It might seem that simply making something funny is sufficient to attract the web surfer, but is it always OK to use such brashness? “In an industry that can be labeled irreverent, using humor for a ski advertisement is obviously a slam dunk,” says Struck’s Ryan Goodwin. In any case, though, “it always comes down to the target and the message itself. Sometimes it would be inappropriate to use humor because of who you are talking to, and sometimes humor doesn’t lend itself to the message. The creative for this banner uses video and humor in order to attract the attention of the skier demographic.” Hardly a long shot for this audience.

The ad’s setting showcases serene nature photographs and majestic mountain ranges, as if to appeal to nature vacationers. Juxtaposed against the scenery is a rather daft portrayal of a twitching old man—and the combination practically begs iconoclastic web viewers to come in and play. A simple-to-navigate dressing of the old man pulls visitors through the entire message. Goodwin describes the strategy as a “one-two punch”: Get viewers to interact with the banner, strongly engaging them, then use the humor to keep the visitor captivated through the whole narrative. “The rich-media ad buy drove part of the creative approach as we thought about how to use it,” he notes.

Having created award-winning websites as well as web ads, the designers at Struck have fully honed their capacity to produce a compelling product. “When designing web ads versus entire websites, our creatives are able to fully realize more than just one concept and explore their territory,” Goodwin observes. The execution of an ad like this demonstrates that Struck has the exploration part down to a science. In this case, “the project timeline was much shorter, with a much smaller list of objectives and features” than would have been the case with an entire site, he says. “Planning for banners does not have to be as extensive as for a website. It also allows for a number of your best ideas to get produced all within the same campaign.”

The climax of the ad cleverly uses the pop icon of the iPod to introduce a parody/rewrite of the Beck song “Where It’s At,” incorporating Ski Utah’s tagline: “The Greatest Snow on Earth.” “It’s a destination a little up the road, calling all skiers to the greatest snow,” belts out our now fully dressed old man dancing atop the mountain. Alyson Beaton