In a post from Ad Week New York, I shared my excitement about a host of Ads in App concepts being developed for the Windows 8 environment. And if I was excited about the potential then, imagine how I’m feeling now as we announce that four of the concepts – co-created with Razorfish, Team Detroit, This is Tommy, Universal McCann and Sapient – are now live on Windows 8!

In a second – with the help of a little video – I’ll share what makes these new ad formats meaningful to both consumers and advertisers. But before I do, I want to talk about the unique and collaborative journey we’ve been on these past few months, which is as important as our eventual destination.

As part of the digital industry and through conversations with agencies, brands and publishers, we know that audiences are ready for something new. And with Windows 8, we have a rich canvas that allows and inspires us to tell brand stories in a completely new way. That’s why we opened our doors early – before the product launched – to creatives, and invited them to play. As we sat down together waiting for the caffeine to kick in, we had no idea how the day would go, the direction we would take or what we would create. Collectively, we let our creativity push what we thought was possible and leaned on our new technology to make it real. What you see below is the fruits of that co-ideation process.

Each of the four ad experiences – the Paramount Pictures film Jack Reacher, Delta, Ford and Jeep – emerged from the co-ideation process with features that are distinct to the Windows 8 ecosystem. They’re scenarios and executions that we couldn’t have realized before Windows 8, and that allow customers to engage in a new way. Now it’s time to show them to you:

Delta

Agency Partner: Razorfish

Publisher/App: NBC News

With touch and gesture capabilities in our Windows 8 arsenal, we were able to bring to life the airline’s ‘Up’ brand campaign focused on ‘upping the ante’ in travel. Through this experience while inside the NBC News app, the motion of swiping up on the Delta ad takes you on a visual journey through an airport as you travel through the airline’s brand story and message.

Jeep

Agency Partner: Universal McCann/Sapient

Publisher/App: AccuWeather

With Windows 8, we’re able to seamlessly integrate and tie in advertising to directly relate to the content that consumers are looking at within the app. This brand experience for Jeep brings to life the vehicle’s ability to handle any weather condition thrown at it, created in a contextually relevant environment; the AccuWeather app. It uses a technique called ‘dynamic layering,’ using visual layers to create rich background effects – rainy, stormy weather transitioning into beautiful bursts of sun behind the Jeep – within one single ad unit.

Ford

Agency Partner: Team Detroit

Publisher/App: Chicago Tribune Business Section

Windows 8 provides new ad real estate and an impactful opportunity to reinforce a brand’s message and product features to consumers in a relevant and non-intrusive way. As consumers scroll through this ad experience for Ford Fusion, three separate units in the foreground highlight the vehicle’s key features while an additional subtle background branding element serves as an extra layer for telling the Ford Fusion’s story.

Paramount Pictures (for the theatrical release of Jack Reacher)

Agency Partner: This is Tommy

Publisher/App: BBC Top Gear

Leveraging the action thriller nature of the film, we maximized the new opportunity with gesture language to introduce key elements of the film as navigational tools in the ad experience. Targeted at a strongly male demographic, the ad for Paramount Pictures’ film Jack Reacheris incorporated into the BBC’s Top Gear app. The user is presented with a gear shift that, when manipulated with swipe or trace gestures, opens up different content windows such as the trailer, photos and screening information.

We want to continue to deliver compelling digital solutions that are consumer-centric, beautiful, useful and relevant. We saw from the Windows 8 co-ideation that the best way we can achieve this is with our creative partners by our side.

As we launch these four campaigns, we’re gearing up for new collaborations and the next wave of future ad experiences across our portfolio. We invite you to experiment and explore with us.