Dockers Busts a Move with Interactive Ads In Game and Lifestyle Apps

03.17.09 @ 8:30am Michael Alexander No Comments

Apparel-maker Dockers San Francisco plans to release within the next few days the first interactive, “shakable” ad for the iPhone/iPod touch, running on SGN’s iBasketball, iBowl, iGolf and i.TV’s i.TV.

The Dockers ad, titled “Shakedown 2 Get Down,” features Dufon, a.k.a. Orb/Orbit/Orbitron, a freestyle dancer from the Seattle group “Circle of Fire,” dancing around the screen wearing Dockers Vintage Workwear Khakis. Between levels of gameplay, the app will prompt users to shake their handhelds to watch Dufon bust his dance moves. The ad will run for 4 weeks on the free, ad-supported sports and TV-guide apps.

“Dockers San Francisco is the first brand to fully utilize the iPhone’s technology to deliver an interactive message within applications, which is still a relatively new channel for advertising,” says Sherri Phillips, VP of marketing.

Phillips says she believes this new form of advertising will engage consumers in the same way they already interact with the iPhone and its applications.

OMD’s Ignition Factory, a media communications agency, and Razorfish, who developed the concept and filmed the ad, are the creative team behind the new Dockers ad.

Currently, there are 27,000 applications that have been downloaded more than 500 million times on the iPhone. With free app downloads of 200 to 1 over paid apps, this new mode of marketing monetizes applications beyond digital sales and provides a more targeted reach, the Phillips says.

“With the iPhone’s interactive platform, it lends itself to new and innovative ads that allow users to directly interact with the brand,” adds Jonathan Haber, US director, Ignition Factory-OMD.

Haber predicts the excitment around interactive mobile marketing will continue to grow despite the current economic recession, “allowing companies to strategically employ constricted ad dollars. We’re always excited when we can engage and interact with a targeted group of users through this kind of blended advertising technology.”