Introduction
Innovation in the interactive space isn't just about having ideas -- it's about timing their execution just right. There's no sense in launching a campaign on a digital platform that has yet to achieve acceptance among the target audience. And yet, when campaigns are timed correctly, brands can position themselves as cutting-edge competitors by tapping into an emerging technology at the precise moment it hits the mainstream.
But pounce too early, and a tremendous amount of effort -- not to mention money -- may go to waste.
For this article, we asked a panel of industry experts to identify online initiatives that, at the time they were launched, didn't receive nearly the amount of attention that they would have in today's media environment. One reason for the comparatively lackluster results could have been that consumers hadn't yet embraced the technology behind the campaign -- or perhaps the concept for the promotion itself was just a little ahead of its time.
The examples our panel provided represent a wide range of online endeavors, some dating back more than a decade. Combined, they speak volumes to how quickly the interactive community has grown in recent years, both in size and sophistication. Take, for example, the combination ISP/internet portal that had the vision to be the next Google -- before Google was Google. Or, consider the team of brand marketers who had the foresight to put the power behind their marketing message into the hands of their consumers -- and were subsequently berated by the trade press for doing so.
Read on to learn more about these examples, as well as other online innovators who gazed -- sometimes too deeply -- into their crystal balls.
