Dodge Becomes First Advertiser to Tap Microsoft’s IAB Award-Winning Filmstrip

When I started my day this morning with a visit to the MSN homepage, I can’t tell you how excited I was to see the very first execution of our new IAB award-winning Filmstrip ad format! We are especially proud to announce Dodge as our advertising launch partner. The IAB Filmstrip was one of just six ad formats selected as winners in the IAB Rising Stars competition for new formats earlier this year.

Dodge is leveraging the IAB Filmstrip as part of its “Never Neutral” brand campaign, which is running on MSN.com today. To bring this execution to life, we partnered with SapientNitro, one of the world’s largest integrated marketing and technology services firms. SapientNitro chose the Filmstrip for Dodge because it puts the user in control and employs rich video of the vehicle’s interior and new feature “call outs” to help build brand awareness, educate consumers, and drive conversions.

Plus, according to SapientNitro, the IAB Filmstrip allowed them to tell a better story for Dodge Grand Caravan. Alejandro Mendoza, associate creative director at SapientNitro, added:

“Using the new Filmstrip ad unit provided us with a broader canvas to show off the numerous Dodge Grand Caravan product and safety features in a single ad experience. By using the 5-in-1 screens functionality of the ad unit, we were able to craft a more compelling product story that integrates rich video content of the vehicle interior and draws attention to unique product features throughout the scrolling ad unit.”

I view our partnership with the IAB as key to making it easier for advertisers to launch brand-friendly, impactful digital campaigns at scale. Peter Minnium, Consulting Director for IAB who is leading the Rising Stars initiative, recently shared his perspective:

"This MSN.com campaign with Dodge is just the first of many we hope will take advantage of the IAB Filmstrip, which was created by Microsoft. Its elegant design and ability to engage viewers in robust brand experiences captured the imagination of the creative directors who helped choose the Rising Stars ad formats. All six IAB-endorsed Rising Star ad standards promise new possibilities for brands to come alive online."

For us, putting the consumer experience at the center of creative innovation is key to succeeding in bringing advertisers stories to life in the digital world. The IAB Filmstrip is a powerful example of this. For consumers, it delivers a content-rich interactive experience without interrupting the page. For brand advertisers, it creates a virtually expanded canvas to enhance storytelling. Plus, as the Filmstrip becomes broadly available across MSN, we will enable ad sequencing across channels and contextual mapping of Filmstrip panels. In this way, the Filmstrip is designed to match a consumer’s mindset given where they are and what they are doing.

Our partnership with Unicast helps us deliver powerful executions and scale the IAB Filmstrip globally. James Dillon, general manager of Unicast, shared:

“We’re really excited to be part of the launch of this award-winning innovation from Microsoft. Utilizing new IAB formats like Filmstrip, we’ll be helping brands like Dodge continue to bring rich engaging experiences to life across publishing properties globally.”

We plan to scale the IAB Filmstrip across US MSN Channels, International MSN Homepages, and global Windows Live properties beginning Summer 2011. We look forward to seeing how brands across the world unlock the potential of this new creative canvas.

Cheers!

Jennifer Creegan, General Manager, Brand Advertising, Microsoft

Follow us on Twitter @MSAdvertising & @adCenter | Find us on Facebook | Share your thoughts in the Forums | Subscribe