Fashion brand Kate Spade is getting around the old dilemma of creating click-through merchandising opportunities on online video in a new way: a carousel of clickable goods runs underneath the video.
The ad unit, which was created using HTML5 on Google's Lightbox ad formats, will run across Google's Display Network. You can view it in full effect here; the version above is a stripped-down version available on YouTube. The ad features a rolling display of clickable items from the video, and clicking on each directs you to the brand's site, where you can make a purchase.
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The idea is kind of a workaround for clickable video ads. For more than a decade, the ad industry has been trying to figure out how to let consumers click on a video ad or even an item they see receiving product placement on TV. The concept can summed up in the dated shorthand of "Jennifer Aniston's Sweater," meaning a viewer at home could see a top Aniston was sporting on Friends and click to buy it.
This isn't the first time an advertiser has offered a clickable video ad. In 2009, AdMob began running such ads on mobile and TiVo and PayPal teamed up last year to offer the feature over TV.
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