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Bravo has achieved some impressive results with online video campaigns, according to Jason Klarman, executive vice-president of marketing and digital for Bravo - but he stressed the importance of treating video as a real content channel in itself, not just a cheap way of shoveling more ads out there. He says Bravo’s mission was to “create a better experience for the consumer, first and foremost, and then layer the advertiser into that experience in an organic way.” Thus they introduced new content-heavy sites like Bravo for Style and Bravo for Food. Klarman added that in three online video campaigns by these two brands, advertisers achieved 31% increase in brand awareness, 63% increase in purchase intent, and 29% increase in consumers perceiving the product as “high-end.”
IT’S NO WONDER VIRAL VIDEO advertising is being talked about. The lure of creating mass-market, high-impact communications without incurring the cost of media space is very enticing. The ability to reach the elusive and hard to influence audiences combined with the potential for creating positive brand fame is an attractive mix. However, the reality is that viral video ads will be able to offer only a handful of marketers the positive end results and rewards they seek. Most brands will be better off directing their energy and efforts into optimizing conventional targeting methods within paid-for media. When it comes to viral video ads, it seems that many within the industry may also agree. Earlier this year, a Dynamic Logic study among MediaPost readers revealed that most people thought viral marketing to be a fad and not a viable option for all marketers. In fact, when asked to rate it on a continuum from “fad” to “mainstream,” half rated it as more of a fad than a widely usable marketing tactic, and only about a quarter (24%) felt that viral was something that any marketer could create.
“You got all these cars here that people under 30 shouldn’t buy. Why should they when all the local commercials they see are crap?” This dialogue, from the first episode of quarterlife, establishes the role of advertising in Internet serial dramas, because it comes from two characters who are trying to pitch an idea for a spot to a Toyota dealer. Toyota is quarterlife’s lead sponsor.
Product placement is one form of advertising that will appear in the show that is owned and was developed by veteran TV producers Marshall Hershkovitz and Edward Zwick. MySpace is their online distribution partner, which debuted the show on Sunday. It played the next day on www.quarterlife.com, the site owned by the producers, who developed the Toyota product placement sequence, according to a spokesperson. Read the rest of this entry »
Singled out for attack by the Writers Guild of America East for continuing to appear on her syndicated daytime talk show during the current writers’ strike, Ellen DeGeneres has canceled plans for taping in New York next week. She will continue to tape episodes of her show in Burbank, however, a publicist for the show said. Her decision to continue the show — sans her daily monologue — was defended by AFTRA and the show’s producer, which pointed out that DeGeneres is doing the same sort of work that Oprah Winfrey, Montel Williams, and other talk-show hosts have been doing since the strike began — without criticism from the WGA-East. In a statement, WGA-East President Michael Winship said, “We’re delighted that Ellen DeGeneres has decided not to come to New York to tape her program. She knows that the Writers Guild East would have been there to protest her lack of solidarity, not only with her Guild writing staff but all the striking members of the Writers Guild, of which she is a member.”
Changing consumer media habits, driven by the shift from analog to digital media, will revolutionize the ad industry, according to a new study by Accenture. That could spell bad news for ad agencies.
According to 70 industry leaders surveyed by Accenture, agencies have the most to lose in the new order, even more than broadcasters. When asked who would fare worst in the transition to digital advertising, 43 percent said agencies, compared to 33 percent who answered broadcasters. Cable operators were third with 10 percent. No respondents chose search companies or digital ad specialists.
NEW YORK MTV Networks will develop and launch the mobile social network Con3xion (Connection) around its Latino youth-focused channel MTV Tr3s, the network said today.
The digitial social network launched in mid-December. It will target young Hispanics who are heavy users of mobile data technology and will be mounted in partnership with San Diego-based mobile social networking company Intercasting Corp., the companies said.
As the members of the Writers Guild of America continue to strike, more networks are coming up with what I’ll call Plan B. What’s that? Why, it’s reality television, of course.
With the possibility of a long strike and some scripted shows already out of material, it’s likely that most of the holes in the programming schedule will be filled by reality television shows. While reality shows do employ writers (although not necessarily called such — they’re story producers or editors, etc.), those folks are not a part of the WGA. Thus, they’re willing to work and are probably looking at the situation as a cash cow.
I’m here to bring you the skinny on what the networks have planned. Remember, please don’t shoot the messenger.
LIFETIME NETWORKS HAS REBRANDED ITS LifetimeTV.com property as myLifetime.com and inked distribution deals with digital powerhouses like Glam, Hearst and About.com.
Both the site revamp and syndication partnerships will create a wealth of highly-targeted inventory for advertisers seeking to reach women, from banners and pre-rolls, to mobile and game spots, the network says.
The move comes as broadcast media staples like Lifetime increasingly seek to shift some of their brand’s TV equity online, even as the online female audience continues to fragment. According to Hitwise data, October traffic to LifetimeTV.com increased by 31% year-over-year, but it has decreased by nearly 20% in the past six months.
To combat the downward trend, Lifetime Digital has pumped myLifetime.com full of content from partners like About.com, RevolutionHealth and Hearst Digital, adding variety to its Home & Crafts, Health and Relationships channels.
LONDON — CNN has announced what it claims is the biggest expansion of its newsgathering activities in 27 years on air.Investment believed to be in the region of $10 million will be pumped into boosting CNN’s international reporting in what the outfit hopes will be a way of future-proofing itself to meet the challenges of a multi-platform world.
The newsie is beefing up the number of international news correspondents, bowing a regional news hub in the United Arab Emirates, and investing in a London-based digital production unit.
New operations are also planned for Afghanistan, Belgium, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland and Vietnam.
Tony Maddox, executive vice prexy and managing director of CNN International, stressed the move was designed to ensure the company owned enough content in the fast-emerging digital era.
NEW YORK Mobile media research firm M:Metrics has introduced a new service designed to track the growing number of advertising campaigns on mobile devices.
The new service, M:AdTracker, provides third-party data on mobile advertising that is commonly compiled by brands and agencies when conducting competitive analysis in other media. Specifically, M:AdTracker can be used to pull reports on which advertisers are running mobile display ad campaigns, which mobile Web sites these campaigns are running on, and which products are being advertised. Though unlike many other competitive data services, M:AdTracker does not track spending on the still nascent medium.
