What the Hell is a NUad?

According to a press release, "Microsoft today announced the official rollout of NUads on Xbox LIVE, making the new interactive TV ad format available for sale to advertisers broadly. Toyota, Unilever and Samsung Mobile USA are the first brands to develop NUads campaigns that will appear on Xbox LIVE this fall. NUads advertisements transform standard 30-second TV spots into engaging and actionable experiences using the power of voice and gesture controls of Kinect for Xbox 360."

That's all well and good, but what the hell is a Nuad?

"NUads marks the beginning of a new era for TV advertising. It delivers the one thing traditional TV advertising is missing - engagement," said Ross Honey, general manager of Xbox LIVE Entertainment and Advertising. "We developed NUads to breathe new life into the standard 30-second spot. With NUads, brands can get real-time feedback from audiences, making TV advertising actionable for the first time."



Supposedly, NuADs will give a layer of interactivity. Toyota's NuAD asks viewers what they would like to see reinvented. Viewers can then respond using Kinect-powered voice or gesture controls. This gives Toyota valuable feedback it can use for its next campaign.

The first NUads advertisers had this to say about the new interactive format:
"NUads is a game changer for the 30-second television spot, and for the first time allows customers to interact with a brand on TV. Toyota has always been at the forefront of advertising innovation, so NUads was a natural next step in our longstanding work with Xbox," said Dionne Colvin, National Marketing Media Manager for Toyota Motor Sales Inc.

"The creative possibilities of NUads are endless. We can take a 30-second TV spot and customize it for NUads to get an immediate response from Toyota's customer," said John Lisko, executive communications director at Saatchi & Saatchi LA for Toyota. "It allows customers to participate with our advertising, which is really exciting. The interactivity of NUads is leading the industry and changing the way we're connecting with our customers."

The NUads will debut this fall.