Ford gives away car in live TV ad

Ford is to give away a free car as part of a one-off advertising campaign on ITV this Easter in a novel way to get viewers to watch commercial breaks.

The third biggest advertiser in Britain, Ford has teamed up with ITV for a live advertising competition, dubbed "advertainment", which both claim is a world first.

"We have got a responsibility to work with advertisers and their agencies to find new and engaging ways to reward viewers for watching television commercials," said the ITV customer relationship manager, Justin Sampson. "There's a lot of thought in the advertising industry that we are moving towards an age in advertising where engagement is as, if not more, important than interruption," he said.

On Good Friday the network will broadcast a 30-second advertisement for the Ford Focus at the start of an advertising break in the evening, and will follow it with another asking them a question about the commercial. Viewers can enter the prize draw by telephone, texting or going online.

Later that evening viewers will see another advert followed by a 10-second billboard with a graphic announcing the winner.

The adverts will be repeated each night and the overall winner will be announced on Easter Monday with another specially created commercial.

Read the article: www.media.guardian.co.uk