ON: Digital+Marketing

ON: Facebook's Direct Experience

Which came first the chicken offer or the direct response ad format? 

For the longest time Facebook spent all of its time using ads to drive people to a web or fan page where a user could get lost in the experience of it all.  The newest of Facebook ad format seems to adopt some of our direct response best practices.

This ad for Chick-fil-A's free chicken biscuit samples is the most integrated lead gen-style home page ad unit I’ve seen on Facebook.   What I love about this ad is that it does not take me to a page where I have to read about your beleaguered brand.

The new DR ad unit, gives me a quick fill response form presented as a modal window over my News Feed.

(image source InsideFacebook.com)

A user can easily redeem the offer by filling in the form, and with one click post it to their to their profile and share the offer with friends.  The user experience is fantastic.

According to InsideFacebook.com, Facebook has added new targeting features, including connection targeting, multi-country targeting, and birthday targeting.  This test seems to fall in line with many of the new direct response driven ad formats that big brand advertisers are demanding.

As CPG and foodservice marketers look for new ways of creating lift in sales, drive new offer redemption and connect social media to in store traffic this new DR ad unit could easily be used for all types of free offer based subscription services.

ON: Diesel's Dirty Thirty

I opened in ON:InBox and found this invite to the Diesel SFW XXX event.  Even I was stunned by this one.

Diesel SFW XXX - Watch more free videos

So does it sell?  Are you going?

ON: Wario Lands YouTube Shake

 

Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/experiencewii

ON: Tasty Diet Pop

The Dr. Pepper brand needs to increase household penetration for its Diet cola.  What better way than to increase awareness around their claim that the word "Diet" does not mean sacrifice on the products taste.

Sometimes we forget that the internet is fun. We often forget that you can create an irreverent scratch and sniff experience. Every now and then someone sends us something that makes us smile. The mistake that most marketers make is that they go for that irreverence without any connection to their brand. Dr. Pepper's "Nothing Diet About It" online campaign succeeds in avoiding that trap.

Added Cool-factor
The ad allows users to customize their own decadent Diet Dr Pepper cake. The banner features tools such as a pastry bag filled with frosting, candles and letters.  After users decorate their Diet Dr Pepper cake, they can share their decorated cake with friends.  So not only does this add build awareness it facilitates the conversation. 

While none of this is new - it is nice to see the use of digital as more than a wallpaper for Dr. Peppers offline ads.  Check out the Ad by clicking here >>

ON: The IAB's Rich Media Measurement Guidelines

After a 30-day period of public comment and review, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has published the Rich Media Measurement Guidelines.  IAB "Rich media" ads are online ads with elements that users can interact with. Formats include transitional (interstitial) and over-the-page units (floating ads, page tear-backs and take-overs).

The new measurement guidelines determine the point at which a rich media ad impression is counted. Generally, a measurement will be considered legitimate when an ad counter receives and responds to an HTTP request for a tracking asset from a user's browser.  This is considered as late as possible in "the delivery of creative material to the user’s browser and therefore closest to the actual opportunity to see by the user."

Ad counters are also required to employ standard headers on the response, to minimize caching.

Wireless, offline cached media, interactive television, "flash tracking" and flash sites were not covered in the guidelines.  To help educate practitioners and others about rich media measurement, the IAB is hosting a webinar on Wednesday, January 23rd, between 4-5 PM Eastern.

Download the Rich Media Measurement Guidelines. Those inclined may register for the webinar at the same URL.

The standards, which cover online browser or browser-equivale nt based internet activity, are positioned as addendum to existing IAB Ad Impression Measurement Guidelines, which were published in 2004.  The addendum was facilitated by the Media Rating Council, and the final product was warmly applauded by the Association of National Advertisers.

ON: MTV's Think

MTV has recruited 51 youngsters - one from every state, plus another from Washington, D.C. - to cover the 2008 election.  The 08 Digital Democracy is ramping up and Viacom properties are leading the charge.

The youths are equipped with laptops, cell phones and video cameras, and are being asked to find political stories that resonate with young people, according to Yahoo News.

The news reports will be distributed through Think.MTV.com, a political and community website run by MTV. It will also be distributed through an upcoming service called MTV Mobile to mobile devices, and via the Associated Press’s Online Video Network.

ON: The PoughkeepsieTapes

As most of you know, I have grown up as a digital creative. (we need not rehash that crap)  In order for me to have gained the creative Sherpa status by my peers and colleagues I have carried the wear with all of a good experience designer. What has kept me driven has been the study or obsession with human behavior. 

When I was younger I was more than fascinated by groups of people who are defined by their defiant behaviors such as serial killers.  Yup, I am a serial killer junkie. I am one of those idiot consumers who bought into the TimeLife series after a late night working in front of the TV.  So now that you know that about me, you will understand why I was completely intrigued by a rich media ad in face book for the Poughkeepsie Tapes. I immediately clicked-through to find a site that looked like a production company site who had stumbled on to tapes that a serial killer made in September of 2001.

All of the sudden I felt a rush, and not it was not my morning coffee!  It was a rush of curiosity that lead me to believe for about 20 minutes that I was so occupied during September of 2001 that I would not have heard about this very violent series of murders caught on tape.  It appeared as though a horrific series of consumer generated videos that brought you close to a consumer that you or I would not want to know. 

After about another 5 seconds of disbelief and anguish (over the fact I would have to give up my serial murderer guru status) I began running the Google searches and WALA... my mind was put at ease.  It was a hoax. A Mocumentary ala The Blair Witch Project! (whew…can still wear the crown at parties)

The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a fictional documentary horror film released in 2007 at the Tribeca Film Festival. The narrative is presented as a documentary pieced together from a fictional serial killer's amateur footage. Most of the filming was done in upstate New York. The film was directed by John Dowdle and produced by Brothers Dowdle Productions.  Check out the site at documentaryfilmpartners.com seems like it could be a fun horror flick!  Needless to say their creative got me to behave in a way that put one more rental on the cue.

ON: New Dexter Campaign

Check this out.

Check it out at http://www.icetruck.tv/

ON: EyeWonder + Adobe = The Future of Rich Media

  Joanna + Jay = TracyLocke Digital 
  Originally uploaded by joannapenabickley

It was a night of learning, seeing my digital comrades and finding the power in CS3, Flex and AdWonder 9.0.  It was nothing but the digital worlds A listers.

EyeWonder,  the "it" rich media company has quickly become digital video’s fastest-growing technology innovator.  The event @ the Shoreham was to teach the digital community about the power of its AdWonder 9.0 Flash Component, the latest version of its revolutionary video and rich media advertising authoring tool.

After mingling a bit with the Adobe rep. and marketing team I found that  EyeWonder is the first Adobe solutions partner to take the lead in the digital advertising community using Adobe® Flash® CS3 Professional and Flash Media server solutions.  (Where is PointRoll and EyeBlaster now?)

After walking through the Flex demo, I was jumping out of my skin.  It has become a streamlined process to create a flash application outside the web browser.  The XP Designer in me was like a kid in a candy store.  Then the gurus @ EyeWonder took us through the upgrades in AdWonder 9.0 which is sure to streamline our production, trafficking and tracking our rich media units created using Adobe Flash CS3. 

I was thoroughly impressed with CS3 mobile application development suite.  It gives you the ability to create flash lite apps and test them on thousands of handsets.  The night was not all presentations and tech talk.  It was great night of sharing drinks, jokes and digital chatter.  Check out the photos here

ON: Yahoo's Acquisition Gossip

The buzz on the tech street is that while Yahoo has made some smart acquisitions recently, like the great people over at Right Media, that Yahoo is up for grabs as well.   

This has been rumor for a while now...  I have heard speculation that it could be acquired by MSN and or SONY...  I think the entertainment/media angle would be smart.  But word from inside of a mega media conglomerate say otherwise.  Right now Yahoo is in serious negotiations with a leading global entertainment content company, who has a lock up on youth television, motion pictures and a wide range of digital media.

I have two inside sources who have told me that their parent company is looking to benefit from Yahoo’s digital distribution backbone.  Stay tuned...  I will reveal the company's name soon.