Choosing Your Battlefields

For the Miniatures game we wanted to showcase 4 of the 60 miniatures in the Revenge of the Sith set. The objective was to communicate the fact that you can “experience epic Star Wars battles in 3D”. When a user clicks on a miniature in the left panel – it appears on the right panel in a 360 degree “3D” motion.  

As you might expect, one of the biggest challenges with this unit was file size. Working with Doubleclick’s Motif group was crucial in this stage as their team helped us minimize the unit to an acceptable size with minimal creative sacrifice. 

Although the campaign is not complete, initial data is showing our expansion rate is 50-60 percent higher than the average expansion rate for Wizards of the Coast expandable units. Also, the average interaction time with the unit is 30-40 percent higher than the average interaction time for Wizards of the Coast expandable units. 

We feel we were pretty ambitious in this execution. Because of our type of audience we felt we could pull off a fairly complex ad unit. If we were to do it all over again, I think we would have designed the unit to be more intuiative on how the user should interact with the ad. That being said, because we were able to successfully design, traffic, serve, and report on this complex unit, it has set us up well for the next 6-9 months of rich media, expandable development.
-- Matt Day, SVP, director of client services, Beyond Interactive

While the ad does a great job maintaining the integrity of the theatrical property, the niche “lost demographic” of young males will want a more integrated experience.  I have no doubt that skilled Magic players have boundless imaginations, however the “Play the Movie in Your Head” copy was redundant and the playing card clips seemed abrupt. What other option does the user have? This ad delivered atmosphere but over-promised on experience.
-- Ktimene Gembol, manager, strategic alliances, Sony Pictures Digital

Here's the challenge in working with a brand like STAR WARS: The film is so rich in technology, so detailed in its execution, so high definition in clarity, so emotionally resonant with its fans, that unless you create an ad for a related product that reflects all of the above, it weakens the very brand that it is trying to sell.
 
I am a huge STAR WARS fan, and although I may be older than the demographic this ad is trying to reach, this ad doesn't get me excited about the product. It seems to gratuitously splash Yoda and the title treatment up front, but none of the emotion of the brand is carried through the ad as it is explored.
 
It's possible that the ad was limited by the assets available to work with. It's possible that the copy provided was not exciting. But I was hoping for much more than a choppy spinning miniature character (that I know is so accurately designed, but none of that translates in the ad).

The video, when employed in the ad, is just too short for me, too. I would have liked to explore the cards themselves in the ad, not a few seconds of video -- I've seen the movie(s) plenty. Unfortunately, I can't get to any of the landing pages (which may just be a staging issue), so I can't comment on continuity with the destination. Additionally, I bet a whole lot of Star Wars fans use the Firefox browser -- and this ad does not display in Firefox.
 
After writing this, I realize that the bottom line is that inherently, this just doesn't feel like it came from George Lucas. Crispin Porter's BK Star Wars online promotions really nailed the look, feel, and emotion, and even managed to infuse a sense of humor. This, unfortunately, comes across as a bit of a knock-off. If Yoda was here, he'd say: "Needs to more accurately reflect the brand, this banner does." I give it 2 out of 5 Jedis.
-- Ian Schafer, president, Deep Focus