By Antony Young. Appeared in Campaign Asia’s January 2011 issue.
Chris Anderson, editor of Wired said to me at a visit to our agency, “Impact and engagement is the business we’re in … paper, we’ll see.” He was discussing publishing his magazine content on the tablet, but he may as well have been talking about the advertising within it. The iPad is a marvelous device for consuming media. They also present rich advertising opportunities for brands. “iPadverts” offer the visual presence and imagery we enjoy from print advertising, with the interactivity and depth of content that the internet provides. It offers sight, sound, motion and touch. The web seems just so 2005. While early days, agencies are working with publishers to design the best ways to exploit these qualities.
I really liked how Chanel promoted its J12 Marine watch collection with their sponsorship of the editorial choice app of the New York Times. Users could interact with motion banners on the front page, adjacent ads alongside editorial and choose to view a stunning video of the watch and various marine themed underwater visuals, eventually sending you to a store locator page. [I encourage you to view this on http://bit.ly/brLDiB] In my opinion, it provides a far more influential brand impact than any print, web and even TV ad could deliver.
Lexus through Conde Nast recreated an entire brochure accessed through a page ad placement, providing a virtual interactive tour of the car. This gives a peek into the potential of the depth and interactivity of content with the portability an iPad brings.
The Plaza Central Park South Hotel in New York city is using iPad’s inventively by making them available in their rooms and suites complete with a virtual concierge app. Guests can use the in-room iPads to order room service, make restaurant reservations, request wake-up calls, read New York City destination guides, order room service, make a spa appointment, and even check airline schedules and print boarding passes. Each of The Plaza’s iPads also come loaded with multiple newspapers and magazines. I imagine a good number of these along with their plush hotel bathrobes will find themselves smuggled out of their hotel rooms!
Finally, one of our clients, L’Oréal did a nice insert in Glamour magazine recently with an ad that helped us to launch their new Garnier Fructis Blow Dry Perfector product. The iPad provides a perfect platform for new products which require product demonstration scenarios. In this case, the ad featured a Before and After picture gallery for different hair styles and a demo of how to use the product as part of the ad itself.
