The campaigns, with the facts checked
Brand, campaign, agency, year and the interaction itself. Where a date or credit is genuinely disputed, the row leaves it out rather than picking one.
| Brand | Campaign | Agency | Year | What the viewer did |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burger King | Burn That Ad | DAVID São Paulo | 2018 | Pointed the app at a rival poster to burn it and win a Whopper |
| Burger King | Whopper Detour | FCB New York | 2018 | Drove within 600 feet of a McDonald’s to unlock a one-cent Whopper |
| Burger King | Google Home of the Whopper | DAVID Miami | 2017 | Nothing: the TV spot spoke to the viewer’s smart speaker instead |
| Honda | The Other Side | Wieden+Kennedy London | 2014 | Held a key down to switch between two parallel films |
| Tipp-Ex | A Hunter Shoots a Bear | Buzzman | 2010 | Typed a new ending into the video title and got one of fifty |
| Arcade Fire and Google | The Wilderness Downtown | Google Creative Lab with Chris Milk and B-Reel | 2010 | Typed a childhood address and watched it appear in the film |
| Nike | Reactland | Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai | 2018 | Ran on an in-store treadmill as their avatar on a wraparound screen |
| Women’s Aid | Look at Me | WCRS | 2015 | Looked at a billboard, and the bruises on it healed as more people did |
| Oreo | Chase Playfulness | Saatchi & Saatchi Germany | 2024 | Scanned an embossed biscuit to start a Pac-Man game |
| Magnum | Pleasure Hunt | Lowe Brindfors | Not settled | Steered a character across other websites with the arrow keys |
Where the usual lists go wrong
Four of these campaigns are routinely miscredited, and one is not an interactive ad at all. Worth knowing before you cite them in a deck.
Burn That Ad is credited to DAVID São Paulo, not the Miami office, and it ran in Brazil from late 2018 before the wider publicity in 2019. The Other Side is Wieden+Kennedy London and 2014, and it won Gold at Cannes rather than a Grand Prix.
Reactland is not an AR campaign. It was a physical treadmill installation in Chinese stores with a wraparound screen, which is why it is interesting: the interaction was running. Look at Me is WCRS and March 2015, with face tracking doing the work.
Whopper Detour is the one with the hardware of awards behind it, taking three Grand Prix at Cannes in 2019 across Direct, Mobile and Titanium. It is also the purest example of the principle on the hub page: the interaction was the offer.
Spotify Wrapped gets listed as interactive advertising constantly and is not an ad. It is a personalised feature inside a product, with a campaign wrapped around it. The same goes for the furniture-placement apps that appear on these lists: a useful product is not an ad unit.
Magnum’s Pleasure Hunt has a genuinely unsettled year and conflicting player counts across sources, so this table gives neither. That is the general warning about this category: the campaigns are old, the case studies were written by the agencies, and the numbers attached to them rarely survive a check.
What the ones that worked had in common
Across thirty years of these, the campaigns that are still cited share three properties, and none of them is the technology.
The interaction was the idea
Burning a competitor’s poster, driving to a rival’s car park, typing your own address. In each case you cannot separate the interaction from the message, which is why they survive retelling.
It used a thing people already had
A phone camera, a keyboard, a smart speaker, their own street. None required an app download or a headset, which is where most interactive work dies.
There was a reason to finish
A free burger, a new ending, a healed image. The reward was immediate and worth the effort asked, which is the test a spin-to-win fails.
What those brands run day to day
Interactive stunts are a fraction of the work. This is the ordinary advertising from brands at the same scale, which is what the budget mostly buys.
VideoCoca-Cola“There’s a Coke for everyone.”Pure brand, no offer. The budget that funds an interactive stunt sits beside work like this.
VideoMcDonald's“SPICY McNUGGETS ARE BACK”Limited time, on screen. The chain behind two of the campaigns below.
VideoTaco Bell“free beefy 5-layer burrito”The offer is the creative, which is also how the best interactive work is structured.
VideoVerizon“Get 100% fiber internet”One claim in plain words, the discipline an interactive unit still needs.
VideoProgressive“See if you could save”A number doing the selling. Interactivity is not a substitute for an offer.
The work in between the stunts
Nobody ships a Cannes campaign weekly. Video is the thing that actually runs.
Director by Sprites is a full creative team for your startup, in private beta. Every Monday you get finished, on-brand video ads, reviewed by a human.
Strategy, hooks, scripts, shooting and editing, end to end. You never write a prompt. You pick the winners. Sprites ships the campaigns.
Every video is checked by a person before it reaches your inbox. No endless revisions.
Questions
What is the best interactive ad campaign?
Whopper Detour is the most decorated, taking three Cannes Grand Prix in 2019 for geofencing a one-cent Whopper within 600 feet of a McDonald’s. Burn That Ad and The Other Side are the other two most cited.
Who made Burger King Burn That Ad?
DAVID São Paulo, not the Miami office it is often credited to. It ran in Brazil from late 2018, with the wider publicity in 2019.
Is Spotify Wrapped an interactive ad?
No. It is a personalised feature inside a product with a campaign built around it, which is why it does not belong on a list of interactive ad units.
What made these campaigns work?
The interaction was inseparable from the idea, it used something the viewer already had, and finishing it earned an immediate reward.
Keep going
Need the everyday video made?
Every Monday you get finished, on-brand video ads, reviewed by a human. You never write a prompt. You pick the winners. Sprites ships the campaigns.