The New York Times Idea Lab has launched TimesAction, a series of advertising capabilities and mobile rich-media ad interface definitions (MRAID), on its iPad News App.
The Times’s Idea Lab has also launched a variety of new custom MRAID-enabled advertising units for iPad including in-app downloads, direct coupon download, and calendar, among other things.
A number of other Idea Lab custom units is also available in-app for the first time, including Pleats, which offers advertisers four distinct panels to showcase full-screen images in expanded format through an XXL unit; Unveil, which allows users to interact with a brand message by “wiping away” an initial image to reveal another one underneath it; and Product Zoom, used to showcase a product’s finer details through magnification as a user moves the cursor over the image.
Todd Haskell (Group vice president, Advertising, The New York Times): We are seeing more and more brands that want to execute highly engaging, unique advertising experiences on mobile.
The project originated from The Times’s Innovation Challenge, an internal contest that encourages employees to develop new prototypes and designs for potential applications for The Times’s digital businesses.
[Image courtesy: The New York Times]