New Rich Media Ad Format Debuts

Real Media Inc. UK announced on Thursday the launch of the “transitional ad,” a new advertising format developed by Tangozebra , a UK-based a producer of rich media ads.

The first of these highly rich, audio visual ads, called “transitional ad,” by Real Media UK, appears on the UK-based Web sites of The Times (London) and The Sunday Times. Real Media, which helped Tangozebra to conceptually position the technology, says the new ads do not use streaming, or require any end user plug-ins.

Advertisers can specify which link on a page will trigger the transitional ad.

The inaugural transitional ad, branded for British Airways, is delivered when a user clicks on the travel or business links on The Times’home page. Real Media said the approximately three-second ad occupies the time it takes the browser to find the next page. Upon reaching the destination page, the user is offered the opportunity to click on a banner that links to the advertiser’s site.

“Many brands are expert at using mass intrusive media to ‘push’ the advertisements into the consumers’ minds, yet have not mastered the interactive nature of the Internet,” said Joel Crawford, European Advertising Services Manager at Real Media UK. “The transitional ad model offers consumer advertisers a more familiar and effective way to build brand awareness, generate response and reach critical mass.”

Real Media UK said the British Airways campaign, implemented by Agency.com, kicked-off July 14th and will run for a month.