ad battle

Currently, ‘good’ advertising is often determined by an exclusive set of industry insiders in a few expensive competitions. With the Ad Battle application, I wanted to create a fun way to place this power in the hands of the people, while also promoting a healthy discussion regarding what determines if an ad is good or not.

The Ad Battle Facebook application allows people to view two different print and television ads submitted by fellow Facebook users and vote on which ad they think “wins” the battle. As an ad wins battles, its ranking increases, with the highest (and lowest) scoring ads highlighted under the app’s “Best and Worst” section. In addition, when users submit ads that win “battles” their personal Ad Battle ranking (which can range from “Featherweight” to “Heavyweight”) improves. People can also use Ad Battle to compare their ad rankings with others on their social network, securing a perspective on whether their own “ad judgment” is in the mainstream or not.

The Ad Battle application also features the Mystery Ad Game, which provides a fun, non-scientific evaluation of someone’s advertising IQ. In the game, people are presented with famous advertising slogans or print ads with the logo removed, and then have to guess which of 4 brands the slogan or ad is for. People can play the game, then invite others in their social network to play as well, and compare their results with those of their friends – a key feature found in many successful social media applications.