Emergence of animated ads in print
Posted by Bill Gaffney | October 10th, 2007Looks like the next great thing for print publications offerings of off-beat advertising opportunities may be animated.
Last week, Rolling Stone featured characters from the Sunday night line-up on Fox TV. When the advertisement was tilted the images changed. Entertainment Weekly has also featured an animated ad with a character from the new television series Bionic Woman winking and lighting up at readers as they turned pages.
Media Week is reporting that Time Inc., is significantly upping the game by developing special electronic paper powered by a miniature battery.  These ads would feature more robust animation projected onto the paper. The initial run would be in black and white with color possibly coming later.
Hopefully, if adoption becomes more universal, print has learn from the mistakes of online. Leveraged in a limited, visually compelling way, the return for both the publishing house and advertiser could be monumental. If adoption following the early (and for many present) strategy of more-is-better with dozens of blinking ads competing for the reader’s attention, it could mean a quick end to a great opportunity.
