Add this to the list of clever display ads: Life insurance company Prudential is staging a front-page takeover of the NYTimes.com Tuesday. The takeover includes a large interactive unit above the fold that asks you to enter your birth date to see the front page of the Times on the day you were born.
To execute the ad, the Times developed an API with an index of 139 years of front pages, from 1863 to 2002, a spokesperson said. That's more than 50,000 covers in total.
The ad links to a microsite that explores lengthening lifespans and how Prudential's products can accommodate them. Share buttons encourage you to share the unit on Twitter and LinkedIn.
The ad is invitingly interactive, and compliments Prudential's message and the environment in which it appears. We only wish the covers were a bit larger so we could read the headlines.