Podcast 03

Based on my last post, I'm thinking I should make my podcast about Interactive Advertising based around usability and how to improve the way it connects to the user in future.

Let's try and set up a 'rough script'.

01 "Interactive Advertising and You"

02 "Do those ads that want you to click all over them get on your nerves? Do you start worrying about your computer safety whenever they pop up?"

03 Animated Character looks worried and nods.

"Times are changing, the old way of EXPOSURE, EXPOSURE, EXPOSURE! advertising is losing steam, and a new wave of Selective Interactivity is approaching"

Animated character is engulfed by ads, appears to be drowning in them. They disperse into the sky then a wave of ads washes the exposure ads away and leave a few ads sitting around the Character.

04 "Advertisers know this, but many don't quite know how to deal with it yet, and the result is all of these annoying banners telling us to CLICK, DRAG, MOUSE OVER, POINT. But users aren't looking for this when they're browsing they're favorite sites. They don't want to be pestered and annoyed, it's like having someone knocking on your door every time you walk into the next room of your house and trying to make you complete a simple puzzle before they'll leave you alone. Not only is this irritating, it often leaves the intended message unheard, and if the user isn't hearing the message, they're not going to be buying the product."

 3 people in glasses sitting at a desk nod. Character running, ads chase him. Character opens a door, man at door offers Character a rubix cube, Character slams the door and . . . is shown faded through the door.

05 "These ads need to get simpler, more subtle and in most cases more entertaining. When a vast ocean of information is at your fingertips, for any ad to grab your attention, it's going to have to be good. There are some already out there, the rest of the market just needs to catch up."

Man at door loses rubix cube, turns transparent, gains red nose. Character holds a sphere with an ocean inside, a big happy face rises out of the water and Character smiles.

06 "But the Internet isn't the only place Interactive ads can hang out. To quote Professor Duane Varan, an expert on New Media. "And wouldn’t it be great if you could forever ban that annoying TV commercial from your screen?". I certainly agree. And this is something the professor is working on at the moment. He wants to change the one-way method of television we currently have, and give viewers more control over what they watch."

A TV with static. An annoying face appears on the screen. Pan back to a big BAN button, it gets hit and the static returns. An arrow comes out of the TV and at us, then a second arrow comes from us and goes back to the TV.

07 "Now for me this inspired an idea. A streamlined, more interactive and easy to use tv remote."

Off lightbulb. Turns on. Pans out to show the remote.

08 "Another thing that inspired this was trying to teach my parents how to use a new remote when they bought a digital set top box. After half an hour of going through all the buttons with them, they still had no idea how to use it because there was just so much to take in. Which is fine for some people, but most of us don't have the time to be thinking about a remote. So why not make it simple?"

Character stands with parents pointing furiously at a remote. Parents have question marks appear and hover over heads. Show timepoor image.

09 "On my remote, there is the big power button at the top, the what's on button below it would bring up an overlay of program information with one press and an Electronic Program Guide with 2 presses. Underneath that you have your number pad and below these there are 3 buttons, Menu, Aspect Ratio, and Sleep. These are the standard bits. The exciting parts are on the side. Once you've set up and your comfortable, this remote is designed to be held like this. The purple button on the thumb would work as a BACK/CANCEL, and the 2 wheels above it sitting side by side are used situationally to either navigate menus, or function as channel and volume control. Now these last buttons are where the Interactive Advertising part comes in, each button is assigned to one person, this button functions as OK in menus for that person but more importantly whenever someone hits this button it tells the TV that they are the one watching at that moment, the user can hit this button during an AD to say "I'm not interested in this, don't show me again." and the TV will take this information and filter what kind of ads this person sees, they're happy they only have to watch ads that appeal to them, and the advertisers get exposure to the right audience. Everyone wins."

Starts with a view of the full remote, zooms into the power button, then to the whats on button, then to the number pad, then to the 3 bottom buttons. then to the side, then a hand shows how to hold it, then zooms into the back button, then to the wheels, the wheel rollout comes out from under the remote, then zooms into the other 4 side buttons. Rollout of the side button comes out from under the remote, letter appears on the button.
Crossview of character looking sad and button, button is pressed and character looks happy.


3 people behind desk nod.


10 "I hope you enjoyed my podcast, check out my blog for a more detailed look at how my remote works. See you next time!"

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