Tag: digital advertising

Volkswagen: Rock in Rio Drumset

A banner ad you can actually “play”

To celebrate Rock in Rio, Volkswagen built a banner execution that uses your webcam as the input device. Instead of asking you to watch, it invites you to perform, like a tiny drum solo inside a media placement.

How the mechanism earns attention

The core mechanic is simple: webcam permission turns a standard banner into an interactive surface, where your movement becomes the “controller” for the drum kit. That shifts the experience from passive exposure to active participation in a few seconds. Because the unit reacts to a single, instantly legible gesture, it earns attention before the viewer has time to move on.

In brand-led entertainment marketing, the smallest possible interaction can turn a paid unit into something people choose to engage with.

Why it lands in a festival context

Rock in Rio is already about energy, performance, and communal hype. A drum kit inside a banner borrows that emotional language and makes it personal. You are not being shown “festival vibes”. You are generating them, even if it’s just for a moment at your desk.

Extractable takeaway: When a paid unit lets people create a recognizable mini-performance in one step, the creative feels like entertainment, not media.

The payoff is not the complexity. It’s the contrast: banners normally ask for a click, this one asks for a gesture. That little shift makes the format feel fresh again.

The real question is whether your paid placement gives people something to do, not just something to click.

This is the right kind of interactivity for display: opt-in, one-step, and instantly legible.

Takeaways for webcam-controlled banners

  • Use one input. A single action users already understand (movement, tap, swipe) beats multi-step instructions.
  • Make the first five seconds obvious. If the user can’t “get it” instantly, they drop. Here, the drum metaphor does the teaching.
  • Match the interaction to the moment. Music festival content should feel performative. The interaction mirrors the cultural context.
  • Keep the reward emotional. The win is “I played it”, not “I learned a feature list”.

A few fast answers before you act

What is a webcam-controlled banner ad?

It’s a display ad unit that asks for webcam access and uses the camera feed as a live input, usually via motion detection, to let the viewer interact with the creative.

Why use a webcam in a banner at all?

Because it turns a standard media placement into an experience. That can increase attention and memorability when the interaction is instantly understandable.

What makes this Rock in Rio execution work?

The interaction fits the occasion. A drum kit is a native “festival” object, and the gesture-based control makes the format feel playful instead of intrusive.

What’s the main risk with webcam-based ads?

Friction and trust. If the value isn’t obvious, users will refuse permissions or bounce. The creative must communicate intent and payoff immediately.

What’s the simplest modern takeaway?

Give the audience a one-step action that creates a visible result. If the interaction is clear and rewarding, the format becomes the message.

Google: Project Re:Brief

In 2011, Google partnered with four global brands in an advertising experiment. Their goal was simple. How can the ideas that defined the advertising industry in its infancy inspire a whole new generation of creatives and marketers?

So Google set out to re-imagine and remake some of the most iconic ad campaigns from the 1960s and 1970s with today’s technology, led by the same creative legends who made these campaigns.

Re-briefing classics with modern tools

The premise is a clean creative constraint. Here, a re-brief means keeping the original strategic promise while rewriting the assignment for today’s interfaces, devices, and distribution. Take an idea that became culturally famous in its original medium, then re-brief it as if you were building it for a digitally connected world. Not by “updating the look”, but by asking what the original strategy would do if it had today’s interfaces, devices, and distribution.

In global brand advertising, revisiting iconic work is a practical way to test which storytelling principles survive a major technology shift.

The four remakes

With that said, here are the results of the best of the old with the best of the new.

Re-imagining Coca-Cola’s “Hilltop”

Re-imagining Volvo’s “Drive it Like You Hate it”

Re-imagining Alka-Seltzer “I Can’t Believe I Ate That Whole Thing”

Re-imagining Avis “We Try Harder”

Why this format works for marketers

The real question is not whether old campaigns deserve a digital remake, but whether the original strategic idea still produces useful behavior in a connected medium. It forces discipline. You cannot hide behind novelty because the original idea is already known and already strong. That pushes the work to earn its keep through mechanics, not decoration. That works because a proven idea gives the technology a clear job to do, so the audience experiences the promise through behavior rather than explanation. When the core idea is clear, technology becomes an amplifier, not a replacement for strategy.

Extractable takeaway: If you want to explore new tech without producing gimmicks, start with an idea that already proved its emotional truth, then design one modern interaction that makes that truth more immediate.

How to borrow the approach without copying it

  • Pick one timeless promise. Strip it down until it fits in a single sentence.
  • Define one modern behavior. Sharing, scanning, tapping, responding, connecting. Build around one.
  • Make the mechanic do the explaining. The best remakes do not need a voiceover to justify the tech.
  • Keep a clear before and after. What stays from the original idea, and what changes because of the medium.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Project Re:Brief?

A Google-led experiment that re-imagines classic campaigns from the 1960s and 1970s using modern technology, guided by the original creative legends behind those ads.

Why remake old ads instead of creating new ones?

Because the originals provide a proven strategic baseline. You can see whether technology strengthens the core idea, or distracts from it.

What does “re-brief” actually mean in practice?

It means taking the original strategy and re-writing the assignment for a new media reality, then building a modern mechanic that expresses the same core promise.

What should a team learn from this kind of exercise?

That strong ideas travel across formats, and that the role of technology is to make the benefit more immediate, more personal, or more connected, not merely more complex.

How do you judge whether a modern remake is successful?

Look for clarity of the core idea, the usefulness of the interaction, and whether the mechanic creates behavior people would repeat or share, not just view.

Parrot AR.Drone: The Flying Banner

The Parrot AR.Drone is a quadrotor you can control with an iPhone or iPad. Instead of explaining that in copy, Beacon Communications Tokyo built an interactive web banner that lets people experience the idea.

The banner displays a QR code. Scan it and your phone becomes the controller for a virtual AR.Drone that appears inside the banner. You pilot it around the screen using your smartphone, effectively turning the ad into a small playable product demo.

Why this banner stands out

Most banners talk about what a product can do. This one makes the product behaviour the message. If the AR.Drone is “controlled by your phone,” the ad is controlled by your phone. That direct mapping makes the idea instantly believable. For interface-led products, this is the right pattern: let people try the interface, not read about it.

Extractable takeaway: If your product is an interface, let the audience use that interface inside the ad unit, even in a simplified form.

The mechanic: QR to second screen control

The QR code is not decoration. It is the bridge that turns a passive placement into a two-device experience. Here, “second-screen control” means the desktop shows the scene while the phone acts as the controller. The banner stays on the desktop screen. Control moves to the phone. That split makes the interaction feel closer to the real product, and it also creates a small sense of “this is special” because the ad is no longer self-contained.

In consumer electronics launches, the most persuasive interactive advertising is a playable demo that mirrors the product experience in seconds.

The real question is whether the viewer can feel the core control loop before they decide to care.

How it creates attention without shouting

As described in industry coverage, users could fly the drone around the page and even “blast” parts of the site to reveal the full-screen message. That gives the interaction a purpose and a payoff. It is not just movement. It is progression.

Beacon also reported unusually strong click-through performance compared to typical expectations for the placement. In this case, that makes sense. People do not click because they were interrupted. They click because they were already playing.

Second-screen demo moves to copy

  • Replicate the product, do not describe it. A short, real interaction beats a long explanation.
  • Use one clear bridge between devices. QR works here because it is immediate and simple.
  • Design an obvious payoff. A reveal, a score, a result. Give the interaction a reason.
  • Keep the controls teachable. If people cannot learn it in seconds, the banner loses them.
  • Make it readable for spectators. Movement on the main screen helps others understand what is happening fast.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “The Flying Banner” for Parrot AR.Drone?

It is an interactive web banner where scanning a QR code turns your smartphone into a controller for a virtual AR.Drone that you can pilot inside the banner.

Why is this a stronger demo than a normal video ad?

Because it lets people feel the core promise. Phone-controlled flight, through direct interaction, not description.

What role does the QR code play in the experience?

It is the handoff mechanism from desktop to phone. The desktop shows the “world.” The phone becomes the controller, matching how the real product is used.

What is the biggest risk with multi-device banner ideas?

Drop-off. If the connection step is slow, confusing, or unreliable, most users abandon before they experience the payoff.

How would you modernize this mechanic today?

Keep the principle of second-screen control, but reduce friction. Use a fast connect flow and ensure the experience is still satisfying even if someone chooses not to connect a phone.