'Knocked Up' Campaign Puts Back-to-Back Videos in a Banner Ad
Unique rich media offering from Media Banners streams full Web sites and multiple consecutive videos within a display unit.
In deploying a new rich media ad format from Media Banners, Disney and Universal are embracing a strategy increasingly common on the Web: If you can’t entice a user to click an ad through to a creative element, then bring the creative element to the user where they are.
Rich media creative company Media Banners has launched separate campaigns promoting Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” and Universal’s “Knocked Up” that use a unique banner format capable of streaming back-to-back videos and displaying whole Web sites inside an ad.
Universal’s Knocked Up banner ad will expand to display a video player with as many as 20 different previews and clips from the film. The clips appear directly on the page the viewer was already on without requiring them to click through to a Universal-hosted site. A Pirates of the Caribbean ad meanwhile allows users to navigate the entire site for the film from within the ad.
“Visitors get the entire experience for Pirates without leaving the Web site. Here are our clients creating all these destination points, and we’re taking Disney’s Web site and [extending it] across the scope of the Internet,” said Dimitry Ioffe, CEO of Media Banners.
The “Knocked Up” player allows viewers to select from many clips rather than being required to view a single video or select from a handful. It’s an example of the convergence of the Internet and television advertising, according to Chris Young, executive vice president of rich media for DoubleClick, which supported the campaigns.
“What’s interesting about that ad unit is it’s the ad unit as a TV channel, where you can scroll through it. Why can’t you change the channel on your Internet browser?” said Young.
He also said that its not surprising that the entertainment industry is expanding the use of its rich media ad units, and he said other industries are likely to follow. “Entertainment is the innovator, and we’re about to see rich media ads get really crazy,” said Young. “It’s telling for other industries in terms of their innovations.
Media Banners’ next rich media campaign will center on the DVD release of Warner Bros. “300” film, “and a variety of Fox properties,” according to Ioffe.
Banner advertisements for “Knocked Up” are currently on AOL Moviefone, MTV, NBC, E! Online and MySpace Web sites, while “Pirates of the Caribbean” banners are appearing on MSN Movies, AOL MovieFone and MySpace sites.
