CREATIVE SHOWCASE

Another great example of the power of interactivity. Not only is this ad fun and informative for the end user, but the advertiser can learn a ton about their audience as well. I'm not a carb counter, but i certainly recognize that the baked potato covered in sour cream, combined with a shrimp scampi might not be the most healthy choice I could make, but there's much more here. Are people who select the lobster more likey to use the viral marketing than those who pick the steak? A careful analysis of the interactivity reports on this campaign can be used to design their next ads, launch a promotion to boost awareness of a specific menu item, or even remove items from the menu completely.
 
I would have liked to see some sort of coupon to print out that you could redeem at the Red Lobster and get some real conversion data, but otherwise this is a fantastic example of an expandable banner using tons of interactivity that is both fun and functional.
--Corey Kronengold, manager, corporate communications, Eyeblaster, Inc

Real Branding launched a post-Holiday campaign for Red Lobster's "LightHouse Menu Selections." The LightHouse Selections menu is designed to strengthen the healthy lifestyle credentials of the Red Lobster brand by developing and promoting menu items targeted at health conscious consumers. The campaign featured this distributed media unit which allowed users to configure a meal from the LightHouse menu and see carbs, fat, and calories calculated in real time. By placing the unit on health oriented websites we were able to engage users with the Red Lobster LightHouse brand in an appropriate context and mindset without requiring them to leave their site of interest.

Real Branding's LightHouse campaign objectives:

- To promote and create awareness of the LightHouse Selections Menu, showcase the natural health benefits of seafood, and to drive traffic to the restaurants

- For the success of the LightHouse Selections to create a halo effect for the brand

- To promote and create awareness of the LightHouse Selections Menu, showcase the natural health benefits of seafood, and to drive traffic to the restaurants

- For the success of the LightHouse Selections to create a halo effect for the brand

Results:

Eyeblasters delivered a strong interaction with the brand within the unit

- 9.73% interaction rate with 171,467 panels viewed

- Average panel duration of 32 seconds

- Low close rate of 2.22% with only 39,128 users out of 1,762,851 closing out the unit

- Users interacted with unit for an average of 69 seconds:

• About.com with 76 seconds
• iVillage with 66 seconds
• Yahoo with 50 seconds

-- Mark Silva, Principal and Founder, Real Branding

This expandable ad for Red Lobster is obviously designed to educate the health-conscious casual-dining aficionado-- and it seems like it just might work. That bouncy red arrow actually works very well to call out the interactive nature of the ad, and upon rollover, the real fun begins. The combinations of meals that one can put together just to gauge the nutritional information was educational and especially addictive right around lunchtime. The ability to add entrees and sides to your heart's (dis)content, was definitely a nice touch, showing off just how light some of the choices are.

My criticisms for the ad are few-- one is that the only mention of the special menu being "light" is on the opening animation frame. It might help to make the low-fat/low-carb/low-calorie focus of the menu a little more prominent on the resting frame-- which most people will spend the most time looking at, anyway. Another is that I feel that the tell-a-friend feature needs to give a little more reason (or fun) to incentivize someone to actually forward this menu to a friend...but that could be solved simply by tweaking the copy to something that might elicit an emotional response. For example, "Send the LightHouse Selections menu to someone you care about." That would be a show of love to send to the spouse who is used to ordering the beer-battered fish & chips.

I liked this ad so much, I won't even mention Firefox incompatibility. It was a great, clean, fun execution that was consistent in reflecting the personality of Red Lobster. And props for sliding a low-carb beer into the banner image. I give it 4.5 out of 5 popcorn shr- er, broiled flounders.
--Ian Schafer, president, Deep Focus

At last. Now listen up children, this is how online advertising activity can meet accomplishment. Everything in one place and the ad didn't try to shove the technology or the food down my throat (so to speak) and even a viral component. An adorable little arrow pulled me in, I set up my meal, and seconds later there I was dying for a little lighthouse love. I couldn't see a few of the items, so thankfully we had some text to fill in the blanks (is that rice or broccoli?). Regardless of how you might view a seafood "chain" this interaction works!
--Kevin Ryan, search editor, iMedia Communications