Xbox NUads roll out in US

Microsoft has announced that NUads has officially come to Xbox Live, and is available for advertisers to take advantage of in the US – and presumably, soon enough in the UK, too.

NUads essentially facilitates interactive ads via the Kinect. The advert is displayed, and a motion gesture can be used to interact with a survey, for example.

Voice control can also be used to say yes or no to whether the viewer wants something to happen in the advert. It’s a method of further engaging with viewers, and of course reaping extra data for the firm doing the advertising.

The first companies to make use of NUads in the US include Toyota, Samsung Mobile and Unilever, whose interactive ad campaigns will begin this autumn.

Toyota, for example, will be revamping its 2012 Camry campaign (as seen at the last Super Bowl), asking viewers what they would like to see reinvented regarding the car.

Ross Honey, general manager of Xbox Live Entertainment and Advertising, commented: “NUads marks the beginning of a new era for TV advertising. It delivers the one thing traditional TV advertising is missing – engagement.”

“We developed NUads to breathe new life into the standard 30-second spot. With NUads, brands can get real-time feedback from audiences, making TV advertising actionable for the first time.”

John Lisko, executive communications director at Saatchi & Saatchi LA for Toyota, enthused that “the creative possibilities of NUads are endless.”

Interactive adverts are nothing new online, of course, one of the most famous and creative examples being the YouTube bear hunter clip Tippex put out a couple of years back.

This allowed the user to type in a myriad of different possible suggestions for the hunter and the bear to enact, such as dancing together. The video has racked up some 20 million views over the past two years.