Yahoo and Toyota have rolled out a new interactive ad format for Toyota Prius, called the ‘living ad.’ The new format of the ads designed to provide iPad users with an immersive experience of the new Prius range. The ads include photography and sequenced videos that use the device’s accelerometer and large canvas and due to it appear to be moving. This campaign follows the successful ‘Prius Goes Plural’ campaign.
Photo: a scene from the Prius living ad
For the living ads launch, Yahoo worked with Saatchi & Saatchi and digital photographer Alexx Henry on a creative execution for the Toyota Prius, says Ad Week.
The price of such ads is in the range of $200,000 to $500,000 for packages that run through the first quarter of 2012, according to Alex Linde, Yahoo’s director of mobile and tablet advertising who said that prices vary according to the look and feel of the ad.
In one of the Prius ad a silver hatchback appears to be traveling along the road but once tapped, the car traveling through a series of animated scenes featuring, for example, a tree that flies off the ground, carried by a pair of birds and a dinosaur bends his head over a highway.
Clickable content is indicated with white circles and some interactive elements provide more information about the car. For example, clicking on the back of the car reveals information about the cargo space and clicking on icons for Bing and Pandora offer updates on in-car apps. Though by clicking on the dinosaur a message that ‘actual dinosaurs may vary’ appears on the screen.
According to Linde, in a study comparing the living ad to regular static ads featuring similar photography, readers were 78 percent more likely to want to interact with the ad and twice as likely to spend more time with the ad.
Although for the moment, Toyota is the only living ads partner, Yahoo expects more living ads partners to sign on in 2012.
Toyota has also partnered with Intel to work on a common project defining next-generation in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems that will enable new usage models for mobile device connectivity in the car.
