The interactive television advert for Honda’s ‘Cog’ campaign received recognition for the Best Use of Interactive TV at the New Media Age Effectiveness Awards in London. The award for Greatest Individual Contribution to New Media went to Peter Cowley, Director of Interactive Media for Endemol, the company behind Big Brother.
The award-winning television commercial featured 85 car parts from the Honda Accord interacting in a domino-like sequence and involved five months of filming and more than 600 shoots.
The full-length commercial ran for two minutes through an entire break but was only aired for a few days, with cut down versions for subsequent thirty and sixty second spots. Through an interactive overlay produced by Weapon 7, Sky viewers were able to press the red button on their remote and see the full sequence, which ran in a continuous loop for a month. Over a quarter of a million viewers did so, and 10,000 went on to request a free DVD showing how the advert was made together with a brochure for the Honda Accord car.
The judges noted that interactive television has experienced something of a revival in the past year, making competition in this category particularly fierce but often it’s the simplest ideas that win through. Interactive advertisements have been criticised for lack of creativity in the past, but this award demonstrates that given an outstanding commercial, interactivity can combine brand building with direct response to powerful effect. Also shortlisted were Granada, MTV and SKY.
Peter Cowley, Director of Interactive Media at Endemol UK, received the award for Greatest Individual Contribution to New Media. Endemol produces a number of high profile programmes that have interactivity at the heart of their format, including Big Brother and Fame Academy and interactive accounts for up to 30% of Endemol’s revenues internationally.
In total 13 awards from over 600 entries were presented at the event held at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane. The awards concentrate on effectiveness and achieving results and place a special emphasis on usability and accessibility.