AOL Canada launched its online ad format, Project Devil, in Canada today.
The new ad unit is divided into multiple panels that can be customized by advertisers. Meant to foster user engagement, the panels include media streams and can be used for an assortment of applications, including mapping, video and polls. Advertisers can also build photo galleries or store locator coupons into the module.
There is no need for consumers to navigate away from the page to explore an ad’s features. “It’s a 300 x 1050 ad placement that affords interaction within the ad unit, so there’s no clicking through to a microsite or away from the content asset that they’ve come to experience; they can engage within the actual ad format,” Graham Moysey, AOL Canada general manager, told Marketing. “It’s the versatility of the interaction and the modules that you can apply to the placement that’s really key.
“It is a great ad placement for anyone interested in creating brand awareness,” he said. “It runs the gamut of all categories of advertisements. It has huge appeal for people that want to shift ad dollars from traditional into the online space.”
Moysey added that, traditionally, only 14% of most web pages are content. The idea for Project Devil, which has already seen its U.S. launch, came from the drive to create a more esthetically pleasing experience than the usual clutter of leader boards, big boxes and text links.
AOL also received direct feedback from its agency partners about improving the online ad experience.
“The impetus was to create a canvas that dramatically improved both the user experience and the advertiser experience,” said Moysey.
AOL also recognized that there’s a significant under-indexing of brand dollars in the online space, said Moysey. “Traditionally, it’s been a performance-based medium for the most part, and I think we’ll start to see very significant brand dollars being captured. Creating the canvas for those brand dollars to migrate to is a huge opportunity.”
One of the positive results for advertisers using Project Devil so far, said Moysey, is significant user engagement time with the ad itself. Averaging just under a minute, “it’s roughly three times the industry average,” he said.
Advertisers who’ve used Project Devil in the U.S. include Victoria’s Secret, RIM and GM. One of Starcom MediaVest Group’s key clients will be the first Canadian customer to go live on AOL’s tech site, Engadget.com, but Moysey can’t comment yet on the “long list” of other advertisers interested in using Project Devil in Canada.
Project Devil is rolling out across AOL Canada today across Engadget, PopEater.com and Joystiq.com. “We’re constantly tweaking and improving the experience and responding to the advertiser demands, so we think of it as ‘perpetual beta’ in terms of what the asset looks like,” said Moysey.
