There wasn’t an existing ad format in the digital space that could accomplish our concept, so in partnership with the creative agency and supplier websites, we invented one.

We created a homepage takeover that fully incorporated the site’s branding but created an interactive experience that brought the showroom to the audience. A leaderboard/big-box combo asked users to click a window button, whereupon the entire page of the website rolled down like a car window to reveal the stunning new interior of the Accord. The user could then navigate through the vehicle, exploring the front and back of the new interior, and scroll over the 5 hotspots that described the advanced technology features.

The ad unit was a media first, directed by the media team as a user friendly experience. Achieving scale escalated the degree of difficulty, requiring us to negotiate control over multiple supplier brands: no small feat.

The engagement results on this ad unit were incredible! The average time spent with this ad unit was 2 minutes and 31 seconds, more than 3x the industry norm.

We saw a 75% increase in traffic to the Accord page from the previous month (Feb ‘13 vs. Mar ‘13) and sales for the vehicle were up 80% year over year (Mar ‘12 vs. Mar ‘13). The Honda Accord took #1 in BC.