Brands Build Widget Ads; Will Consumers Come?
Call them widgets, gadgets, or wadgets, but businesses such as Kraft Foods, Nissan, and American Express are building brand identity using these software applications that can be embedded in a Web page or downloaded to a computer desktop.
"Widgets hold an interesting creative possibility to create a conversation with consumers," said Jeff Williams, associate director, creative, at Digitas, while speaking with three other widget experts at a Search Engine Strategies New York panel discussion this week.
While popular gadgets feature games and entertainment (Bejeweled, Tetris) or utilities (personal finance calculators, world clocks), advertisers are starting to build and promote their own applications.
