Branded Entertainment moguls embrace new technologies

LOS ANGELES - The latest incarnation of the branded entertainment industry, spawned by the fear of new consumer-controlled communications technologies, is now looking to those very technologies for its ultimate salvation.

That irony -- and the many new opportunities it suggests -- were the buzz of the third annual Advertising Age Madison & Vine conference held this week at the Beverly Hills Hotel here.

In panel sessions and corridor chat, official speakers and attendees discussed the many new available means for broadcasting electronic content across a broadening range of platforms -- and the potential room for branded messages in those content streams.

A number of panelists flatly predicted that flexible thinking and skillful use of technologies from TiVo and Internet downloads to cell phones, BlackBerries, satellite radio and portable wireless gaming consoles are the missing links that will bring brands and consumers closer together than they have ever been.

For instance, Geoffrey Frost, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Motorola and the day's keynote speaker, suggested that Silicon Valley needs to be an equal partner going forward.

"We need to recognize there's a third person in our marital bed -- technology," Mr. Frost said. "Let's rename our union Madison + Vine + Valley and recognize that technology is enabling our audiences to do what they really want to do whenever, wherever."

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