Facebook Canvas Hack
A proof-of-concept Facebook Canvas ad for IHOP, created at an agency hackathon by three art directors. Timed gestures and video turned the ad into shareable pancake-making mini games.
My role
I was one of three Interactive Art Directors that teamed up on this project. Each of us handled various aspects of visual design, user experience, testing/QA, and video editing for the final presentation in a true collaborative effort. With a strong animation background, I tended to handle most of the motion design.
The problem
Facebook invited teams of three from several ad agencies to come in and "hack" their new Canvas ad format. For the proof of concept, we were able to choose any of our clients based on their social media presence and we chose IHOP since they were one of our most active on social media. We were given a crash course on basic features of the ad unit and then asked to think outside the box and create an experience that pushed beyond the standard delivery of information.
The solution
Each agency was given 10 mins to present to a panel of Executive Creative Directors and our peer groups. In order to elevate our presentation, we decided as a team that recognizing device interfaces and gestures as part of the experience would take it beyond the standard set of components Facebook was working with. Our idea was to encourage customers to "play with their food" while they wait for their orders at local IHOP restaurants. The "hacks" we came up with all involved using timed instructions together with video content to simulate different mini games. The end result of these would be to create a stack of pancakes, share to their Facebook feeds, and ultimately find a local IHOP to turn it into reality.
At a glance
- Multiple user paths with different messaging
- Limited components but no limits on how they're used
- Mobile only gesture and tap interactions
The impact
Our presentation was well received, and although this wasn't published live, it was a great experience. This practice run gave me foundational knowledge to lead UX and design for an award-winning Canvas unit for IHOP a year later. The thing I found most interesting about the format was, the idea of users choosing different pathways and how multiple messages could be served in a single ad unit.
Project features
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The hook in the News Feed -
Choose your flavor -
Timed tap-to-flip -
Mix and match syrups -
Share your stack
Lessons learned
My favorite part of this project was definitely the freedom to explore any user journey we wanted. Sure, the base media types and format were the same across all of the teams, but each group created entirely different ways to use them and no two experiences were the same. While it was competitive, it really felt like the groups were excited about what everyone was coming up with. Also, at that point in my career I rarely got exposure with senior leadership or got to be part of presentations, so that absolutely helped me in the long run.