iDeutsch, New York has taken the rather unusual step of finding its latest creative director, Ingrid Bernstein, from within its own accounts department.

Bernstein was promoted to senior VP, creative director from her previous gig as VP, account director of the interactive subsidiary of Deutsch. Considering her stints as an architect and an online editorial producer, her conceptual and creative chops are more than solid, and having experience interacting with clients directly doesn't hurt either.

"Clients are finding banner response rates are declining. That combined with the current climate means sites that sell advertising are willing to experiment with new ad formats," says Bernstein.

These formats include luring Web heads to a site with games. Bernstein participated in an online campaign for Tanqueray gin three years ago, wherein nine rich media banners stood in for a nine-hole golf course. The golf game/ads were a hit, drawing in surfers by offering them challenging tests of coordination and concentration within a branded online environment. Despite this success, Bernstein notes that the level of involvement people are willing to commit to such fare is directly proportionate to what they will get out of the experience; the challenge of cyber-putting is not enough to hold every potential visitor to a client's site, while distributed functionality may have more pull, at least for some clients.

"Imagine a retail site with interesting tools, like checking stock availability, a store locator, an offer for a coupon or promotion," says Bernstein. "Usually a user would have to go to the site to use those tools, but there's an opportunity to distribute them in the appropriate places on the Web and draw people in or let them use those tools."

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