For all the talk of how digital technology can bring a more engaging experience to customers, the reality is that a lot of digital creative is actually quite passive.

Brands happily put a long-form version of their latest ad on YouTube hoping that by the magical process of viral distribution they will find a larger audience.

Well that approach will only get you so far, and in reality, viewers are as unlikely to stick with a listless piece of creative online as they are in traditional channels.

The opportunity for digital is in grabbing your attention, or stealing it, as Skoda claims for its latest foray online.

The campaign for the new Skoda Fabia uses eye tracking technology to engage with the viewer by asking them to watch split screen films of two cars racing through various real and animated scenarios.

Having previously calibrated the viewer’s eye movements, the technology then tells you which of the two cars you favoured. (Check it out for yourself here)

All of this is achieved in a seamless fashion that anyone with a computer can undertake. Eye tracking usually requires specially downloaded software, a third-party plug-in or a specialist device.

Skoda’s agency 18 Feet & Rising worked with B-Reel to create a solution that integrates eye-tracking to the browser, via a standard webcam.

Like Honda’s recent OtheR Side campaign, Skoda has used technology in a new and involving way. Rather than simply producing another YouTube film, the agency has come up with a more compelling piece of content that holds the attention of a viewer. For 60 seconds, people don’t look away, because they’re part of the campaign – it places the user at the centre of the activity.

This personal engagement also makes the campaign shareable rather than gimmicky. Just as we were fascinated by how friends viewed the blue/black or white/gold dress, car buyers could challenge their friends to see how their tastes differ.

Retail was among the first sectors to use eye-tracking to find out the optimum place to put goods on shelves and in stores, and it can surely learn more from the Fabia experience.

Using this creative technology retailers could track what goods or clothes draw the most attention in an ad or interactive video, which is vital retail intelligence. 

And rather than relying on customers telling you what they think you want to hear, the results almost bypass self-filtering as they show people’s first and truest reactions. How valuable is that?

  • Matt Pye, chief operating officer at Cheil UK