Understanding the Pitfalls and Potential of Branded Entertainment

In his just-published book, 'Madison & Vine: Why the Entertainment and Advertising Industries Must Converge to Survive', Ad Age Editor Scott Donaton explains and documents the movement toward branded entertainment:

In the convergence of Madison Avenue and Hollywood, there is a very real danger that content will be developed first and foremost with an advertiser's needs in mind, and will only then seek an audience.

Many marketers' motivation for gaining creative input into story lines and media content is not to have a more engaging dialogue with consumers. Instead, they are motivated by the fear that digital video recorders will make 30-second ads obsolete. How do you connect to consumers who can give you a brusque technological brush-off?

Read the article: www.adage.com

Buy the book: www.amazon.com

P&G moves beyond 30-sec spots in 'show-mercials' deal

LONDON - Procter & Gamble is to make good on its call for advertisers to look beyond the 30-second commercial with a series of interconnected two-minute slots, dubbed 'show-mercials', which will run in primetime movie breaks.

The two-minute films feature women being given makeovers using P&G products. To see the full effect, viewers have to tune in to all three slots, which are being run during movies on the Lifetime cable channel in the US.

The latest initiative by P&G is part of an attempt by one of the world's largest advertisers to look beyond the 30-second spot, the power of which is increasingly on the wane.

The move follows comments made last year when P&G marketing chief Jim Stengel told the advertising industry that it must look beyond 30-second television spot and create advertising that viewers want to see.

Stengel said that that "there must be life beyond the 30-second spot" and that the industry had to change its mentality with regard to media plans and that time measurement.

Tina Glahan, manager media and marketing for P&G, told The Wall Street Journal: "Consumers want to be educated, and they want to enjoy themselves when they watch TV."

Read the article: www.brandrepublic.com

Brought to you by . . .

NEW YORK - With its eye on The Learning Channel's popular "Trading Spaces" reality show, ABC television approached Sears, Roebuck and Co. in the summer of 2003 with an enticing proposal.

Rather than just inserting a few products into the new show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC was eager to follow an emerging model for advertising known as "branded entertainment."

"This was a case of working with an advertiser, understanding their needs, and then seeing whether that fit with a program we were looking to do," said Dan Longest, ABC's senior vice president for integrated marketing and promotion. "As a network, we're not in the business of just selling product placements. With Sears and `Home Edition,' we're selling their brand but we're also extending our own."

Because corporate advertisers have become increasingly unsure that 30-second commercials reach an audience large enough to warrant their high prices, companies now seek a consistent and recognizable presence in the shows themselves.

Read the article: www.chicagotribune.com

'Oddie power' sends Britain wild

Delia Smith did it for omelette pans and now Bill Oddie - presenter of BBC2's surprise hit Britain Goes Wild - has done it for bird boxes.

In a natural history equivalent of the phenomenon dubbed "the Delia effect", the BBC's eccentric wildlife presenter has caused a nationwide stampede to garden centres, as viewers, prompted into action by his latest show, have been stripping the shelves of supplies of bird boxes and bird feeders.

"Our retail outlets have been exceptionally busy. People have come in for everything that's been mentioned on the show - sales of bird boxes, bird feeders and bird baths have all shot up and we have sold out of bee boxes," said an RSPB spokeswoman, Caroline Osbourne.

Read the article: www.media.guardian.co.uk

VH1 Presents Baileys In Tune

CLEVELAND - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum today announced a first-of-its-kind, quarterly special, entitled Baileys In Tune that will connect rock legends with the superstars that they have influenced. Rock Hall inductee Paul Simon and Grammy award winner John Mayer will kick-off the series on VH1 on June 15, 2004 at 8 p.m. Famed music producer and American Idol judge Randy Jackson, will serve as host to the program.

Baileys In Tune is an original program offering a unique glimpse at artists who have been connected and influenced through their music. In each episode of the series, two artists -- one idol, one icon -- are paired and connected through a collaborative music performance that also showcases the artists personal stories and key influences that helped shape their musical careers. Randy Jackson will serve as show host and mediate the interview portions of the show.

Read the article: www.cnn.com

Viacom Eyes Advergaming

Viacom, which recently sold parts of its video game business, is taking another look at the potential for advertising in video games, a top executive told Reuters on Thursday. Chief Financial Officer Richard Bressler told ad executives that Viacom, which owns the CBS, MTV and Paramount, was seeking ways to make money off the $10 billion U.S. video game industry. "I think the jury is in, people are spending a lot of time in interactive," said Bressler at the Global Digital Summit, sponsored by OgilvyOne, the interactive marketing division of ad agency Ogilvy & Mather. "The interesting thing for us is to figure out if there's a market for advertising in video games."

More Products in Programming

Ambitious efforts to embed advertising in television programs are accelerating as advertisers expand plans to produce so-called branded entertainment. Now, scripted programs like mini-series and soap operas are joining the unscripted reality and game shows where the trend began.

The movement toward branded entertainment is strengthening because major marketers are seeking alternatives to traditional advertising, particularly 30-second television commercials, as viewers grow increasingly able to skip, zip, zap and otherwise tune out prosaic peddling.

"In-program opportunities start to break through all the clutter in the marketplace, so we are pushing to find more and more as part of our desire to intersect more and more with our consumers' daily lives," said Peter Sterling, vice president for United States marketing at the McDonald's Corporation in Oakbrook, Ill.

Read the article: www.nytimes.com

Digital Games Luring Away More TV Viewers

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Advertising is increasingly expanding beyond the 30-second TV commercial to games operated via console, online and through wireless devices, said executives at today's AdWatch: Outlook 2004 conference at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers here.

One reason is the cost of entry into TV is higher and higher, said Tim Hanlon, senior vice president and director of TV 2.0 at media agency Starcom MediaVest Group, part of Publicis Groupe. "Fewer people are playing this crazy upfront game every year," he said, referring to the broadcast and cable TV's ad buying bazaar.

The biggest request is to produce advertisements with gaming functionality, said Julie Shumaker, director of sales for online and in-game advertising at Electronic Arts.

The demographic of people passionate about games has changed over the years, too. They are older than the teenage male that was video gaming's early adopter 15 years ago, said Ms. Shumaker. The average age for a console gamer is 28. And 43% of video gamers are women whose average age is 40, she added.

Read the article: www.adage.com

One In Three Online Americans Visited An Online Game Site During May

Women are players too--players of online games, that is. In fact, more women ages 35 to 49 visited online games sites in May than teenage males, according to Nielsen//NetRatings, which estimates that 15.2 percent of online gamers were women between the ages of 35 to 49. Teens comprised 14.7 percent of the visitors to online gaming sites in May, while men ages 35 to 49 comprised 14.4 percent of the visitors to online gaming sites.

Nielsen found that overall, the gender composition of the online game audience is nearly equal. Of the 46 million online game users in May, 51 percent were male and 49 percent were female. Kids ages 2 to 11 made up seven percent of the audience, while teens ages 12 to 17 made up 15 percent of online gamers. Those between the ages of 35 and 49 made up the largest age demographic for online games, with 30 percent or 13.7 million users in May 2004.

Overall, Nielsen//NetRatings reported that the online games category was the stickiest online content category during the month of May, meaning that people spent more time with online games than on sports and news sites. Nielsen said that more than 46 million--or nearly one in three online Americans--visited an online game site during May.

Read the article: www.mediapost.com

Video Games As Agents Of Change

Mom always said playing video games was good for nothing. Participants in the invitation-only "Serious Issues, Serious Games" conference would beg to differ.

Interactive games are "not simply the media equivalent of the hula hoop," declared Carl Goodman, curator of digital media and director of New Media Projects at the American Museum of the Moving Image. Held Tuesday at Manhattan's New York Academy of Sciences, the event comes on the heels of the first-ever Serious Games Summit, which took place in March during the annual Game Developers Conference.

These days, advertisers brand interactive games to promote their wares, the U.S. Army uses them for recruitment, and police departments employ them to run virtual drills. Now, some groups are educating with Web games to promote social and policy issues. Serious Games themes range from HIV/AIDS and poverty to public policy and New York City's budget.

Read the article: www.mediapost.com

The Rise of the Game Titans

Videogames have become a media force on par with the television and motion picture industries. This year will see the number of intensive console and PC gamers in the U.S. grow to 40 million, according to Jupiter Research, and by 2009 that number will reach 62 million. Knowledge Networks/SRI found games now account for 15 percent of teen males' media intake; and an AOL Games study found a huge contingent (43 percent) of dedicated female gamers. Measurement firms are taking note: Nielsen Entertainment recently began measuring video game ad exposure, and has partnered with Activision to provide standardized metrics on gamer demographics and behavior.

While no independent studies have proven ad effectiveness in the gaming environment, the survey from Nielsen and Activision (the first to emerge from their partnership) reports more than a quarter of male game players recall ads from the last game they played. And informal research suggests gamers don't reject advertising that is incorporated thoughtfully into game play -- and they may even feel it enhances the experience. At a recent panel hosted by New York ad club 212, Electronic Arts SVP of Global Publishing Erick Hachenburg shared results from an EA survey that looked at this issue. The game developer gauged user reactions to the incorporation of a Honda SUV into the action of a snowboarding game (players earned points for jumping through the interior of the vehicle). Of those surveyed, 97 percent recalled the brand, 90 percent recalled where they encountered the ad, and 60 percent said it added to the game.

Further, Hachenburg said the value proposition posed by advertising in games is only beginning to dawn on brands, which are used to licensing their products to game producers. That's changing, he said, with an increasing number of companies willing to pay to have products appear in a game.

How they do it is largely uncharted territory, though a loose framework of ad and product placement types has begun to emerge. Jupiter Research' s senior analyst Gary Stein cites three creative approaches that appear to cover most of what's being tried.

"One is the billboard, that's the window dressing; another is [when an ad is] somehow integrated into the play itself; the third is when it's a part of the storyline. For example, you can buy a branded tire after you've earned a certain number of points," he said. "There's a sense that those three should be three tiers of spending."

Read the article: www.clickz.com

Ad-funded TV tackles obstacles

Advertisers are warming to branded content, but UK regulations muddy the way it can fit into the mix.

As IKEA prepared to dip a tentative toe into the murky waters of advertiser-funded programming (AFP), leading multi-channel broadcasters Flextech and UKTV unveiled a dedicated unit that will offer AFP as an alternative to spot ads and sponsorship. (Marketing, 12 and 19 May).

These developments come as the Branded Content Marketing Association (BCMA) is predicting the market for AFP, or branded content as it is also known, will increase more than fourfold in value from £5m to £22m this year.

It is not a huge amount when compared with the £4bn a year spent on spot ads in the UK nor the £100m earmarked for TV sponsorship. However, the fact that Nike, Nokia, Heinz, Renault, the COI and Carling have backed AFPs recently suggests the erosion of mainstream audiences by digital TV and personal video recorders is generating a groundswell of interest.

Read the article: www.brandrepublic.com

Who you gonna call? Ad-busters

SYDNEY - There's been a quiet revolution in Peter Vogel's living room. Whenever ads appear on his television the volume drops, the screen goes blank or the set switches channels.

It's not a technical fault. He has developed a way to dull, mute or delete noisy ads.

"It's had a dramatic effect on our household dynamic," said the 49-year-old Blue Mountains inventor who already uses his Intelligent Content Engine (ICE) system when watching television with his daughters.

"Previously the kids would sit glued to the screen from beginning to end. Now when the commercials come on the volume drops and they talk to each other. The ads don't dominate."

As well, if children are barred from watching anything above PG, for example, it will detect and blank out MA-rated shows.

"There's even the potential to develop specialist ratings. A Christian rating, in theory, would stop kids watching programs deemed blasphemous, and a quality rating would filter programs according to their quality as assessed by a panel of experts."

Mr Vogel is confident ICE technology will soon be added to many of the inexpensive set-top boxes that allow analog television sets to receive digital signals. His company would charge about $2 a week for the service.

Read the article: www.smh.com.au

Net games lure 'bored housewives'

Middle-aged women are getting hooked on card games and puzzles online, says a report. While hardcore online gaming remains the preserve of young men, research firm Screen Digest found that "bored housewives" are fuelling the growth of other games offered on the net.

Females make up 65% of the growing market in skill-based games such as cards, solitaire and puzzles. This kind of casual gaming is estimated to have been worth £270m in 2003. "Amazingly, every single one of the major casual games service providers reported that this growth was being predominantly fuelled by middle-aged and female gamers, the antithesis of the hardcore gaming markets," said report author Nick Gibson.

Screen Digest forecasts that the total online computer games market will be worth £600m in 2004 and reach a high of £1.2bn by 2007.

Read the article: www.bbc.co.uk

Survey: Papers Could Do Better With Ad Sales

NEW YORK As advertising springs back, here's something newspapers should keep in the back of their minds: Sixty-seven percent of marketers surveyed indicated that newspapers and magazines could do a better job selling themselves against other media, especially television, according to the Association of National Advertisers, which released its findings today.

Worse, there is no excuse; the survey found that TV advertising doesn't work well for certain types of brands. "There's a clear opportunity for newspapers and magazines to deliver more effective metrics to better understand print audiences, readership and its impact on ROI (return on investment)," said Bob Liodice, president and CEO of the ANA, in a statement.

The survey found that some of the biggest threats that newspapers face in terms of advertising are the Internet as an alternative source, declining circulation numbers and higher ad rates for national advertisers versus local advertisers. The survey polled those responsible for marketing and branding at companies such as AT&T, Verizon, General Mills and Ford.

Marketers also have a beef with print advertising and cost arraignments. Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed agreed that early commitment of budgets should be rewarded with more favorable pricing. Fifty-seven percent agree that product placement and branded entertainment is an opportunity for advertisers in print.

Read the article: www.mediainfo.com

MSN Messenger teams with Nike for online football game

LONDON - MSN and Nike have partnered to create an online game tailored to the MSN Messenger platform.

Nike's Ole 3-D online football game will be integrated into MSN Messenger this summer across 11 European countries, including the UK, to generate awareness of Nike's Ole campaign. The MSN Messenger Nike Ole game is a peer-to-peer application, based on the multiplayer football game on Nikefootball.com and featuring top players including Thierry Henry and Ronaldo. It can only be played on MSN Messenger with users able to recruit other players through online conversations. The game will go live on June 10 and will be promoted on MSN Hotmail and MSN Messenger sites including MSN Today. Nike EMEA digital brand director Emily Brew said: "We are excited to be working with MSN to target MSN Messenger users and we are confident this will ensure extensive exposure of the game across Europe. We believe that including this unique digital experience into our media mix will add real value to our integrated Ole campaign." Amanda Anthony, digital marketing manager at MSN UK, said: "Through working with MSN Messenger, Nike is able to take advantage of MSN's user base and engage a huge audience with its football message."

Read the article: www.revolutionmagazine.com

'Def Jam: Fight for New York' wins critics award at E3

Though the days of dumping quarters into arcade fighting games may be over for most of us, the surging popularity of online-enabled video games means there's a renewed demand for titles in which two (or more) players can beat each other up. A number of noteworthy games in this category were on display at E3 2004, and the one that impressed the judges most of all was Def Jam: Fight for NY, EA's upcoming sequel to 2003's Def Jam Vendetta. This visually impressive game promises to deliver an even more action-packed combat system, borderline-ridiculous numbers of new characters and customization options, and a grittier style than its predecessor. The promise of being able to fight online using your favorite muscle-bound hip-hop artist or even your own creation is one reason why we can’t wait for this fight to get underway.

Read the article: www.gamecriticsawards.com


Cocojambo Comment:

Building games experiences around brands has aroused some concern about potential "betrayal" or "dilution" of the entertainment aims of games. The success of 'Def Jam: Fight for New York' in winning the award for "Best Fighting Game" at E3 (voted for by journalists from publications including Time, Newsweek and Rolling Stone) illustrates brilliantly how brands can enrich a game by proving a context and a backstory for the action.

It has been argued that if an advertiser's wishes are accomodated in the development of a game then it will produce a less enjoyable experience. This argument ignores the reason why the advertiser chose to become involved in the game - because it provides an experience that the audience enjoys. No-one, not the brand, the publisher nor the player, will benefit from a game that the audience doesn't enjoy, and this unity will ensure that games and advertisers can work together to produce great games.

EA announces deal to bring 'Throwback Trax' to future sports titles

Electronic Arts has announced a deal with Rhino Records that will see music from the late 80s and early 90s appear in this year's range of EA Sports titles in the shape of "Throwback Trax", an expansion of the publisher's "EA Trax" soundtrack catalogue.

The deal will see songs from the likes of House of Pain, Pantera, MC Lyte, Faith No More, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Cure and Violent Femmes appear in games like FIFA Football 2005, Rugby 2005, NBA Live 2005 and others. The first game to feature Throwback Trax will be EA Sports' American football title Madden NFL 2005, which is due out on all formats this August.

Electronic Arts maintains that the original Trax label "remains focused on breaking new artists in the games," citing Blink 182, Chingy and Jet as artists who have benefited from their appearance as 'Trax' in EA games since 2003.

Read the article: www.gamesindustry.biz

Dotcom darling wants to be a TV star

Lastminute.com chief executive Brent Hoberman has revealed that the high profile website could launch its own reality TV channel based around the brand.

Mr Hoberman said that Lastminute, which made the most of the millions it raised by floating at the peak of the dotcom boom to weather the subsequent storm and emerge as a leading player in the consolidating online travel sector, was looking to expand into television.

The site, which also offers last minute gifts and tickets alongside bargain flights, hotels and holidays, is already on Sky's interactive TV service Sky Active - but Mr Hoberman said a fully fledged TV channel was something he would like to do "at some point".

"We're on Sky Active, that to us is the first step in getting into the broadcast stream. Launching a TV travel channel is something we'll be unlikely to do," he said.

"But launching an entirely lifestyle channel with reality style formats, looking at what people do at the last minute and where they go, could be interesting," he added.

Read the article: www.media.guardian.co.uk

Ronald McDonald takes war on obesity straight to video

NEW YORK - McDonald's has introduced an unlikely new weapon in the fight against obesity -- its clown mascot Ronald McDonald, who is set to appear in a series of videos and DVDs that will encourage children to get active, following a deal with Warner.

McDonald's, the world's largest restaurant chain, has signed a deal with Warner Home Video to produce the series of videos aimed at children and families, due for release in the spring of 2005. The company said that the videos and DVDs, which will be not be sold in McDonald's restaurants but on the high street, will have a wide distribution and be produced in many different languages.

McDonald's is promising that the live-action films will feature "high-energy interactive adventures", starring Ronald McDonald, whose job title at McDonald's is, after all, chief happiness officer, along with other characters and kids from around the world.

Read the article: www.brandrepublic.com

Nike testing blogs as an ad medium

Gawker Media, a small company that operates Web logs on culture and politics, like Gawker and Wonkette, has begun blogging on behalf of major advertisers.

The company's first paid blog is for Nike. Called Art of Speed, the blog will spend about a month showcasing a series of 15 short films on the theme of speed, all commissioned by Nike. Gawker Media Contract Productions, a new division of Gawker Media, will supply layout, commentary, links and other features. Terms were not disclosed.

"A lot of marketers are interested in Web logs as a medium," said Nick Denton, publisher at Gawker Media in New York. "One thing to do is to run advertising campaigns on the sites. Some marketers are moving one step beyond that and looking at other ways they can engage this new form of independent media."

The approach, Denton said, is borrowed from the print tradition of so-called advertorials and special advertising sections.

"It's the right community," said Nate Tobecksen, a communications manager at Nike, who called the Gawker crowd creative and connected. "It may be small, but it's an important and influential group."

Read the article: www.iht.com

Brand and deliver

A new publishing alliance, announced today, aims to produce magazines based on branded products and characters.

With attention firmly focused on the ethics of marketing to children in the wake of last month's Commons health select committee report on obesity, you could be forgiven for thinking a new publishing venture designed to get advertisers closer to kids is, at best, ill-timed. But an alliance between Europe's leading children's magazine publisher Egmont and contract publisher Publicis Blueprint - part of advertising agency Publicis and the UK's fourth largest contract publisher which produces titles for a range of advertisers including HP and Nestlé - promises "a new way to establish meaningful dialogue with children and parents" that will stand or fall on doing the right thing, both parties insist.

The new publishing venture, Right For Kids, will create magazines around advertisers' products, brand characters or associated interests and distribute these direct to children, either via a brand owner's distribution network, such as in-store or on-pack, by post, or on the newsstand. The aim is to tap into one of the UK's most lucrative consumer markets - according to one estimate, British seven to 14 year-olds wield a staggering £3.7bn annual spending power. The good news for Egmont and Publicis is that it's a relatively untapped opportunity as most of the children's magazine titles that already exist have been created around TV characters or toy brands.

Read the article: www.media.guardian.co.uk

Diesel links up with 2000 AD for sci-fi clothing range

LONDON - Diesel is to unveil a science-fiction range of casual clothing, which will go on sale later this month.

The fashion brand has linked up with fantasy comic 2000 AD to promote the range in-store. A bespoke edition of the comic will be given away with purchases.

The specially commissioned issue will feature stories on bizarre clothing and youth culture and gives 2000 AD the chance to access a more mainstream audience.

The comic was also recently commissioned to produce a strip promoting the launch of romantic comedy-horror film 'Shaun of the Dead'. Earlier this year Diesel gave away music compilation CDs in exchange for consumers' unwanted discs to build on its relationship with the youth market.

Read the article: www.brandrepublic.com

Enpocket launches mobile gaming advertising channel

NEW YORK - Enpocket, the leading provider of mobile marketing solutions, has launched a new and innovative channel to allow advertisers to connect with today's mobile consumer. By integrating advertising inventory into the fabric of mobile phone games, Enpocket and its partner MauiGames are providing a powerful advertising vehicle that combines the personal, intimate nature of the mobile phone with the dynamism, movement and color of video games.

Research from the University of Wisconsin indicates that brand placement and advertising within such games is highly effective - achieving recall scores of 30% in the short term, and 15% after 5 months.

"Embedded advertising leverages the power of interactive immersion - the intense engagement that occurs when players play video games; therefore video games with embedded advertising represent an important new advertising medium," said Dr. Michelle Nelson, Assistant Professor, School of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of "Exploring Consumer Response to Advergaming", published in Online Consumer Psychology (Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers) Fall 2003. "Our studies have also found that players welcome ads in certain types of games because the ads provide greater realism," added Nelson.

Read the article: www.businesswire.com

Boots promotes Clearasil with online snow-boarding game

Boots Healthcare International has launched a 3D game to push its Clearasil range. The multi-player 3D snowboarding simulation, operating in 25 countries including the UK, uses geo-targeting and content management tools, so players will see a specific version of the game based on their location.

The game follows the success of Flash-based Neurofen Relief Racer. Andy Sarfas, head of e-business at Crookes Healthcare, the UK division of BHI, said: "We are investigating online placements for interactive skyscraper versions of the game. This gets greater response than static ads. We will launch competitions although, by its interactive nature, the game develops a life of its own without promotion.

Read the article: www.brandrepublic.com