The internet is now the #1 media channel at work and the #2
channel at home. Brands must
effectively engage consumers online with content to remain relevant. But eye tracking studies and
DoubleClick’s own data show that consumers have learned to ignore online ad
real estate, no matter what type of ad (video, widget, flash) it is. This begs the question – there must be a
better way to engage consumers online with branded content. The answer is Application Views.

Application Views enable brands
to place branded, rich media content onto the content real estate (not ad
space) of targeted sites and control that portion of the website as if it were
their own. Where can brands leverage
this new approach?

Brands should think of all of the websites where target
customers are or could engage with their brand in more meaningful ways such as
product information pages on retailer sites, top bloggers, communities of
interest, etc. The easiest way to start
this process is to type the brand name in Google and review the top 100
results. Here is an example of a top 10 Google pagerank for Nike Golf.

Golf Galaxy is a retail site with Nike product information that is
completely static, with no branded content, no rich media, no
way to differentiate the Nike Golf brand from the rest of the sporting
goods providers.

Now imagine if instead of this product information page, Nike placed
the rich media content that they invested heavily in to differentiate
their clubs from their competitors. In this case, the content is a complete flash application that includes video from Tiger Woods, product demonstrations and great visualizations. All of this can be run within the Application View on the Golf Galaxy site.

It’s great for Golf Galaxy, they get more visitors and more sales at no added expense (they don’t have to host or manage the content or infrastructure).

And Nike, for the first time,
would be able to see how many people visited the page, how long they stayed,
what they clicked on, etc. They could also update content across all
sites in real-time and turn on and off features.

This is just one example of how to use Application Views to leverage existing branded content to engage targeted customers where they are on the internet.  Read a case study from Hearst to learn more.