REDMOND, Wash., and NEW YORK, May 6, 2002 — The MSN network of Internet services, the worlds leading Internet destination, today launched a newly designed, unique and highly interactive ad to help launch and promote the 2003 Ford Expedition in the United States. MSN built the custom ad product exclusively for Ford Motor Co., marking the first appearance of an animated ad on the MSN home page, one that interactively engages the millions of site visitors with a new kind of “over-the-page” advertising experience. MSN worked closely with Fords advertising agency, J. Walter Thompson (JWT), taking its offline creative elements and integrating them with online ad technology to create a cohesive campaign.
“We designed a completely new ad with the objective of driving buzz around the new Ford Expedition,” said Joanne Bradford, vice president of MSN Sales at Microsoft Corp. “Swift innovation from a technology standpoint delivered great creativity, and the huge reach of the MSN home page will provide impactive results.”
Drawing upon its technological expertise, MSN custom developed an ad to integrate and enhance the 2003 Ford Expeditions offline launch campaign. To convey the Ford Expedition campaigns theme that the 2003 Expedition is totally new, the ad features a silhouette of the new vehicle dropping onto the page. The headlights start flashing, blazing faster and faster through some of the new features, until the 2003 Ford Expedition is revealed with the tag line, “packed with 123 innovations.” Because the ad was developed internally, it will appear only on MSN.
MSN and J. Walter Thompson worked together to ensure that the ad not only achieved all their marketing goals, but also delivered the optimum user experience. The ad was creatively and technically designed to be very user-friendly. The frequency with which consumers experience the ad is controlled. They are able to play the ad as often as they want using a replay function, and also have the option to close the ad.
In developing this first interactive ad for its home page, MSN used Macromedia Flash technology. The flexibility of Flash technology enabled Ford and JWT to determine where on the page their message would appear, whereas for most Web ads the message is confined to a specific location on the page. In addition, the use of motion in the ad enabled JWT to integrate the user experience with the overall Ford campaign. Previous campaigns on MSN have generated impressive results, such as helping Universal Studios “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” to become one of the top-selling DVDs in 2001. Additional information is available at http://advantage.msn.com/ .
About MSN
MSN attracts more than 270 million unique users worldwide per month. Available in 34 markets and 18 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering Web services to consumers and digital marketing solutions to businesses worldwide. The most useful and innovative online service today, MSN brings consumers everything they need from the Web to make the most of their time online. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com/. MSN worldwide sites are located at http://www.msn.com/worldwide.ashx .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
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