Jumpstart Automotive's VP of creative development reviews some top rich media partners, and explores their capabilities for delivering innovative in-market contextual automotive advertising.

In one of my previous articles for Driving Interactive, I asked if rich media companies are really pushing the creative limits, particularly on in-market automotive sites. It was a serious question, and I really didn't know the answer. So, I thought I should go straight to the sources to find out.

I recently completed a survey of all the prominent rich media/technology partners in our industry, and made the following requests and inquiries specific to automotive marketing:

1. Highlight an innovative creative strategy/campaign from 2006.
2. What makes your company/products different from the rest?
3. What are you doing to separate your company for 2007 and truly innovate the marketplace?

So, here I begin my series of reviews on rich media technology companies. Over my next few articles, I will focus on evaluating what these partners bring to the table. Contrary to what some would have you believe, the majority of well known rich media partners are going strong, and there are new ones launching all the time. Let's kick it off…

EyeWonder
To me, EyeWonder is known for its video, because it seems like they've been doing it the longest. Here is an innovative campaign EyeWonder created for Nissan's "Show us your X" program. This full video unit was built in Flash 8 and used on the front end to attract viewers' attention and prompt them to submit their own extreme photos on ShowUsYourX.com.

The follow-up campaign was even more interesting because it used user-generated content. The best photos were selected by Nissan (and their agency OMD/TEQUILA\) and regularly updated, on-the-fly, into live campaigns within minutes by EyeWonder:

EyeWonder has made Adobe's Macromedia Flash Professional 8 standard for every client's online video advertising campaign. The program's new features coupled with the new client runtime of Flash Player 8 provide superior video quality as well as a host of innovations that enable advertisers and agencies to push the creative envelope with even more compelling and effective ad campaigns.

EyeWonder prides itself on giving agencies the latest and greatest video and rich media ad features that push the creative envelope-- without templates and platforms, which they feel limit innovation and success. This won't change in 2007, as they plan to debut innovations such as a drag-and-drop interface (like the AdWonder "Flash Extension" true video component Flash tool), increased Flash capabilities and pre-roll initiatives. 

The increased flexibility of video should allow for innovative use and alteration of the very valuable OEM broadcast spots. These spots will continue to be used to catch the attention of the consumer, and then promote other consideration interactivity and sales elements within the unit. With Flash 8 providing unlimited potential with video, I'd like to see the industry move beyond the standard :15 and :30 and be more creative with the spots… maybe EyeWonder will lead this.

Interpolls
Interpolls is well known and well respected within the entertainment industry. However, they have been doing some great work in the automotive sector as well, especially with those brands targeting a youth audience. Interpolls is a full-service rich media technology provider focused on question-based interactivity, all within the ad unit on the page. The advertising products can be customized with various features and functions to fit specific campaign goals and objectives, including Flash, streaming video, expandables, java/applets and RSS feeds.

This campaign for the Mercedes R-Class Launch rotates questions to engage and qualify users interested in the model (hold down your Ctrl. button and hit your "R" key to see how the questions rotate):

The Result Panel contains the on-air commercial and data entry point for users to sign up for more information on the R-Class (Interpolls passed the email names in real-time to a Mercedes database).

Interpolls can swap out low-performing ads without changing ad code on a publisher's site. That allows the advertiser to choose the questions that create the highest performing ads for clients. Also, Interpolls has recently launched a new unit with ad-synching technology, which enables interactions between multiple ad placements on the same web pages.

With the way Interpolls works, they seem poised to lead the way in innovative RSS feeds and live two-way communication within the creative unit. This seems especially interesting for in-market automotive ads, where manufacturers and dealers can, in real-time, provide lease offers and price quotes. An OEM has the opportunity to ask a sales-related question, and respond in real-time with the appropriate answer or offer. I am pretty sure this is the only medium where this is possible (outside of the dealership).

Next time I'll explore two more rich media partners innovating the marketplace.

Chad M. Beasley is Jumpstart Automotive Media's vice president of west coast sales and creative development. Read full bio.