Article provided by Colin Elms, Country Manager, Eyewonder
Interactive Digital Advertising is the next evolution of advertising - combining the accessibility and intelligence of the Internet and other forms of digital media with the benefits of interactivity - the final frontier of proactive engagement. As importantly, digital media delivers information in the form of consumer data that can be diced and spliced to optimize impact for both advertisers and consumers alike.

Digital advertising isn’t just about the digital delivery platform; it’s about the interactivity and data that can be extracted and utilized. Many of the larger industry players, such as Google and Microsoft, fail to see that brand advertising is as much about creativity and interactivity as it is about the numbers. While this model may, on the surface, appear to create more efficient media buys, it actually lessens
opportunities for brand differentiation and ultimately limits potential for the future.

Open and shared access to data between advertisers, agencies and content owners allows for more effective advertising in the long haul, whereas the “black box” model stunts creativity by placing all data and decisions in the hands of the publisher. Over time, this “commoditization” will result in a battle of who is willing to pay more for better results - effectively hobbling overall advertiser media efficiency and limiting a brand’s ability to compete. Media efficiency can’t overtake creative strength. Consumers want and demand uniqueness from a brand. Creativity is the key to that uniqueness.

The impact of this new focus on Interactive Digital Advertising is that the desired brand experience drives the creative input, requiring artistic skill and analytics to work in harmony. The sustainable difference for brands will be the combination of creative and data. Brand managers will be tasked with a more thoughtful and detailed approach to the brand experience because of the new, multifaceted options for interaction. They will think not in terms of 16 ads to make an impression, but rather one or two.

The future will find consumers demanding real-time, highly customized and intimate brand interactions. A boundary-less Internet will allow for digital media to live and breathe across multiple digital platforms, further integrating itself into our everyday lives. It is in this environment that Interactive Digital Advertising will thrive - advancing brands in ways never imagined.

Interactive Digital Advertising is the future. We are standing at the threshold of an entirely new marketing experience where technology becomes the facilitator for unlimited potential rather than the gating factor to creative innovation. Consumers will realize more relevant and enjoyable brand experiences delivered at their discretion and pace. Advertisers and agencies will enjoy a limitless creative palette matched with a “crystal ball-like” sphere of data placing the industry’s elusive Holy Grail - the seamless marriage of creative and data - within their reach.