, the camera captured execs talking, in an off-hand manner, about their EyeWonder experience.

The minute-long testimonials, displayed in a scroll-bar/thumbnail picture menu, were followed by information on how to contact an EyeWonder rep. Interaction rates averaged 19.92 percent across all sites, and as high as 31.10 percent on one site.

DEEP FOCUS
Court TV/"Murder by the Book"

Court TV: Jason Valentzas, VP, Consumer Marketing; Kathi Palminteri, Senior Director, Consumer Promotions; Kelly Hughes, Senior Manager, Consumer Promotions.
Deep Focus: Sabrina Calouri, Account Director; Jim Marsh, Account Executive; Katy Walker, Art Director; Lauren Puglia, Account Planner.

For the launch of "murder by the Book," Court TV faced a tricky challenge in explaining its unusual concept - crime-fiction writers sharing their thoughts about a true-life crime that impacted them - to viewers. To drive ratings, the network realized it had to appeal to a wider audience than the writers' loyal fan base.

To that end, Court TV and Deep Focus took footage from an interview with James Ellroy, in which he discussed his mother's murder and his wayward youth, and rolled it into a 160x600 expandable video unit. The tactic worked, with the sneak-peek video generating more than one million streams.