How to create the world's first interactive iPad ad before anyone actually had an iPad to test on? Get crafty.
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In 2009, I collaborated closely with Dave Clark to create the world's first interactive ad on a tablet device. Dave's team at T3 worked with me to concept and design the artwork; then I built the unit and made it functional.
The only challenge was... nobody had an iPad to test it on before launch day—they weren't available yet! And our partners at the New York Times —where the campaign was going to run—could neither confirm nor deny whether they had one of the few iPads in existence. (They did.) Nor could they tell us whether or not it was behind a locked, guarded door, chained to a desk, deep within the confines of their New York City tower. (It was.)
So I built this iPad ad using an iPhone for testing, hoping the accelerometer in the first iPad was going to behave just like a "big iPhone." It was tricky.
The mobile gods must have been smiling on iPad launch day, because the ad "just worked."
Once the ad appeared in the New York Times iPad app, users could tilt their new iPad devices left or right to make "offers" pop out the sides of the Chase Sapphire credit card. A clickthrough led to an application form. The execution won several awards and was covered in many major news outlets.