Award-Winning Online Ad Format, Project Devil, Now Available in Canada

New Format Outperforms Standard Online Display Ads

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AOL Canada launched today their IAB U.S. Rising Stars award-winning online ad format, Project Devil. This revolutionary new ad improves the aesthetic quality and interactivity of advertising in ways that further enhance the consumer experience, and ultimately promotes beautiful, content-driven brand advertising across the Web and affords the advertiser 100 per cent share of voice.

“It allows us to truly demonstrate our client’s position as innovators in the digital space. We like that the new format includes dynamic content within the ad to foster a TV-like ad experience and the exclusivity of being the only ad on the page.”

“Project Devil is light years beyond just introducing a new ad unit,” says Graham Moysey, AOL Canada General Manager. “It’s about re-imagining the intersection between content, advertising and the consumer experience. We believe advertising is content too, and should be held to the same standard to deliver a premium consumer experience.”

The Project Devil unit offers increased engagement through a large creative canvas, divided into three panels, which allow advertisers to customize the content and functionality. The wide-ranging functionality of each panel includes media streams and applications such as video, slideshows, mapping, 3-D rotation, quizzes, polls, text messaging and much more. Every ad is fully interactive, eliminating the need for consumers to navigate away from the page to explore its features.

Starcom MediaVest Group immediately expressed interest in using the new ad format for one of their key clients, and they will be the first Canadian customer to go live on AOL’s tech site, Engadget.com.

“Project Devil’s new ad unit offers us a unique and creative canvas to best showcase our client’s brands,” says Heather Loosemore, Director, Digital Solutions, Starcom MediaVest Group. “It allows us to truly demonstrate our client’s position as innovators in the digital space. We like that the new format includes dynamic content within the ad to foster a TV-like ad experience and the exclusivity of being the only ad on the page.”

Project Devil format outperforms standard ad displays

To study the effect of Devil ads, comScore conducted pre-launch quantitative research that was fielded to 1,500 participants. Early results showed that the new display format outperforms standard display ads in consumer likeability and ad effectiveness metrics.

• Consumers spend an average of 18 per cent more time on a page when a Devil ad is present versus a standard 300x250 ad;
• 65 per cent of respondents rated Devil ads as easier to understand;
• 63 per cent said they felt better about the brand after viewing the ad;
• 68 per cent said the ad made them want to buy the brand;
• 58 per cent said the ad made the overall web page better.

Visit the Project Devil gallery at http://advertising.aol.com/creative/projectdevil/gallery to see how leading brands in the U.S. have brought the new format to life.

About AOL: AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL's business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL's owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL's consumer offerings.