Showtime, the premium channel that airs an exclusive amount of programming, is no stranger to diverse ad campaigns. Last year, in an effort to push its original series Ray Donovan, the company introduced takeover ads that featured banner and full-page displays, which played video clips from the show. However, it’s about to outdo itself with an explosive new application – and boy, do we mean explosive.
Promoting the fourth season of the hit show Homeland (which will return to the channel on October 5), a new mobile ad campaign will premiere on Android devices today. With it, a new feature called tactile effects will be put in play, using the motors within Android devices to trigger physical vibrations during the playing of a video.
So, in other words, when a bomb goes off during the trailer, users will actually feel the effects of said bomb through a quick vibration. As you can see in the trailer below, this could have quite an effect when it comes to utilizing the right kind of advertising.
Sadly, the ad effects are only limited to Android devices at this time, as iPhones do not have the same built-in vibration technology as those devices.
Showtime has purchased the advertising inventory in Slate’s application to advertise the show over a four-week campaign, and is also offering the video presentation through its own Showtime application, which can be found under the “Coming Soon” tab.
This approach to advertising marks the first instance where actual mobile technology – in this case, the motors – are used on an interactive level with a trailer. And you can bet that, if it’s successful, it certainly won’t be the last.
What do you think Is the usage of mobile technology a boost for advertising, or do you believe it’ll come across more as an annoyance
Source: Adweek
