The Ad Cube is "a multi-dimensional, interactive advertising and branding environment that allows online viewers to interact with strategic marketing content in uniquely engaging and fully-measurable ways."
According to the San Francisco-based agency that invented it, the name of the new unit comes from what advertisers can put into it - the unit is a large-format online ad that works like a microsite, housing video, sound, 3D and Flash animation, and text-based documents and content. SF also claims the Ad Cube keeps viewers on-site longer, instead of redirecting them to other sites via click-throughs typically associated with banner ads, pop-ups and interstitials. At launch, Bruce Carlisle, President of SFI, said, marketers had been searching for a multi-purpose branding vehicle that extends, re-purposes and integrates rich media content developed for their marketing, advertising, sales and business development programs, and the Ad Cube does just that, while conforming to current IAB standards. While no Forbes.com advertisers have yet signed to test-drive the format, SF Interactive has already deployed the Ad Cube for several clients including Cisco, VeriSign and Quantum. Examples can be found at http://www.sfinteractive.com/ad3.