Unskippable
Award: Graphite Pencil
Graphite Pencil / Integrated & Innovative Media / Innovative Media / 2015
People skip YouTube's pre-roll ads as soon as possible to get to the video they want to watch. The Martin Agency Richmond acknowledged this and created a series of pre-roll ads in which GEICO's entire message is delivered in the first five seconds, literally making the testimonies unskippable. But viewers are given an entertaining reason to keep watching. When the five seconds elapses and the option to skip appears, the characters in the films freeze. But the world around them doesn't. One ad sees a frozen family scene invaded by a cumbersome dog, which springs onto the dinner table and helps itself to the family's meal as they unblinkingly stare on. With over 10 million views in the first month alone, the campaign turned skippable advertising into something people actually sought and shared.
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