While watching the Daily Show tonight I saw an ad for Honda come up showing the CR-V with a finale that requested viewers to find more by searching “shop Honda” on Yahoo.
Obviously this is a clear partnership deal between Honda and Yahoo – showing search results with a clear call out to the Honda sponsored result as well as a video player option.
Upon clicking the video option you actually get a “lightbox” effect which darkens the SERPS page and shows a video for the CR-V in a Yahoo video player. This is quite a move and quite a partnership between a company and a search engine unlike any I have seen before. I know that this option is not available to just any advertiser – and it is unclear if this is a custom deal only for Honda.
Below is a picture of the video player that comes up over the search results:
As you can see the video pops up giving the viewer no choice but to watch the autoplay video. Once the 20+ second spot is complete you only get an option to “play again”. I was surprised that there was no further call to action to visit the Honda CR-V site or get more information. With this type of partnership and SERP takeover I would expect an auto drop on the Honda page once the video was done, or a data collection point for more information like email or other contact info.
Will we see more of these in the future?
Without question. Engines continue to push the limits and change the advertising we have come to expect from a query. I think we will see a continued testing of different methods, many including videos, and the users actions will warrant which will continue.
Conclusion
I think that prompting a user to take action and go to a specific engine is a smart idea. I think the opportunity was not fully utilized as the Yahoo video does not prompt a user to end up on the Honda site once they are done watching the video. Even a Yahoo site with more Honda videos would be a better option. We will continue to see more of these deals happen and it will take a very advanced SEM firm to not only manage this type of TV synergy, but also defend against other companies from simply ad drafting off of the Honda ad.
Honda – if you need help let me know.
Other car companies – if you are interested in taking advantage of the Honda campaign let me know. 
March 30th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I always wondered why can search results extend beyond text. As long as enough bandwidth is available, this would probably offer a better experience.
A opt-in program, where companies could assign videos to their search result, the same way Google does with their suggested page results, would be a interesting alternative.
After all, you could later plug it into Miro or Joost and have video results. Not to mention that it would definitely push technology regarding meta-information in video.
March 30th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I always wondered why can search results extend beyond text. As long as enough bandwidth is available, this would probably offer a better experience.
A opt-in program, where companies could assign videos to their search result, the same way Google does with their suggested page results, would be a interesting alternative.
After all, you could later plug it into Miro or Joost and have video results. Not to mention that it would definitely push technology regarding meta-information in video.
March 31st, 2008 at 7:26 am
I agree that allowing a choice would be a good option. Allowing third
parties into the mix may not be the best for the user experience though, the
engines would want to host and control the video flow and be the gatekeepers
to the content. The more you have an advertiser on your platform the more
likely they are to use the system.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:26 am
I agree that allowing a choice would be a good option. Allowing third
parties into the mix may not be the best for the user experience though, the
engines would want to host and control the video flow and be the gatekeepers
to the content. The more you have an advertiser on your platform the more
likely they are to use the system.
March 31st, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I agree that allowing a choice would be a good option. Allowing third
parties into the mix may not be the best for the user experience though, the
engines would want to host and control the video flow and be the gatekeepers
to the content. The more you have an advertiser on your platform the more
likely they are to use the system.