Spotted an interesting online display ad from Auto Trader yesterday, the basic premise being that you could draw your own car in the ad (as you can see I was going for a kinda Ford Fiesta Mark I meets Delorian model, as opposed to the 2004 style sitting on my drive!).

The ad leads you to then sell your car, which is a nice way to get people interested in the banner ad but also ties in nicely with Auto Traders desired outcome. I quite like the way the robot man jumps up and turns just before the landing page appears – nice touch!

In fact since I took the video the landing page has changed to this, which improves the string of relevance a little with stronger calls to action on selling your car:

Landing page for Auto Trader's 'Draw Your Car' display ads

This is a nice little idea, but I’m going to have to be very biased in favour of my employers and point out that we’ve done something similar before. (I’ll let you be the judge of which you prefer!). These ads promoted Republic’s mix ‘n’ match promotional offers for men and women and showcased some clever use of the drawing API in ActionScript and external serving of product images into the banner.

With both ads I’d love to actually see the drawings that are input by online users. No doubt there’s been a few more salubrious designs and potentially some very nice artwork, but the cost of tracking this would probably undermine what arte both ultimately direct response campaigns.

Both these ads show just a little more of what we can do with the internet, and also highlight how much online advertising just doesn’t make use of a medium that offers not just an advertising platform, but the opportunity to revolutionise supply chains, business processes, customer interaction. These ads are only a tiny step that show break the mould of banner ads simply being ‘online wallpaper’ or outdoor ads on computer monitors. Whilst I’m sure there’s a role for that, it isn’t on my computer screen thanks, I’m ready for the next generation of ads that actually amke use of the technology we use every day.

By the way if you like the Republic ads you can see the whole portfolio on the AWA website. I think they’re bloomin’ brilliant, and the IDM thought so too!

AWA is the agency that I work for and they specialise in web development and digital marketing.