This agency has worked on some well-known and successful interactive campaigns. The director of media shares some case studies, and his thoughts on the medium in general.

Kmart. Absolut. Samsonite. Those are just a few of the clients for which TBWA/Chiat/Day New York has developed interactive campaigns. In the thick of it all has been Joseph Jaffe, director of interactive media. Jaffe brings to the table both client and agency experience, as well as both traditional and interactive knowledge. Here, Jaffe tells iMedia Connection about some innovative campaigns, and about why he believes client and agency C-level buy-in is imperative for moving the industry forward.

iMedia Connection: Tell me about an interactive campaign that you believe was successful. What did it entail and what measurements did you use in deeming it a success?

Jaffe: Obviously the Absolut campaign comes to mind - not just because it was our first major online initiative for Absolut, but moreover because of what we were able to achieve for the brand. We always speak about online bringing offline communications to life. In this case, we were able to do just that by injecting interactivity or "involvement" into the mix. There were many reasons why the Absolut brand campaign went that much further than other campaigns before it. To start with, rich media in the form of FLASH, served up through Superstitials and Bigger Box or IMU units were pretty much the ante up for this campaign.

The Absolut audience is not just online. They're actively online. In this case, rich media both acknowledges and rewards their use of a higher-speed connection. And even if they're still dialing up, the experience that awaits them is usually well worth it.

Many of the concepts in the campaign are "involving" by nature. The user needs to interact in order to play out the execution of the idea. By interacting, they become part of the advertising and, in fact, only when they complete the required actions, does the very powerful Absolut trademark two-word headline reveal itself.

The campaign began with a very targeted blast to the New Media industry in the form of a 468x68 static GIF banner. Titled Absolut Limitations, the user could only make out part of the base of the bottle and about two-thirds of the headline. Like only Absolut can do, the brand was commented on the constraints we're faced with in terms of communicating to an audience online. With one exception: Absolut offered a solution. Simply put: creativity. Ironically, this banner received a CTR three times the industry average.

Another campaign that comes to mind was one we did on behalf of the Board of Education. Faced with the challenge to help recruit 8,000 qualified teachers for NYC's Public Schools, we launched a highly integrated campaign that pivoted around driving prospects to the Web and beginning a relationship with them through the power of e-mail. At the end of the campaign we had secured five e-mails for every teacher sought, with non-existent unsubscribe rates over the course of multiple e-mails.

iMedia Connection: Tell me about an interactive campaign that didn't work out well. What went wrong? What challenges did you encounter? What lessons were learned?

Jaffe: We haven't had any cases where work we've done didn't meet our objectives!

Seriously though….this is a medium and channel which is evolving at the speed of light. What works today may not work tomorrow and the converse applies. So I think I'd rather answer this question by addressing several factors that don't help us in our quest to demonstrate interactive's role and effectiveness.

In a business, governed by frequency and message reinforcement, continuity is absolutely paramount in order to establish a reliable and consistent channel of communication with an intended audience. With an industry average 1% of marketing budgets being allocated to online, this normally translates into one major push with no follow-up, or a diluted voice over a longer period of time. As an industry we need to be aggressive in increasing our share of voice, in order to reach more people more often over a longer period of time.

Following-on from this point is the catch-22 we are faced with regarding friction costs. Third-party ad serving, advanced reporting and pre/post research are all mandatory at TBWA\CHIAT\DAY, however when combined with production costs, do tend to make quite a dent in what's left over for media. This being said, if this is part of a test that may determine future spending levels, then its inclusion is critical and needs to be thoroughly sold-through to clients-even possibly in the form of incremental monies.

iMedia Connection: The current consensus has Internet media consumption at about 12% of all media, yet, as you mentioned, most traditional advertisers are spending less than 1% of their marketing budgets online. Why this chasm? Why aren't advertisers following consumer media consumption?

Jaffe: Where do I start? For one thing, we need to leverage some of the great research which is being released under the auspices of the IAB, ARF, OPA et al. Recent at-work and cross-media studies reveal profound implications for the allocation and optimization of integrated communications budgets.

While this may be a moving target, the good news is that almost every single indicator is moving in our favor-more people online doing more, becoming more comfortable, buying more. [What's needed is] better metrics and insights into how to interpret this data; an unparalleled palate of creative tools and techniques; innovate publishers like CBSMarketWatch, Weather.com and even Yahoo!

I always defer to Victor Hugo's quote, "There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come." Simply put, the opportunity is there for the taking and the early-adopters will reap the rewards of first-mover advantage and connecting with their audience in an ever consolidating and less cluttered environment.

iMedia Connection: What will it take to bring in the late adopters?

Jaffe: I am of the opinion (and I may be shot down by my peers for saying this) that interactive agency folk can go so far, but no further in terms of bridging this divide. Make no mistake, education, hand holding and incremental victories will close the divide slowly, but surely. But in order for this to truly work, the commitment has got to come from the top. I'm not even talking about the interactive brand managers here; I'm talking about client and agency C-level buy-in. When an agency sits down at the pitch table, each and every department needs to sing the same song. Integration is key. Speaking with one voice across multiple touch-points is key. Connecting with your customers means talking and listening to them where they are and when they are most interested in hearing what you've got to say. I heard the other day that 80% of TiVo users skip every single commercial. If this doesn't light a fire underneath our butts, nothing will.

iMedia Connection: What do you think the industry as a whole needs to do to overcome marketers' reservations about interactive marketing?

Jaffe: Great question. I'll answer this with a few anecdotes or suggestions if you will in order to better merchandise our offering.

First of all, as an industry, we need to upgrade our value proposition to a slot in the conversation other than the final few minutes. Secondly, we need to secure guaranteed visibility for our clients and their constituent audiences. Hitting the reload button 10 times does not count! Thirdly, we need to avoid overcomplicating our proposals. Think elevator pitch to your grandparents. Forth, we need to do a better job at the whole QA process - building in time for everything from load-testing to testing across multiple platforms, browsers and access-speeds. Fifth, we need to become evangelists and make sure the great work and results are shared with those still hesitant to dip their toes in the water.

Finally, we need to be patient and let time play its role as healer. Many clients and agencies got burnt amidst the dot-com period of euphoria. In an infant industry and impending global recession, this hurt even harder. But so much has changed since then. The void left by many of the dot-coms is being filled by quality brands. Being human, we'll eventually forget this period or file it away in the archives, together with the plethora of economic troughs and lows of yesteryear. Soon our focus will shift to the myriad of case studies and success stories that are slowly rising to the forefront of our client conversations. You guys are doing a great job of doing just that.