A proprietary technology from New York City-based Unicast, superstitials are television-like ads that play in pop-up windows of up to 550x480 pixels and can run 20 seconds in length. Like other pop-ups, superstitial ads spawn a new browser window and support standard Web display formats including HTML, GIF, JPEG, and Macromedia Flash.

What makes superstitials different from other interstitials is their delivery, which Unicast calls "polite downloads," meaning that the ad loads in the background and does so only when the user's connection is free--that is, when it's not loading other pages. Unlike typical JavaScript-launched pop-ups, superstitials precache so that the user sees the ad only when it is ready to play. At that point, however, the ads are a little less polite, becoming every bit as intrusive as, well, TV commercials.

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But according to a Harris Interactive study commissioned by Unicast, these superstitials work nearly as well as TV commercials, comparing favorably to television spots in traditional metrics such as brand recall and purchase intent. Superstitials, which also provide back-end performance tracking, have performed exceedingly well in terms of click-through, too. One ad in particular, a Mother's Day spot for Macy's that played a short Flash program before allowing users to mouse over a selection of gift ideas, had a click-through rate of 19 percent.

For the moment, the use of the Unicast technology may be limited by expense and reach considerations (while gaining ground, the platform is not yet supported by all sites or ad networks), but for the companies that can afford them, superstitials have already caught on. Among its clients, Unicast counts such heavy-hitters as Warner Brothers, Absolut Vodka, Panasonic, and Volkswagen.

Advertising outside the box
Another in-your-face ad format that has so far had less exposure is out-of-banner advertising from a company called Eyeblaster. Like superstitials, Eyeblasters are preloaded and support standard Web formats including Dynamic HTML, Flash animation, and audio files. Like pop-ups, the ads play atop the browser window that the user is viewing. The difference is that instead of using a separate window, the animations and images in an Eyeblaster ad float on a transparent layer overlaid against the Web page. The results vary, and the featured ads change from month to month, but the effect is impossible to ignore.

In one ad for Coca-Cola, a 12-pack materializes on the screen, and a Coke is poured into a tall glass. Once the ad has piqued your thirst, the apparition vanishes altogether, and you're back to your Web page. In another ad for Zippo, the browser window slowly dims, only to be illuminated by--you guessed it--a Zippo lighter.

Eyeblaster touts the simplicity with which its ads can be created, the ease with which sites can be Eyeblaster-enabled, and the lack of difficulty tracking performance data. But the company neglects to mention how annoying the ads can be and the problems users have in turning them off. Because there's no browser window to close, you have no choice but to quit the application or suffer the distraction. Admittedly, the ads are short, running in a matter of seconds. But they are probably the most distracting of any ad format currently on the Internet. Advertisers--at least those hell-bent on ad impressions--may love them. But such ads may drive users to consider the merits of ad-blocking software in the long run.

Same as it ever was
Such radical approaches emphasize the challenge that has existed all along: how do you attract the most customers and annoy the fewest? One might well argue that technology is only a minor variable in that equation, that more depends on the creative aspects of a particular ad campaign than the delivery. In truth, both factors come into play. Today, ad designers have a much richer palette to work with. This can only be good for the industry, providing publishers with more sales fodder and advertisers with a wider variety of ad options across a broader spectrum of price points. With sufficient skill and imagination, even users may perceive a benefit.