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ESPNMotion Brings TV to the Web
April 15, 2003
Walt Disney Internet Group and ESPN.com engineers developed their own technology to provide the sport site’s viewers a TV-like experience.
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Creative Notes

To view ESPNMotion:

  1. Visit ESPN's website, http://www.espn.com/
  2. Click on the ESPN MOTION tab, located at the bottom of the grey panel on the left, under Downloads
  3. Click on "Launch Motion Player Now!"
  4. Select a video
  5. Follow Motion Player directions
  6. You may have to restart your computer
  7. Return to the website to view creative
Campaign Details
Client: ESPN
Publisher(s): ESPN.com
Campaign Insight

The technology used for ESPNMotion is a patent-pending technology that was created and produced in-house between the Walt Disney Internet Group and ESPN.com engineers. We took the idea and created the technology to accompany it. The major challenge was that the technology for this idea simply did not exist; it's something we had to design and implement ourselves. Our user base of men is 18-34 year olds, which is our site's target demo.
-- John Kosner, senior vice president of business operations and programming, ESPN.com

Editor's Note
Creative Showcase is meant to be a teaching tool and an inspiration for our readers. We comment only on creative that we really love. Our panelists discuss what makes it great, but if they feel there were missed opportunities that would have made it better, we invite them to mention those. And finally, we seek out a wide range of opinions that reflect the marketplace for the panel, in order to provide constructive, useable feedback for agencies, clients and others involved in these creative pieces.
The Panel

The way I see it, there are two camps regarding the TV-on-the-Web model. One believes that simply transplanting TV into an online box will be throwing out the baby with the bathwater (i.e. no interactivity), while the other contends that this is an ideal way to get traditional people excited about the Web, through allowing them to extend and leverage their tried-and-tested offline assets. After seeing ESPNMotion, I must admit that it’s hard not to agree with the latter camp. This seamless and streamlined experience is so TV-like, it’s uncanny. The synthesis of the leaderboard banner and 30-second spot enhances the overall impact even more. All in all, this is the first time I’ve ever seen something on the Web that is truly comparable to TV in terms of quality, execution and communication value.

Notes:
Be sure to catch Jaffe Juice this Thursday, where I interview the man behind the Motion, John Skipper, Executive vice president at ESPN.

John Skipper will also be keynoting at the upcoming SOLD OUT iMedia Summit in Scottsdale, May 4-7. Click here for an updated agenda.

Footnote: Submissions are judged by a panel of industry experts from and based on the following criteria: how the creative captures the specific customer; how it meets the brand's business needs; impact of execution; and creativity. If you would like your creative considered for Creative Showcase, send an email to creative@imediaconnection.com.