• by Staff Writers , September 6, 2007

A broad array of advertisers use rich media in their interactive efforts.

AVENUE A | RAZORFISH
Washington Mutual

Peter Guagenti, Client Partner; Kristie Ko, Project Manager; Luther Thie, Creative Director; Jenn Shreve, Copywriter; Evan Sornstein, Art Director; Thomas Lough, Flash Developer; Brian Forstat, Rhatia Carr, Production Artists; Steven Lammers, Presentation Layer Developer; Xuyen Tran, QA Lead

For Washington Mutual, Avenue A/Razorfish created the "Friendly Banner," which draws on the company's "Simpler Banking and More Smiles" mantra. "Friendly" introduces himself and addresses the person he's talking to directly, as though in a conversation. "Friendly" is aware that he's interrupting the user, but does so with a disarming, exaggerated politeness, popping on the screen and landing, bowing and lifting. It's all part of the larger message: the bank makes it easy for customers to access their money.

* WINNER *
DEEP FOCUS
HBO/"Flight of the Conchords"

Deep Focus: Jason Lucas, Creative Director; Sal Del Aquilla, Art Director; Jeramie Hildenbrand, Animator/Developer; Dave Eberly, Animator; Taurie Wilk, Project Manager; Lindsey Lero, Senior Account Executive
HBO: Chris Spadaccini, Vice President of Marketing; Claire Scott, Marketing Manager; Chris Glover, Associate Marketing Manager

In the wake of the sopranos series finale, HBO tasked Deep Focus with introducing a new crop of programs, including Flight of the Conchords, a two-man band from New Zealand trying to make it in New York. To reach urban influencers and turn them into evangelists for the show, Deep Focus created banner ads that drove people to HBO.com/conchords, where they could view an entire episode and learn more about the series.

The campaign relied on high-impact placements, including homepage roadblocks on Comedy Central and custom skins on Nerve. The online campaign drove more than 160,000 clicks to hbo.com and rich media creative produced 12.78 percent interaction rates; the pilot was sampled online over 1 million times through various outlets including MySpace and HBO.com.

TRAILER PARK
Buena Vista Pictures Marketing/"Meet the Robinsons"

Ray Sanchez, Creative Director; Chris Chung, Art Director; Jeremy Folks, Flash Developer; Marcelo Guerra, Project Manager

The campaign for Disney's "meet the Robinsons" aimed to introduce the audience to the main characters - Frankie, Lewis and Tiny - by showing them in a futuristic world of time machines and off-beat gadgets. One floating banner featured the Robinsons freefalling from the top of the screen. Before they plummet to the ground, their time machine zooms onto the page, whisking them to safety.