The digital brand experience should be an advertiser’s first thought, not an afterthought, according to Organic digital ad agency Creative Director Gary Nelson. An online brand experience should be viewed as a product unto itself–one that can be advertised by broadcast media.

The "Now What?" campaign for State Farm is one of the few already taking this approach. The television commercials advertise the online destination nowwhat.com and don’t once mention State Farm itself. I’ve posted one of the ads below.   

The movement toward this kind of approach has been "remarkably slow," Nelson says. Once advertisers realize consumers will spend much more time with a digital experience than with other forms of advertising, he believes that more channels will start funneling consumers toward that experience.

Kelsey Blodget, Associate Producer