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#4.10: The “Coolest Ways To Advertise” Issue

1> Photos That Talk To Your Customers
2> Banner Ads That Expand
3> Jumping Right Off The Page
4> Check It Out: Old School Weight Watchers

1> Photos That Talk To Your Customers

How can you make Saddam Hussein, George Bush, and an orangutan talk to visitors to your web site? Pulse lets you do it, with ultra-simple, inexpensive tools that turn photos into full 3D animated salespeople called “Veepers.” These quick-to-create talking heads can speak to your customers, answer their questions, and convince them to buy from you. Equally impressive, the entire creation, integration, and “publishing” process takes less than five minutes. The tiny file also works great in an email message, where you can send personalized, animated messages to each recipient. These Veepers are so much fun that you can use them to start a viral marketing campaign. Take a minute to play with the demos below, and be sure to upload your own photo.

THE LESSON: Animation and rich media attracts customers — but it doesn’t need to be expensive. Look for creative tools that attract new business.

MORE INFO:
http://veepers.flowgo.com/veeperizer/start/
http://www.pulse3d.com

2> Banner Ads That Expand

It’s hard to advertise complicated offers in the tiny ads offered by most web sites. Novartis used technology from Point*Roll to squeeze compelling copy, an interactive form, and the necessary disclaimers into a single 468×60 banner ad. Once a web user points and rolls their mouse over the Point*Roll Ad, additional messages appear below, above, to the left, or to the right of the original ad, depending on the placement of the ad. The extra panels disappear and permit the user to continue viewing the original page once she moves her mouse away. The ads are meant to offer a non-aggressive alternative to pop-ups —- they only expand once the user rolls their mouse over them. Best of all, these advertisements can capture information from users —- the ad can expand to contain forms for ordering products or requesting additional information, and enable games, polls, or contests.

THE LESSON: Why buy a small banner ad when you can put an entire sales form into the same space?

MORE INFO:
http://www.pointroll.com/adgallery/FamvironNYTimes/nytimes.asp
http://www.pointroll.com/

3> Jumping Right Off The Page

How do they do those crazy ads that walk right across the text of the web page? Technology from Eyeblaster frees you from the constraints of the square web banner. You can create animations that move around the screen with sound and motion — and force the viewer to pay attention. Hanes used an animated ad where a little man walks across the browser, grabs a letter off the Yahoo! logo, and uses it to scratch his back (to promote tag-less t-shirts.) The animation makes the point better than any flat, square ad ever could. And you’re forced to watch because the character is walking across the links at the top of the page.

THE LESSON: Creativity is the secret to breaking through the public’s growing indifference to banner ads.

MORE INFO:
http://www.eyeblaster.com/WebSite/new_archive/December_02/GoTagLess1/GoTagLess_Launch.htm
http://www.eyeblaster.com/

4> Check It Out: Old School Weight Watchers

One of the funniest things ever on the Internet. Wendy M.’s Poundy.com website saw traffic spikes in excess of 10,000 times the usual traffic when she posted this:

http://www.poundy.com/wwcards.html

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