Comedy Central's The Man Show "Alibis"

Hey men! Click here to make a believable alibi.
(Click the banner to see the interactive ad.)
CLIENT: Comedy Central

STRUCTURE: "Alibis" is a free standing interactive ad that is linked to from creative-specific banners and buttons placed on media sites all over the Web. When one of these banners is clicked on, a second, smaller window pops up on top of the main open browser window, and the Splash Screen for the main piece instantly loads while the rest of the piece streams in behind. When the piece is quit out of, the original content in the main window is restored and audiences can resume surfing as before.

NAVIGATION: Roll over cat icons on the radar screen to identify an "intruding" cat, then click on it to begin the chase. Once in the neighborhood, your cursor becomes a beagle who is able to chase the cats in any direction you move your mouse. Clicking on a cat as you get close scores a "bite." Three bites is what it takes to catch a cat.

Tips are available at any time during the chase (click on the "TIPS" button in the "Cats & Dogs" tab at the bottom of the piece). Avoid the hedges and garbage cans, if possible. They are cat gang hiding places. If they come after you, head for your doghouse A.S.A.P. Only then can you safely resume the chase.

When you're finished playing (active play time throughout the campaign averaged between 4 and 5 minutes), you can click the "Return To Surfing" button to go back to whence you came; try your skill again (audience, on average, re-played game 3 times); or click on "Report To HQ," which takes you to the "Cats & Dogs" Web site (25% of audience, on average, did this).

TECHNOLOGY: The banners are all standard animated GIF banners, for maximum media acceptability. The main piece was built in Shockwave for Director 7. This enabled us to create a highly-interactive environment that is fluid in functionality yet small in file size, AND accepted by a large percentage of the intended audience (estimated to be 80-90%).