Typically, I am hard to impress. As a creative director, I always strive to make sure my client’s marketing image is top notch and that takes time and multiple revisions. It is the same situation with ad delivery platforms. Just how many flash embedded ad networks does it take before I start to roll my eyes? Maybe three, four if it is Christmas.
A few weeks ago, I attended the SFBeta event in San Francisco and met Nik Bonaddio, the Creative Director of Spongecell. Guess what? He has another rich media ad solution but there was one simple thing that kept me from turning toward the bar to start swilling Anchor Steam - rich media ads that are socially aware.
I have seen other attempts - sloppy attempts, but Spongecell and Bonaddio pulled it off. Expanding on where they are now, imagine seeing an ad for a movie and then adding the local theater to your Google Maps and the show time to your calendar. Click-through metrics are so yesterday. How many calendar inclusions did your ad receive? How many MySpace friends did you gain? Those are the metrics I like.