Every day consumers are bombarded with thousands of marketing messages from companies trying to sell their brand. Once upon a time it was simple print ads or TV commercials. Now they get hammered with product placements and spam to their email box. Over time consumers have found ways to adapt through TiVo’s and federal spam laws. As a consumer, I openly admit to practicing ever measure I can to limit this flood of unwanted data.

As a marketer, I understand that these approaches create top-of-mind awareness and sell product. As much as times are changing, brand recognition is still important and will remain an integral part of the marketing process. People buy the products they know.

Apple has launched iAds. A new marketing measure with a million dollar buy-in to place interactive ads in front of iPhone users (using iOS4). These ads place even more daily brand images in front of the consumer.

Nissan is one of the first to participate in this new form of advertising. They are using it to market their new Zero Emissions, 100% electric Nissan LEAF vehicle. The video below is an Apple ad, advertising the capabilities of the iAd platform while promoting the Nissan LEAF, essentially an ad selling ads.

Will it work? Only time will tell but I applaud Nissan and Apple for their willingness to explore bold new avenues. I will always appreciate innovation as I believe that marketing will always be about differentiation. In that flood of daily images, you must dare to stand out to succeed. What do you think?

***This post was created entirely on my iPad***