With our “viral tagging” approach we developed a totally new way of online communication by combining the upcoming trend of viral distribution with the possibilities of interactive ad units. The interactive ad unit enabled the user to tag the PiCK UP! Dark ad by using various graphic elements like spray can, felt pen etc. Once the ad is finished it can be forwarded to their friends. But instead of showing the designed ad on an advertisers microsite the tagged ad was presented to the friends on the public website where it has been created originally. In addition a microsite was implemented which enabled the user to save and to vote the individual designs.

Campaign results were outstanding in terms of direct response figures as well as communicative effects. The interaction rate was 25% in relation to the number of ad views. Click through ratio was above defined benchmark and at the end of the campaign more than 2.300 entries on the microsite has been submitted. Also branding effects has been overwhelming and underlines the effectiveness of this approach. The campaign was accompanied by an online research which demonstrated that brand awareness raised by 37%. Brand preference increased by 28% and advertising recall was nearly doubled by 96%.