We’re all looking for that holy grail: the ability to grab users’ attention in an engaging, non-intrusive way.  Rich media these days is all about that fine balance: effective engagement with minimal intrusion.  That’s where Mouse Tracker comes in.

By visually responding to user movement, the user’s movements become part of the ad creative.  In this way, users are almost “automatically” engaged.  And, as Mouse Tracker stays within the confines of the ad real estate, it pulls users in without encroaching on page content.

In studying Mouse Tracker best practices, we’ve found some innovative and strategic uses.  Mouse Tracker wins the users attention in first tracking the mouse position.  Following up, moving “with” the user and avoiding the traditional looping – while adding a new, appealing visual interaction – is highly successful.

Here are a few of my favorite Mouse Tracker ads:

• The funky Virgin Virtually Vegas Campaign, by Lean Mean Fighting Machine, UK
• This very-meta NSPCC ad by Avenue A | Razorfish plays on self-referential computer jokes
• If you want more subtlety, sometimes just a slight gesture will do – like this ad by Profero UK for Channel 4.
• To implement some of these yourself, check out the Eyeblaster mouse tracker component.

Gefen Lamdan

Sr. Product Planning Manager | Creative Eyeblaster

gefen.lamdan@eyeblaster.com