James Cameron’s Groundbreaking Epic AVATAR Continues to Push Boundaries with the Launch of  the Industry’s First HD Immersive Trailer.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment announced that it will launch the industry’s first rich media interactive trailer in support of the April 22 Blu-ray and DVD debut of AVATAR. Using groundbreaking new technology, the ads created for the global home entertainment campaign are unlike any interactive trailer done before, allowing viewers to zoom in or out of any frame, pause at any point and select hot spots without ever leaving the setting. By clicking on points of interest, consumers can access extended clips from the film and in-depth information about the world and inhabitants of Pandora.

“AVATAR mesmerized audiences around the world with its use of revolutionary technology that seamlessly disappeared into a fully immersive cinematic experience,” said Mary Daily, Executive Vice President Marketing, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. “We carried that drive for groundbreaking technology into our campaign. While there have been interactive videos before, none have had an immersive experience like this – and certainly not within rich media.”

“What’s truly astounding is that our digital team was able to execute the rollout of this feature in our markets worldwide – working with our territory offices and media agencies to persuade many publishers to run an ad that was beyond anything they had ever allowed before, “ added Vincent Marcais, Senior Vice President International Marketing, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. “The fact that we were able to push so many publishers globally to make an exception for this unit’s particular requirements is a testament to how impressive its experience is.”

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment enlisted the services of international creative agency, ThinkJam, to build the interactive units and Eyeblaster, to handle the rich media serving. The result is an elegant and extremely complex product that is a key component of a global digital marketing campaign unlike anything executed before for a home entertainment release. The ads will debut simultaneously across the web in 15 markets around the world.

“It’s incredibly exciting to be asked to work on such groundbreaking video technology, especially for the box office smash AVATAR, said Daniel Robey, Managing Director, ThinkJam. “We’re incredibly proud of this agency first we developed with the digital marketing team and Eyeblaster and we will keep pushing the boundaries of digital to make the web an increasingly exciting and interactive environment.”

“Engaging visitors with high quality streaming video in new and inventive ways makes the magic of AVATAR come alive,” said Gal Trifon, CEO and Co-founder, Eyeblaster. “Together, we pioneered a new area of interactive HD and have taken digital advertising to the next level.”

An action-adventure journey of self-discovery, James Cameron’s AVATAR dramatically demonstrates how human invasion almost destroys the balance of life on the planet of Pandora. The Oscar® and Golden Globe®-winning epic is the highest grossing film of all time, taking in over $2.6 billion in worldwide box office.

The ultimate high definition experience for home viewing audiences, AVATAR will be available on Blu-ray and DVD everywhere in the United States and Canada on Earth Day, April 22, and rolls out internationally beginning April 21 and ending May 6. An ultimate edition release with immersive bonus materials is slated for November.

If you have a quick moment between tossing your next iPhone app, rushing to get an iPad and trying to recall where you left your 3D glasses… Take a minute to notice that CS5 is now GA .


I found myself a Zen moment to focus on the present (which is still for most cases Flash based…), and checked what Flash CS5 brings in for Rich Media Display Ad Production:

Eyeblaster Workshop is supported in Flash CS5 as is. You should be safe to upgrade from that perspective, and continue to easily create, test and upload ads using it. This also includes the new CS5, XML based FLA format, which can help teams work modularly with complex Flash projects parts.

What else in CS5 can help boost ad production efficiency and impact?

Spice up an ad’s experience with the new Physics Engine: Flash CS5 includes a simple way to associate gravity behavior to objects, making certain animations easier by using code or UI. A nice feature to utilize in Eyeblaster Full Homepage Takeovers, just like this one

Speed up ad localization with the TLF (Text Layout Framework) now built into Flash: This advanced text and typography engine makes it easier to localize also the Right-to-Left regions or even the East Asian horizontal within vertical text with over 30 writing systems including Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese and others.

If your client plays global, you are probably already familiar with Eyeblaster’s Smart Versioning Tool for ad localization, and you can combine the two for optimal results.

An additional feature in the area of localization is the new, multi fonts, embedding panel in case you have branded fonts you’re using.

Video Component on-Stage video preview – you can take the advantage of this one especially by using it for creating Action Script based cue points for animation sync, while watching the movie on stage.

Speed up ad coding features: All Eyeblaster Custom classes are right at your finger tips with the New Custom Class Shortcuts. Also the Integration with Flash Builder looks very useful; Flash Builder becomes your ActionScript editor within Flash projects.   And also, check out, of course, the code snippets for AS3.

Keep an eye on Ad Size using the new SWF history size control that allows you to maintain control over the Asset size, while the Workshop Ad Size Summary in the Eyeblaster Workshop Panel will keep in control over total ad size. So all in all, some useful features to look at. Looking forward to Flash Player 10.1 with more good stuff.

That’s it for now; welcome CS5, and a happy productive time to us all.

Gefen Lamdan, Sr. Mgr Product Planning