Chrysler parlayed its rousing Super Bowl halftime ad starring Clint Eastwood into a video takeover on the Homepage
Literally no other event on Earth promises to focus so many eyeballs onto one spectacle at the same time as the Super Bowl does. This year set a new record, with an average of 111.3 million total U.S. viewers on NBC, according to Nielsen.
Everyone knows that many people watch the game only to see the commercials, as companies like to take advantage of this planetary reach via the most creative and compelling ads you'll see all year.
One of the best examples on this year's broadcast was Chrysler's halftime ad ("It's Halftime, America"), starring Clint Eastwood.
Before the game, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne promised an ad that would "reflect the very spirit of what Chrysler is today and how we view our role in society."
Explaining the concept after the game, Chrysler CMO Olivier Francois said: "The idea was to expand on last year's message [Imported from Detroit], which was a rallying cry around Detroit, to bring that to another level... We were very ambitious. Our brief to [Wieden & Kennedy] contained two things: We wanted a follow-up of 'Imported' but saying something totally different; and we wanted the halftime idea, that was something we started talking to NBC about a long time ago."
In the same casual-drive-over-gravel voice that moviegoers have adored since he played the spaghetti Western genre's favorite "Man with No Name," Eastwood's stirring oratory depicted Detroit and, by extension, America, as a team striving to get back on its feet for the second half.
Not surprisingly, this turned into one of the most memorable Super Bowl ads.
The day after, on Yahoo!
Equally unsurprising: The next day you could find it front and center on Yahoo!'s homepage in the form of a custom video takeover, complimented by a pair of static graphical placements.
The 820 x 310 video screen launches as soon as you land on the page, presenting a 15-second truncated version of the original TV ad.
The screen dissolves to reveal both a 450 x 60 banner in the center of the page coupled with your standard 300 x 250 ad on the right.
Hovering your mouse over either placement triggers a 3-2-1 countdown that spawns a bigger, 960 x 540 video screen showing the same truncated version of the ad. At its conclusion, the screen presents the company logos—Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram—and a link to Chrysler's YouTube channel.
Chrysler's Halftime in America ad is a great example of how the TV and digital spaces can complement each other with their respective strengths. The Homepage ad puts Clint Eastwood in front of you, ever so briefly, just to give you a taste of Chrysler's message, before providing the option to interact and engage.
Click here to go to Halftime.
Click here to view the full TV ad on Yahoo! Screen.
— Thomas T. Lady
