Yahoo! is extending two TV commercials from the “Be a Better __” campaign it launched April 30 with online video ads that allow viewers to take the spots further with alternative endings they can select online and plug into the spots.
Visitors at http://better.yahoo.com can go to “Be A Better Editor” and “Be A Better Director” to choose new endings to the TV spots. They can drag and drop alternative clips to change the commercials.
“It’s like turning the TV spots into a choose-your-own-adventure,” said Mark Svartz, a copywriter at Soho Square, a WPP Group agency. The TV :30s features situations with two separate endings, so viewers can see what happens with or without Yahoo. There are a variety of alternative endings online, so viewers can take the idea of different endings further.
“After a three-day shoot we had another day to work with the director, Matt Aselton (with bicoastal Epoch Films), so we came up with a few various endings for use in the online experience,” Ogilvy art director Josh Rosen said. “The interactive team was also there on the fourth day to create some filmic banners to go along with the TV spots.”
One of the banners works like the online video ads with a sidebar showing a man looking at a wall full of crooked pictures with the banner offering two possible resolutions to his dilemma. Click on one and see the wall explode (without Yahoo) and click on the other to see the man use a laser device to straighten all the pictures quickly (with Yahoo).
“Innovative interactive ads online play off the TV creative to further integrate and extend the campaign on and off the Yahoo network,” said Nick Chavez, Yahoo‘s senior director of brand advertising. He said the online elements represent 60 percent of a campaign that also includes TV, print, radio and cinema ads. The campaign promotes Yahoo! Answers, a feature that can answer any question and Yahoo! oneSearch, a mobile search product.
The campaign demonstrates how online video can be created from a TV shoot and used to extend a TV campaign. “We took two TV commercials and all the alternative endings and made all the footage available online,” Chavez said. “Users can watch the ad and choose the footage to insert in the ad and play the revised combination.” It could make the ad better, which is the theme of the campaign.
Oscar Nominees Delve Into The Art Of Editing At ACE Session
You couldn’t miss Sean Baker at this past Sunday’s Oscar ceremony where he won for Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay and Editing on the strength of Anora. However, earlier that weekend he was in transit from the Cesar Awards in Paris and thus couldn’t attend the American Cinema Editors (ACE) 25th annual panel of Academy Award-nominated film editors held at the Regal LA Live Auditorium on Saturday (3/1) in Los Angeles. While the eventual Oscar winner in the editing category was missed by those who turned out for the ACE “Invisible Art, Visible Artists” session, three of Baker’s fellow nominees were on hand--Dávid Jancsó, HSE for The Brutalist; Nick Emerson for Conclave; and Myron Kerstein, ACE for Wicked. Additionally, Juliette Welfling, who couldn’t appear in person due to the Cesar Awards, was present via an earlier recorded video interview to discuss her work on Emilia Pérez. The interview was conducted by ACE president and editor Sabrina Plisco, ACE who also moderated the live panel discussion. Kerstein said that he was the beneficiary of brilliant and generous collaborators, citing, among others, director Jon M. Chu, cinematographer Alice Brooks, and visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman. The editor added it always helps to have stellar acting performances, noting that hearing Cynthia Erivo, for example, sing live was a revelation. Kerstein recalled meeting Chu some eight years ago on a “blind Skype date” and it was an instant “bromance”--which began on Crazy Rich Asians, and then continued on such projects as the streaming series Home Before Dark and the feature In The Heights. Kerstein observed that Chu is expert in providing collaborators with... Read More