Brandweek: Uproar Launches Flash and Audio Banners - Uproar.com

Uproar.com, a New York-based online gaming site, this week will launch a series of rich media banner ads with a built-in audio track. The ads were designed by interactive shop 360i.com, which was named Uproar's agency of record in August.

In addition to the audio-enabled banner ads, 360i.com will provide the gaming site with strategic planning, e-mail marketing and rich media creative centered on Macromedia Flash banners and splash pages designed to drive registration at the site.

Bryan Kujawski, co-president of the 2-yearold Atlanta-based agency, said Uproar's goals have been to exploit rich media and interactivity to boost traffic to the gaming site. "The idea was that, since we are speaking to a gaming audience, the games almost have to start in the banner element," he said.

The audio banners will appear on gaming and entertainment Web venues such as Shockwave.com. One of them, touting a $1 million dollar sweepstakes with a space theme, has a rollover (when an action is caused by a user's cursor arrow crossing a banner) that features a flying saucer drifting into view accompanied by an audio track.

"Our goals were to create elements that are as entertaining and interactive as possible," said Kujawski.

David Ventresca, consumer marketing director for Uproar, said the company chose the relatively young 360i.com because of the agency's focus on technology and its understanding of marketing strategy. "We were most excited to go with 360i.com, specifically because they understood the ROI side of how we do our tracking. It's more than just getting people to click on a banner. It's all about getting people to click and then giving them a rich user experience that compels them to register with Uproar," he said.

360i.com created between 20 and 30 banners, as well as buttons and splash pages--windows that pop up when a user clicks a banner--running from standard GIF and dynamic HTML banners to Macromedia Flash, according to Kujawski.

The publicly held Uproar acquired iwin.com, a games-for-prizes Internet lottery site on July 26, and iBetcha.com, a peer-to-peer betting site focused on sports, politics and events, on August 7. However, according to Media Metrix, Uproar's ranking as a Web property fell from No. 38, with 5.8 million unique users in June (versus iwin.com, ranked 59th with 4.7 million unique users in June 2000), to below number 50, with 5.3 million unique visitors in August. But for stickiness among game sites in August, Uproar.com ranked No. 8, with 4.9 million unique visitors, and No. 14 for stickiness among gaming sites.