I believe that before we fill a media placement, we should stop to assess the potential for creating a special experience. Especially, for those "incremental" or "added-value" placements. It won't bear fruit every time, but often it will.

A great example is the campaign/contest we created for Qwest High-Speed Internet called Protect Ur Rep (www.protecturrep.com). It began as a request to adapt existing work for in-game ad placements on Xbox Live. Rather than fill the request we pulled the train back into the station and took a closer look.

What we found was that gamers have a tolerate/hate relationship with in-game ads. They tolerate those that add to a game's realism and hate those that detract from it. I'm exaggerating here, but at best in-game ads become atmosphere. At worst they turn gamers against a brand.

We also found that gamers are competitive (duh!) and proud of their skills. They love to be recognized as the best. That recognition can take the form of prizes or simply "15 minutes of fame".

To neutralize the potential-piss-off-factor, and capitalize on the competitive nature of gamers, we decided to build a contest around our in-game ads. The gist was to allow gamers to compete for the right to have their Xbox Live avatar appear in our in-game ads. And pocket some loot.

In the end, Protect Ur Rep grew into a fully integrated online campaign comprised of in-game ads and brand pages on Xbox Live, a registration microsite, targeted banner ads and regular email communications.

It gave gamers a reason to pay attention to Qwest High-Speed Internet ads, offered a relevant point of engagement and a reward for doing so. It also gave them a reason to seek out Qwest ads, repeatedly, to see whose digital mug was plastered over them.

We won't have the final results for a few more weeks, but the early numbers are impressive. Who knew a little ol' media placement had so much potential.