Interesting examples today of innovative internet advertising. In this economy™, companies are finding ad space on the cheap, and Vitamin Water and Apple have two similar but very different approaches:
On ESPN.com today, Vitamin Water has 5 ad spaces for their “Great Debate” campaign pitting LeBron against Kobe. Too bad these ads aren’t as good as their TV ads (“You can’t check him!”), and not nearly as awesome as Nike’s Jim Henson throw-back (“whooo!”). Each ad by itself looks fine, but the 4 ads together overwhelm the page and is uninspired and tired, if not annoying.
Apple, on the other hand, took over NYTimes.com today with a totally different approach. They’ve got 3 ad spaces here, and each ad interacts with each other. The PC and Mac characters point up to the bar graph, and the Hair Growth Academy guys start pitching in with their opinions mid-way. They’re clearly having some fun here, and employing a much more interesting and engaging experience.
Apple clearly takes the cake on this one, and my guess is they’ll see a better return on those ad dollars as viewers’ eyes stay on their ads for longer and that little Apple logo gets burned ever so deeper into our brain matter.
3 comments
Make thems Apples stop making my life better.
comment by Tod Robbins 26 minutes later
The real dig, though, comes right at the end of the ad. PC says, “Before Guy, that’s enough out of you. Lookin’ good, After Guy.” It’s a nod to the Aesthetic-Usability Effect, which is that aesthetically pleasing products are perceived as being more usable than uglier products.
comment by Sam Grigg about an hour later
Here’s an archived version of the Apple ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiJVThpIgJo
comment by Nic Johnson one day later
Comment preview
comment by you less than a minute ago