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July 31, 2004
Just Ad games
A while back, I point out a game that involves a bike and naked ladies. Dean linked to it as well. No. Stop that. You can click the game in a bit. I’ve actually got a somewhat serious point to make.
I remember once reading that AOL considered Seinfeld to be its biggest competitor. This was, of course, back in the days when Seinfeld was on TV. The Web, of course, has become a huge hit since those days (though AOL is hemorrhaging money), and probably does rival most TV shows for eyeballs. This has put advertisers into something of a quandary: How to get people to know your products exist in order to buy them...
If the eyeballs are shifting from TV to the Web (and with DVRs [TIVO], away from TV ads), the natural response is to shift advertising dollars from TV to the Web. But how?
It’s easy enough to simply take a 30 second spot and run it next to a website, but who would pay attention to it? I haven’t seen another company go the Salon rout and put everything behind an "ad wall" (if you want to read a Salon article, you’ve got to either pay or watch an ad). If the ad is good enough, people will watch it just to marvel at it’s beauty, a la the Honda Ad from a while back...
But these are simply stop-gaps along the way to a real solution: make users _want_ to experience the ad. A site like interactive. The beauty of this ad for Bennett’s motorcycle insurance is that you don’t really think of it as an ad: you think of it as a contest of skill, Man vs. Clothing. The name might not sink in immediately, but if you play it enough (and you will...), the name “Bennett’s” will sink in...
We’ve always demanded that Advertising be interesting: that’s why so many of us watch the Super Bowl, after all. What’s changing is the nature of that interesting. It is no longer enough for the images I see to be flat and flashing on the screen, if a company wants to win my mindshare, they’re going to have to get me involved...
If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got ladies to undress...
Posted by Andrew at July 31, 2004 01:58 AM
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Comments
But how does that play in the context of the media's competition for out time and attention? Wouldn't it be better to have simply an ad that to engage in a long interaction with a construct? Satisfaction is easier from simple things. A game ought to be amazingly complex to hold our attention for long.
Posted by: Camilo at August 1, 2004 03:24 PM
I don’t know if you played the game I linked to, but it wasn’t very complex: naked women do a nice job of holding my attention...
I remember a few years ago around Christmas when Absolute Vodka was running these flash ads which started with a present, and waving the mouse over the box would “unwrap” the box. After a few mousovers, you’d be confronted with a picture of the product. I don’t even drink alcohol, but it was fun to interact with something while I read the news. Simple play mechanic: I remember the ad and the product years later...
The trick, as ever, is getting and holding my attention. If I’m not glued to the screen (and I haven’t been since the remote control was invented), why on Earth will I watch an ad? But I’ll play an ad, if it’s interesting enough...
So: better? Probably simpler. But if they want me to know their product at all, they need to engage my attention. That’s coming to mean more than just flashing pictures on a screen...
Posted by: Andrew Cory at August 1, 2004 04:01 PM
Hey, did ya ever get the full monty, or is bikini it?
Posted by: John Foelster at August 2, 2004 02:01 PM
If you manage a jump over 280M, the women drop their cloths. Sadly, the sign is strategically placed...
Posted by: Andrew Cory at August 3, 2004 12:09 PM
Any tips on reaching this exalted state?
Posted by: John Foelster at August 3, 2004 01:20 PM
The trick is to release the button at the exact moment before you would fall off the ramp. Practice, as they say, makes perfect...
Posted by: Andrew Cory at August 4, 2004 06:47 PM