Enjoy Music on the Coca-Cola Side of Life

By Michael Ingram

March 27, 2006 - Slyck

Billboard No.1 R&B artist Ne-Yo is to be the first featured artist in a new music show called Stageside, which is now freely available to file sharers.

Despite promising a line up of big name artists, the show is completely free and contains no DRM restrictions.

It is all part of a new marketing campaign by Coca-Cola to reach out to millions of young males, who are notoriously difficult to target with traditional media. It is in contrast to their DRM based music service called My Coke Music, which operates in some European countries.

Coca-Cola also runs a music mixing, games and blogging site called MyCoke in an attempt to attract young fans.

The new campaign is called "Coke side of life" and will replace the winter polar bear advertisements.

The show is produced by Jun Group, who shot to fame last year with a downloadable Scene based drama called Welcome To The Scene.

"Rather than doing standard online advertising, Coke is providing free, legal content to download and share," Mitchell Reichgut, Founder and CEO of Jun Group, told Slyck News. “The fact that Coke is paying for it makes it a blockbuster - nothing like this has ever happened.

"Each episode of Stageside will feature specially recorded interviews, behind the scenes footage and live shows of a different artist. Coca-Cola will be credited for making the content available, but the advertisements themselves will be kept to a minimum. There are no commercial breaks or obtrusive watermarks, just some branding in the credits.

Hard times ahead for TV ads: survey

Mar 23, 2006 - Reuters

Apr 3, 2006 - B2B

TV advertising is less effective than it was two years ago, and the medium might take some hard knocks within the next two years in a market correction, according to a survey made public Wednesday at the annual Association of National Advertisers gathering here.

The ANA-Forrester Research study of 133 national advertisers found that 78% think TV advertising is less effective than it was two years ago. One major reason, according to Forrester vp Josh Bernoff, is digital video recorders, which allow users to skip commercials.

Despite a recent push by the Big Four networks to present research minimizing the impact of DVRs, Bernoff said the ANA-Forrester study finds that advertisers don't believe it. Sixty percent of respondents said that with a DVR "tipping point" of 30 million homes, they would spend less on conventional TV ads than they do today. Nearly a quarter of them will slice their spending 25% when that happens.

That's bad news for the television industry, which Bernoff predicts will see ad spending decline 5%-10% beginning in the 2007 season. But he said that it will not be a fatal blow to television or the tip of the iceberg to future declines: TV will adapt.

Advertisers are looking to find alternatives to the traditional TV spots, with the survey finding 61% interested in branded entertainment within shows, 55% looking at TV program sponsorships, 45% looking at online video ads and 44% for product placement.

"There's a gut feeling among advertisers that the 30-second spot is losing potency," Bernoff said. "Research aside, they're looking for alternatives."

Advertising Advice from the "Got Milk" Man
Jeff Goodby, co-chairman of the agency that created the groundbreaking ads, talks about what makes a campaign successful

MARCH 24, 2006 - BusinessWeek

Talk about a campaign of yours where you feel you have hit the sweet spot.
For the Milk Processors, we have come up with a Web site that ties into wild postings we did that talk about lost cows. We suggested that the cows were abducted by aliens. Do you know what happened to this cow? Have you seen her? There's a phone number and the Web site www.cowabduction.com.The idea here is that there is a veneer of reality to the whole thing, but then it's tongue-in-cheek. It's combining entertainment with marketing in an idea that people are willing to seek out.

So, is the old model of the unique selling proposition dead or at least dying?
I wouldn't say that exactly. But what I do know is that the Internet has reversed the tide flow. You have to create stuff today that people go to rather than spending all your time sending stuff out to consumers hoping that they see it.

Branded entertainment seems to be all the rage, seemingly kicked off about six years ago with BMW Films. What makes for good branded entertainment?
First, I never thought BMW Films was all that breakthrough. It was successful, but it seemed like a pretty old idea. The product was integrated into the films in a good way. But in the end it was an old idea just transferred to the Internet.The branded-entertainment model can work as long as it is simple and honest. You don't want to lure people to a Web site with a promise of naked ladies and then have the payoff be about Doritos. And some of the stuff I have seen, like the Art of the Heist campaign for Audi last year, which taps into this alternate-reality gaming trend, I thought was too complicated. It required too much time on the part of the consumer.I like simple stuff. When Crispin did the subservient chicken on the Web, that was a simple idea. Go to this Web site and the chicken will do what you want it to. Cows abducted by aliens. Simple. Entertaining.

Obviously you are a big proponent of moving a lot of advertising to the Internet.
TV and the Net will soon be the same thing. And companies are going to acquire a reputation for either being good entertainers or not. And if you don't play that game well, you'll be left in the dust. Eventually, we'll go to a Web site for all our entertainment. This is where advertising and design start to really look like the same thing. If you think of advertising as just selling, then that's the old model.

Renault builds viral around a complete ass

March 23, 2006 - AdFreak

Renault in the U.K. has gotten lots of mileage out of the Groove Armada song “I See You Baby (Shakin’ That Ass).” It first used it in ads in 2003, angering parents who feared that their already insufferable offspring might start uncontrollably wiggling their bottoms. In 2004, another “shaking” Renault ad was banned because it made fun of Parkinson’s disease. Anyway, this latest Renault viral, Still Shakin’ It, is pretty ho-hum. You try to catch a donkey who calls himself the “fastest ass in the West.” If you catch him, you get to shake him—and the song starts up. Yes, you are shaking that ass.

Add "loader games" to your heavy site

March 22, 2006 - Adverblog

Juxt Interactive has recently created an advertainment website for Dannon's Spring Water. The site is definitely very well designed, with nice animations and a good navigation interface.

What I really liked are the "loader games" to play while you wait for the content to load. An excellent idea for any advertainment style site packed with heavy content. People expect the site to be entertaining, so they don't get bored while waiting for the entertainment to be delivered.

On the contrary I believe the advergame is not as good and sticky as it could have been: you are asked to retouch a photo by spray water in the person's face, it would have been so cool if you could actually upload the photo of a friend and play with it instead.

Está no ar curta da Pirelli com Malkovich e Naomi Campbell

23/03/2006 - BlueBus

Está no ar no site pirellifilm.com o curta 'The Call', criado pela Leo Burnett Italia para a Pirelli. Tem John Malkovich no papel de um padre e Naomi Campbell encarnando o Mal. É o 1o de uma serie que marca o esforço do anunciante em seguir a tendência de usar entretenimento como veiculo para a marca - repetindo estratégia bem sucedida da BMW com a serie 'The Hire'.

La Nouvelle Megane

February 21, 2006 - Adverblog

In France, PUBLICIS Net has just launched a web promotion for the new Renault Megane. In order to present the car and generate word-of-mouth around the brand, they have created a mini-site with advertainment content: an exclusive online album with free music to download and a webfilm showcasing the hands free feature of the new model in a stunning and humorous manner.

From TV Broadcasters to Multi-Channel-Casters ?

Alain Thys, Storyteller

March, 20/06 - AlwaysOn

There’s a perfect storm brewing in television land. Changing media consumption patterns mean people watch less TV. Advertisers shift money away from the screen to other media. And to make things really interesting, both Googlewood and the cable companies are gearing up to disintermediate the broadcasters. Time to pack up ? I don't think so.

Think Customer Centric rather than Media Centric Content. The majority of TV shows today still get produced, well ... as TV shows. Only when they hit the screen and become successful the web, mobile and other machinery starts working. This often leads to some innovative work like CSI’s interactive game yet even these are still a side show to the main event taking place on TV.

To compete tomorrow, TV stations need to become the consumers 360° media reference for their favourite content (be it online, in print, IRL or on their mobile phone). In this they can – still - use their bargaining power with major content suppliers to make multi-channel exclusive deals, which cut short online competitors before they can truly emerge (if Jobs can convince Hollywood to give him Desperate Housewives, TV stations should be able to do so to).

Think outside of the branded entertainment boxWhile I love the idea that in 24 the good guys use Apple, I wonder how that generates cash for the stations that air the show. Broadcasters need to reclaim the branded entertainment arena by remembering the roots of commercial television. Think back to the days of the soap when shows were produced together with advertisers, yet done in a way that people really want to watch.

Thanks to the infinite channel environment of today, it is even conceivable to leverage existing know-how in programming and production into new business opportunities by helping brands to become media in their own right. Audi in the UK already has its own TV station, courtesy of Sky Digital, so why shouldn’t Hasbro have it’s own Children channel or Amazon it's own Book TV.

South Africa’s lonely finger gets happy

March 9, 2006 - AdFreak

A mystery of sorts has been cleared up in South Africa. For three months, people have been directed to a Web site called Lonely Finger, where a finger with a sad face has recounted, in a sort of depressing scrapbook, its desolate life without any friends.

The site has been a big hit, inspiring all sorts of heartfelt condolences, including scores of poems and illustrations e-mailed in by young people. This week it’s been revealed that it’s an ad campaign for a national radio station called 5fm. A new TV spot has been released, in which the finger cheers up—not with a heavy dose of Zoloft but by reconnecting with his four buddies in a disco hall. The tagline is: “Life’s better with 5.” The campaign was done by Net#work BBDO and digital agency Gloo.

GoMonkey - Minority Report Like User Interface without Gloves!

14 Mar 2006 - I4U

Austrian GoMonkey revealed their gesture based interaction platform at the CeBIT 2006. I had the pleasure to see the GoMonkey system already about a year ago at an investor meeting. Now the startup scored German national TV coverage for their Minority Report like User interface. You sure remember Tom Cruise standing in front of a huge screen and move elements around with gestures in the movie Minority Report. He wore gloves, which is already totally outdated.

The GoMonkey system uses two cameras to capture the gestures of users in 3D. Users can navigate with natural hand movements through menus and hierarchies. The current version uses the Sun Java 3D UI called Looking Glass. The system runs on standard hardware combined with back projection beamers. Applications for GoMonkey are in presentation/collaboration rooms, interactive advertisement and events.

GoMonkey can be easily customized for specific solutions. You can see a GoMonkey in action in the 3Sat Neues TV show video stream (click Web-TV thumb on the right, the segment showing GoMonkey start at 20:50min.). More details on the GoMonkey site.

Commercials as vidcasts, why not?

Web Jungle

The next logical step: offer feeds for commercials as a podcast of vidcast.

True, most people don’t like to watch commercials. But if someone is a fan or even an advocat of a brand, he/she will most likely want to watch every spot that is newly released.

And then there are those people generally interested in good TV commercials (just think about the fact that lots of people like to watch the Super Bowl commercials or the Cannes Roll.

So why not offer these people a feed, where they are notified whenever a new spot is available? That way, they can TiVo all the other ads on TV and still see the spots they like.

Does this work for every Brand, low as well as high involvement brands? Probably, if their TV spots are entertaining enough.

Slate.com Publishes Ad-Supported Serialized Novel

by Shankar Gupta

Mar 20, 2006 - Online Media Daily

ONLINE MAGAZINE SLATE LAST WEEK launched a new serialized novel, "The Unbinding," a dark comedy by novelist Walter Kirn that was conceived specifically for the Internet. The effort will leverage some of the Web's qualities by containing links to other Web sites; it also will be written in "real-time."

Describing the initiative on the site, Slate culture editor Meghan O'Rourke characterized the book as "conceived for the Web, rather than adapted to it." "It will make use of the Internet's unique capacity to respond to events as they happen, linking to documents and other Web sites," wrote O'Rourke.

The Web site is in talks with advertisers to line up an exclusive sponsor, said Cliff Sloan, Slate publisher. Sloan would not name the potential sponsors, but called them "premium advertisers." Currently, the novel is being monetized by ads sold through Slate's regular sales processes.

He said the ads for "The Unbinding" will be more creative than typical display ads. "We're actually talking about possibilities that would be pretty innovative and take full advantage of the medium in the same way that the novel does--special features that would only be available on the Web."

PoliTech Spotlight: DVR Targeting

March, 20/06 - Hotline

No election cycle passes without some innovation becoming the latest "it." This year, it could be DVR/TiVO on demand advertising "Showcases."

If you don't have a TiVO or DVR, go buy one. And go to the "Showcases" menu and imagine scrolling through a list of TV ads.-- Since DVR advertising isn't bound by the same constraints as TV or radio, campaigns can run spots of up to 60 minutes and let viewers decide which messages they'll watch. Comcast has even established a clearly recognized "Election 2006" link, uniformly positioned in all 22 available markets.

Of course, not everyone can hold audiences beyond 60 seconds. It's going to take a unique campaign to break through before "it" goes mainstream. But as voters demand more context, one can see this medium growing. [AOIFE MCCARTHY]

When Digital Video Recorders hit the market, with TiVo leading the way, viewers for the first time had the option to skip every commercial, streamlining their television viewing and launching concern that this could mark the beginning of the end for standard television advertising. What is happening instead is that a new window in advertising has been opened, offering a new stage from which campaigns can launch their message. In this new medium it is not TiVo, but Comcast On Demand leading the way, courting political campaigns to advertise to DVR viewers and offering some attractive reasons why their market should not be missed. While there is little danger of DVR advertising posing a threat to the standard broadcast/cable buys, this could be for '08 what Podcasts were to '04.

Brandsploitation: A New Genre in Film

By Abram Sauer - BrandChannel

Everyone's talking about it. Some say it's the future of brand promotion. A few even say it's a revolution. As Brandchannel launches its new section, brandcameo, we shed some light on product placement - the hot (not entirely) new thing thet's got the branding world buzzing.

FADE IN: What came beforeIn many ways this article is a sequel; call it “2” or “The Return” or “Product Placement Redux” or “Placementer.” It follows others in examining the product placement phenomenon in film. Some of the available coverage is insightful, most of it is monotonous, and too much of it uses a plot device involving “E.T.” and Reese’s. more here

SHEAR SELLOUT

March 19, 2006 - New York Post

Reality TV has been hijacked again, this time by a savvy hairdresser who has transformed the narcissistic genre into a giant money-making ad.

Jonathan Antin, a celebrity hairdresser, has used his Bravo show, "Blow Out," to create, launch and promote a new hair care line.

It's certainly not the first time reality TV appeared as a transparent shill for its cash-paying corporate sponsors. "American Idol" and "The Apprentice" have raised that to an art form - and a cash-spouting art form, at that.

Brand incubators Tina Hedges and Beth Ann Catalano, who helped develop the show and Antin's Jonathan product line, admit they intended to push the reality TV envelope.

"Everyone is trying to navigate branded entertainment, but no [ad] agency has been able to offer what we've done for Jonathan," said Hedges. "It's a groundbreaking marketing and retail strategy." That's for sure.

"Blow Out" makes the product-placement form of TV advertising so last season.

"This is a new way [to sell a product]," Catalano adds. "It's no longer about product placement. Viewers are more savvy than that. It's really a story about Jonathan's life."

"There's a compelling quality about offering a product wrapped within an emotional story," Hedges added. "['Blow Out'] is about how a small, entrepreneurial guy learned to fulfill his dream by creating a successful start-up line - with all the emotional highs and lows that come with it."

News flash: Microsoft discovers sense of humor

March 15, 2006 - AdFreak

According to iPod Observer, Microsoft has ‘fessed up and admitted its marketing staff was behind the short film that reimagined the pristine iPod box as if it were created in Redmond—where, of course, it becomes a cluttered mess. (An AdFreak reader, commenting to our earlier post about the video showing up on iFilm, had also said that it was, indeed, created by a rogue band of Microsofties.) The most interesting thing about this may be that Microsoft seems OK with people getting a laugh out of the company’s design deficiencies. Said a spokesperson: “"While MS did not release the video, it's natural to share funny things with friends. … We're happy to see others enjoy the laugh as well."

Xerox adds color to comic

March 15, 2006 - AdLand

Xerox is showing the UK how injecting color makes a difference. A well established business cartoon titled "Alex" has been taken over by Xerox for six weeks (started the 27 Feb). The comic, which has been running for 13 years in black and white, is about a stockbroker and runs in the Telegraph. The Telegraph's recently launched in-house advertising projects team, Telegraph Create, came up with the idea. Xerox's creative agency Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R are also involved. Read on to see the ads.

Frame 1: I'm not sure I entirely approve of us bein in colour, Clive... Frame 2: But, Alex, colour gives a whole new perspective on reality that black and white can't offer... Frame 3: It can offer an insight into our corporate world that might not otherwies be appreciated...Precisely... Frame 4: You'd think somone would have the imagination to have a Porsche that wasn't red...Oh God...People can see I'm blushing too...

Frame 1: Colour can make a big difference in the corporate world, Clive... Frame 2: Once upon a time a company's annual report and accounts would have been a drab, uninspiring black and white affair... Frame 3: But now they can be printed in full glossy color with photos, they can offer far more comprehensive information...Yes. Frame 4: Look at that light blue suit the chairman's wearing...ugh!And are those brown shoes? Oh dear...

Interactive Rear-Projection Transparent Displays

March, 17/06 - MIT Advertising Lab

Sometimes, press releases have great stuff. Portuguese Edigma combines precision cameras for finger tracking, multimedia projectors and transparent material to create interactive window displays called Displax. Looks very cool, even though it's not technically a "holographic" screen as the company claims.

NBC: DVRs Don't Kill Commercials, People Do

by Wayne Friedman

Mar 17, 2006 - Media Daily News

ON the set of "Las Vegas," NBC told advertisers it was rolling the dice, green-lighting two dramas for fall, and directing them to place bets on some surprising DVR research data concerning their commercials.

Seemingly defying current conventional wisdom, Alan Wurtzel, president of NBC Universal Television Research and Media Development, said the problems with commercial avoidance were worse in non-DVR homes than in DVR homes. For some time, advertisers have been concerned that DVR users who fast-forward through commercials will become a major problem for advertisers' media plans in the future.

Wurtzel said the loss in commercial effectiveness was currently just under 7 percent in non-DVR homes, as compared to about 3 percent in DVR homes. The explanation focuses on old technology--regular TV remote devices. Television viewers have used TV remotes for years to avoid commercials--changing channels, muting, etc.--and TV remotes are in many more homes than DVR machines.

While DVRs are used to skip commercials, Wurtzel says they should be put into perspective. DVRs--now in 8 percent of all U.S. TV households--would need to get to 35 percent U.S. penetration, expected by the 2009-2010 season, before they cause a 10 percent drop in commercial effectiveness. Wurtzel also repeated the positive for DVRs--also a positive for advertisers--that viewers watch more TV because of these devices.

‘FHM’ viral seeks ‘Sexiest Women’ votes

March 17, 2006 - AdFreak

Telling a guy in a chicken suit to jump up and down on a sofa is pretty fun, but wouldn’t it be more exciting, for guys at least, to interact with a barely clothed British model like Charlotte Marshall? FHM magazine thinks so, and has built a viral site around Marshall to get votes for its 100 Sexiest Women 2006 feature.

On the site, in various come-hither poses and states of undress, Marshall asks visitors four questions about their ideal woman, and responds with customized answers presumably based on keywords. (It’s meant to be sexier than that sounded.) Then, based on the answers, she offers three options of women to vote for. Once you vote, you get to “enjoy some extra fun with Charlotte” in a handful of bonus clips.

A special password, apparently seeded on laddie message boards around the Web, unlocks even more clips—possibly racier ones. Adotas has the inside story of the campaign in an interview with FHM’s Carlos Rodriguez. “Hundreds of keywords have been entered into the game to try and anticipate as many user responses as possible,” he says. That sounds a bit less expansive than the famous chicken, but for many guys, this so-called “High Street honey” will more than make up for it.

Volvo wants to inspire your senses

March 17, 2006 - AdLand

Last week Volvo introduced a logo overhaul by branding agency Bite. There aren't major changes but the "male" iron mark is more curved and has a thicker bevelled edge and the silver used was given a softer matt shade in an attempt to create a more luxurious feel.

And this week was the launch for the FEEL campaign for the new Volvo C70 in the UK. The FEEL campaign is "designed to inspire people to reawaken their senses, see life in a new light and open their minds to the pure pleasure the new Volvo C70 coupé/convertible brings."The ads shot in Hawaii will be seen in cinemas, as an interactive TV ad, in magazine and national press advertisements, and on a mirco site.

The site has has two films, one TV spot and another 2 minute "FEEL film".To find them, open the guide book and select movie in the table of contents.

Very Successful Brand Manager

March 17, 2006 - AdLand

The recently launched VerySuccessfulBrandManager.com
was created by and for a "Very Successful Advertising Agency", StrawberryFrog. The site is filled with tips on enlarging your logo/ego, using old English, being brown nosed and much more.

Saint Jamie worked miracle for agency
Britain's favourite TV chef saved a lucrative account by making branding entertaining

By Gary Silverman

March 18, 2006 - The Australian

To get a glimpse of the new world of marketing, look no further than Oliver's recent work. He has been producing a blend of social activism, entertainment and advertising so potent that he has become one of the most popular people in Britain - the No1 hero of its middle classes, if one study is to be believed.

Oliver is a restaurateur who has produced a steady stream of popular television programs and cookbooks dedicated to the proposition that there is nothing quite like fresh British produce. But his piece de resistance was a Channel 4 television series last year called Jamie's School Dinners, which portrayed his efforts to improve the quality of food in government schools. Shot in a documentary style, it was a rating success and a cultural moment, enshrining Oliver as a political figure and solidifying his position as a highly paid pitchman.

While politicians from PM Tony Blair on down scrambled to show their concern about school food, JSainsbury, the supermarket chain, re-signed Oliver as a spokesman for a sixth year, at more than pound stg. 1 million ($2.4 million) a year.

The retailer's advertising agency, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, also produced a new marketing campaign that echoed the language and spirit of Jamie's School Dinners. As part of his work to improve school food, Oliver handed out stickers to children that said: "I've tried something new". For Sainsbury, he is urging people of all ages to "try something new today".

Their goal is to create characters in entertainment pieces who will serve marketing ends. Jamie's School Dinners shows it can be done - albeit, in this case, probably by accident.

"We didn't know Jamie would evolve this way," Souter says. "We lucked out on a couple of pieces of branded content."

The interesting variable in this relationship is that it seems to work on the basis that Oliver maintains a distance from Sainsbury. He is close enough to visit Sainsbury every month to advise on products, paying attention to details as arcane as the size of the die used to grind pork for sausages.

Oliver is also clear that his relationship with Sainsbury has been crucial to his other efforts. The money he gets from Sainsbury allows him to make television programs - not only Jamie's School Dinners, but Jamie's Kitchen, in which he trained 15 disadvantaged young people to work in his London restaurant, Fifteen.

In risky move, newscasts adopt product placements

15 March, 2006 - Yahoo News

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - While just about every television genre has jumped on the lucrative product-placement bandwagon, news programs generally have been considered off-limits to preserve editorial integrity.

But with TV stations facing increased competition and pressure on advertising revenue, the barriers that shielded news programing from such deals are falling. Product placement, media and branded entertainment agencies say they are increasingly being pitched opportunities from local stations to integrate their clients‘ products into news programing in exchange for buying commercial time or paying integration fees.

"There are more local news stations that are incorporating brands into news in innovative, cutting-edge ways," said Aaron Gordon, president of entertainment marketing firm Set Resources Inc. "The line, which has always been black and white in terms of what‘s news and what‘s commercials, is now being blurred."

"We‘re all trying to find ways of integrating commercial messages into content that satisfy the audience and advertisers without hurting our product," KRON president and general manager Mark Antonitis said. "When you‘re an independent, you‘ve got to do what you can to survive. You bank on your credibility as a news organization every day, but you also have to be successful as a business. You have to be creative for your advertisers without compromising the credibility of your news organization."

"We bring on people all the time to talk about books, products and interesting new ideas anyway," Antonitis said ... "So if we can have the added benefit of a new revenue source and give something to our viewers that they wouldn‘t be able to get otherwise and advertisers get their products advertised, it‘s a win-win-win."

Up-and-Coming E-Marketing Channels

BY Dave Evans

March 15, 2006 - ClickZ

RSS and its compatriots are the up-and-coming channels in e-marketing. They put consumers in control: RSS, for example, doesn't require consumers divulge personal information. Together, these channels provide smart marketers with as little or as much time as they'd like with consumers, time that can be used to build a relationship. In the emerging marketing environment, those relationships are key. Build them and consumers will come.

The New Channels
Traditionally, available channels have been TV, radio, print, outdoor and direct mail. No more. Not only have at least some consumers rejected these traditional channels (though they do still work for others), what consumers use now are more complex, more finely tuned, and in general off-limits to mass marketers, such as blogs, vlogs (define), podcasts, and games.

The challenge for marketers is actually simpler than it probably sounds. It's what I've been calling "social media," something I'll speak about at ad:tech in San Francisco next month. Social channels exist alongside traditional channels. They provide the persuasive power, the validation in the sense of self-reliance, that ads used to do all alone.

The key to using social channels is to recognize that as a marketer, you can't push your way in. Interruptive marketing is checked at the door. When I was with GSD&M, we talked about raising the creative bar in support of the "uninvited guest," the notion that since we're interrupting you, we'd better make it worth your while.
Problem is, marketers can't even dependably interrupt consumers any more. Consumers possess the technical wherewithal to block an ad before it's ever seen. Consumers are in control and they know it. The social media channels that make this reality an upfront proposition are gaining favor. For smart marketers tapping these channels, this means their message has a chance of not only being heard, but being internalized, thought about, and passed along to someone else. That's a major marketing win.

It's All About Content
Increasingly, marketers must be carried in. You must create content consumers will adopt and bring to their social networks. It must legitimately address consumers' needs: they're far too smart to carry an infomercial into a friend's birthday party.

The challenge for marketers is actually simpler than it probably sounds. It's what I've been calling "social media," something I'll speak about at ad:tech in San Francisco next month. Social channels exist alongside traditional channels. They provide the persuasive power, the validation in the sense of self-reliance, that ads used to do all alone.

Promotion for Visa Bridges Real and Virtual

12.3.06 - MIT Advertising Lab

Remember the moment in the Matrix when Neo touches the mirror and gets sucked in? This Spanish promotion for Visa (watch Flash video) is kind of the same. They set up a booth with a soccer ball and projected a soccer field complete with the stars of Barcelona's football club on one of the walls. You hit the ball on your side of reality, it hits the screen and continues its trajectory into the virtual field. If you score, you get a high-five from Ronaldinho and a gift. Work by Cuatic.

"A" LIST OF INDEPENDENT FILM SIGNS ON FOR LINCOLN MERCURY ONLINE FILM PROJECT

March 15, 2006 - Movie City News

Lincoln Mercury, which pioneered the use of serial Internet-based movies with its “Meet The Lucky Ones” Webisodes, is returning to the digital realm with two distinct, but interconnected stories to market the stylish Mercury Milan mid-size sedan and the new Zephyr, Lincoln’s first entry-luxury sedan.

The first installments of the five-week Web series debut today at Lovelybysurprise.com and TheNeverything.com, bringing together stars from Oscar®-winning movies and hit television series, including “Grey's Anatomy,” “A Beautiful Mind,” “Amistad” and “Walk the Line.” Written and directed by Kirt Gunn, they tell the story of an author whose fiction overtakes her real life. The two sides of the story (the fictional and the real) are presented on two separate Web sites – one by Lincoln, the other by Mercury.

"LovelyBySurprise.com and TheNeverything.com are each designed for a distinct audience that shares an important element with the other: a mindset that looks to the Web as a place to work, shop, and play,” said Scott Kelly, Lincoln Mercury Digital Marketing Manager. “We think people will be intrigued by the characters in the stories, and return every week to learn more – ideally clicking through to learn more about our great new Lincoln and Mercury products."

Mercury’s “Meet The Lucky Ones” campaign increased traffic on the brand’s Web site, mercuryvehicles.com, by 400 percent. In addition, consumers clicked through to view eight pages on the site, compared to two pages historically.

Passion Film: The Message

Guerrilla Innovation

SN Brussels Airlines has launched a viral campaign that effectively combines movie, web and user interaction.

The campaign, which is called Passion Film, allows you to integrate a personal text message into a movie ad and thus, to twist its plot.

In the ad, you see SN airline service personnel recieve an important phone call to one of its passengers (the call is from you). Unfortunately, the passenger has already boarded and the plane is on the runway about to take off. However, with a bit of imagination and bird-like group organization, the friendly personnel manages to get your message through to crew and passengers.

inside brand enteretainment

Axe took to the blogosphere to build buzz for its new Unlimited deodorant body spray. Reinforcing the brand's "get the girl" positioning, marketers created two entertainment-based programs: an online video blog following the adventures of Evan and Gareth (evanandgareth.com), two young guys who go on the road and document their savvy moves to sway the opposite sex; and an online 3-D game called Mojo Master (mojomastergame.com) in which consumers could test their romantic techniques on hundreds of virtual girls.

Program support came in the form of TV, print, college media, an event tour and extensive pr.Consumers spent considerable time with the branded content, contributing to a rise in awareness for Unlimited and a strong start to sales of the brand. More than 3.5 million people have viewed the Evan and Gareth video, for an average of 30 minutes. Of the 10 million visitors to the Mojo Master site, 1 million downloaded and played the game, for an average of 1.5 hours.

Marketers Follow the Flock to Spring Break

By JULIE BOSMAN

March 9, 2006 - New York Times

MARKETING to students on spring break used to be simple: a company would set up a stand on the beach, hand out product samples and let the message spread itself.

But now, spring break has become a stage for increasingly expensive and sophisticated advertising campaigns.

"The days of putting a branded tent on a beach and then handing out stuff is just dead," said Brian Martin, the chief executive of Vacation Connections, an event marketing firm based in Montclair, N.J., a division of Brand Connections. "It's becoming much more elaborate and much more extensive."

"When you're in vacation environments, you tend to be a little more receptive to marketing messages because everything is slowed down," Mr. Martin said.

Axe, made by Unilever, has introduced an estimated $2 million advertising campaign to promote its line of deodorant body sprays and shower gels aimed at young men. The company began advertising during spring break in 2003 with Axe-sponsored parties, but this year's campaign — "Axe Boot Camp: Spring Break Readiness '06" — is the biggest effort yet.

Announcing the Inaugural SF User Generated Ad Show

10/mar/2006 - fasttwitchmedia

What happens when the the creativity of the audience, the speed of viral videos and the power of major brands collide?
The SF User Generated Ad Show is a unique opportunity to find out. Co-Sponsored by the Bay Area Interactive Group and the Academy of Art University, and hosted by Fast Twitch, the show will turn artists from the audience loose on assignments for major brands. Nine Bay Area ad agencies have volunteered the brands they represent and will judge all submitted work.
AKQA, Agency.com, Carat, Goodby, Grey, McCann, Organic, Tribal DDB, Real Branding.

Winners will be announced at the show on March 30, 2006. The assignment -- make a brand inspired video of any length. Submissions will be judged based on:

Entertainment value
How well they capture the brand's desired theme
Relevance to the target audience
How persuasively they feature the underwriting brand
Technical merit

Submissions must be uploaded to Fast Twitch by March 21, 2006.

Jeep Launches Branded Mobile TV Channel

Dec 15, 2005 - Promo Magazine

Jeep is spattering a little mud on mobile phones.
The DaimlerChrysler division this week launched a branded TV channel that plays on mobile phones. Jeep runs episodes of its Web-based serial "We Are the Mudds," featuring a mud-spattered family and their adventures in the Jeep Commander. The serial, which continues to run online, has four episodes, with more expected.

"MobiTV is about getting the right content to the right consumer, right now," said Chrysler and Jeep VP Jeff Bell in a statement. "As we continue to innovate as a marketer, MobiTV provides a new platform that is all about choice."

"Most people have their mobile phones with them all the time. The flexibility of our platform enables our advertisers to create compelling and entertaining ways to reach their customers, while keeping a great consumer experience at the forefront," said MobiTV Chief Marketing Officer Dave Whetstone in a statement.

Meanwhile, Jeep continues to feature the Mudds online with a geo-caching game and sweepstakes. Players register, then watch the videos for clues to find geo caches on the site's map; they earn entries for watching the video, finding caches, and referring friends to the site. Top prize is a 2006 Jeep Commander; smaller prizes include vacations and Jeep gear.

Peroni Beer Pays Homage To "La Dolce Vita"

March 08, 2006 - Adland

Peroni beer broke a :30 trailer ad during the Oscars on Sunday which pays homage to Federico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita", leading viewers to CinemaPeroni where you can view the full :210 film. Created by The Bank, Peroni Nastro Azzurro’s and SABMiller’s lead creative agency in the UK, the ad was shot in Cape Town and Rome in November 2005.

A $50 million global campaign for Peroni that will run for 18 months in the UK, US, South Africa and Romania, and will eventually run in other territories. The full-fledged campaign begins in the UK in April with TV and Cinema and will eventually also incorporate print, outdoor, point of sale and a public relations program.

Pitchmen Convene to Pitch More Pitches

By JULIE BOSMAN
March 6, 2006 - New York Times

Here is a sampling of some of the highlights, lowlights and sidelights of the 2006 media conference of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, which was held here last Wednesday through Friday.

TIVO IS SO 2004
One conspicuous no-show at the conference was the digital video recorder. There was surprisingly little mention of TiVo or other DVR's, a shift from conferences past.

"Two years ago this conference was completely fixated on the DVR," said Christopher J. Rohrs, the president of the Television Bureau of Advertising. "It was going to swamp the advertising model."

If DVR's were mentioned at all, it was to dismiss their potential. One often-cited figure was that fewer than 10 percent of American households had one. This year, the hand-wringing seemed to center on increasingly popular video-on-demand, which lets people buy movies and TV shows from an à la carte menu — without traditional advertising.

American Express spot is creepily compelling

March 6, 2006 - AdFreak

Oscar commercials have to adhere to a different standard than the low-brow, frat-boy humor of the Super Bowl. And with the bar set so high, it’s easier to fail—it’s as though every creative director of a commercial running on the Oscars is excruciatingly aware that Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg might be watching. As an advertiser, one way to get around this is to simply hand over the task to one of their peers, which is what American Express did with one of its Oscar ads—a creepy two-minute film from M. Night Shyamalan.

Set in a brasserie, it’s unsettling from the first frame, and gets stranger as a series of disturbing vignettes unfold. A waitress drops a wine glass, a man starts to choke while his wife looks on impassively, an unattended baby carriage rolls by on its own power—as Shyamalan, seated alone at a table, observes.

We’re never sure what these “My Life. My Card.” spots are exactly supposed to do in terms of making you want to use American Express, but this commercial at least, had us sucked in from the very beginning.

Chevrolet To Launch "Frozen Joe" Campaign During Olympic Winter Games

Jan 8, 2006 - ABC News

NBC and Olympic sponsor Chevrolet have produced a "mini-movie" that will promote the network's coverage of the upcoming Torino Winter Games while integrating Chevy vehicles.

The mini-movie will premiere during Monday night's episode of "Las Vegas," which will feature cameos by some of the same Olympians and tie its own story line to the content of the mini-movie just before it airs.

After its "Vegas" premiere, the 2-1/2-minutes mini-movie will screen in more than 10,000 theaters from January 13-February 9 — the day before NBC broadcasts the opening ceremony. It also will be cut down to 60-second promos to run on NBC.

NBC said it is taking time from programing, on-air promos and commercial spots to broadcast the mini-movie, which is being viewed as a marketing partnership between NBC and Chevrolet and did not require the automaker to pay product-placement fees or premiums beyond its Olympic ad buy on the network.

In Parody Video, Writers Ridicule Placing Products

By STUART ELLIOTT

Published: March 6, 2006 - The New York Times

A Hollywood union is stepping up its campaign against the embedding of brands and products in entertainment and, as they say in the movies, this time it's personal.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is making fun of the interweaving of sponsors' wares into films and TV shows with a so-called viral video that is scheduled to appear this week on a union-sponsored Web site (productinvasion.com). The video mocks Tyra Banks, the host of the popular reality series "America's Next Top Model," which features in its episodes the Cover Girl brand of cosmetics sold by the Procter & Gamble Company.

The video is timed for the sixth-season premiere on Wednesday of "America's Next Top Model" on UPN. In the frenetic comic video, an actress portraying Ms. Banks in a mock episode of "America's Next Top Commercial" relentlessly shills Procter products and even rents out space on her forehead to advertisers like Nike.

"We're trying to get the attention of our employers, the companies that own and operate show business," said Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild, West, referring to entertainment conglomerates like Walt Disney, Time Warner and Viacom. "But they're managed so far to avoid us."

"We're trying to make a mark by calling attention to some of the companies doing this branded entertainment by counterbranding their products," Mr. Verrone said. Procter was chosen to be parodied, he added, because it is "America's top integrator" of products into programming.

A spokeswoman for Procter in Cincinnati, Robyn Schroeder, said, "We believe the issue is not the responsibility of one company, but should be addressed by the entire industry as a whole to try to meet the needs of all parties involved."

The inclusion of Cover Girl in the "America's Next Top Model" episodes "provides a great venue for consumers to see how the product is put into use," Ms. Schroeder said.

Staples "The Wall" viral

March 04, 2006 - AdLand

With the help of Eyewonder , McCann Erickson and Staples have unleashed a micro site for the brand. The Wall includes a commercial, game, and fortune cookies, as well as a behind the scenes section.

The spot is pretty good and follows along the theme of there's no easy button for the real world. The game, well, it's just plain addictive. They nicely tie-in coupons for Staples products depending on your score.

The fortune cookies are alright, but they're nothing all that new. Then again, the basic idea of the game isn't either (reminisant of the Yeti games). Still it's a nice viral effort.

JetBlue, American Express Prepare In-Flight Reality Show

March 03, 2006 - Brands in games

iMedia Connection writes: If you're flying Jet Blue in April, you can turn on your seat's Direct TV screen and participate in what may be the first made for in-plane only reality show called "Share the Love" from American Express. Out of home and airport creative billboards, banners, posters and even luggage tags encourage you to 'Share the Love.'"

Dos and Don'ts

March 3, 2006 - Brands in games

Fran Kennish, "In-Game Advertising Dos and Don'ts", iMedia Connection, March 3, 2006

Highlights (verbatim):

Do's:
- A brand's presence should enhance the gaming engagement
- Brand and commercial content must be relevant to the game
- Brands should feel like a natural part of the game
- Customization can strengthen gamers' engagement with a brand
- In-game communication must be measurable

Don'ts:
- Assuming video games will work with any brand
- Interrupting, delaying or inappropriately altering game-play with in-game communication
- Imposing on gamers' attention with communication that doesn't add to the game
- Assuming real-world creative will work within a video game environment
- Considering "advergames" as an inexpensive way of reaching a gaming audience.

Fran Kennish (fran.kennish at mecglobal.com) is senior partner, director of strategic planning at MEC MediaLab, part of Mediaedge:cia.

Video advergames lob plugs at players
Manufacturers try to make their pitches a pleasure.

March 4, 2006 - Detroit Free Press

Want a crash course in the latest advertising gimmick?
Try Volvo Cars of North America's "Volvo Drive For Life" video game, which enables players to use its safety features to maneuver Volvo cars on a California highway, wintry Swedish roads and an Italian racetrack.

Through the game, published by Microsoft Corp. for the Xbox system, Ford Motor Co.'s Volvo unit is able to market its S40 and S60 R sedans and XC90 V8 SUV while linking its nameplate with judicious driving by rewarding players for safe driving. The automaker distributed 100,000 copies of the game to Volvo dealerships in Michigan and across the United States.

"Volvo Drive For Life" focuses on driving safety and includes a virtual tour of the Volvo Safety Center and a film from actual crash tests. Periodically throughout the game, players see the Volvo for Life slogan.

Some Volvo dealers have set up game consoles in showrooms to allow people to play it, while others give away or sell the game. Volvo also gives the game away at auto shows and at promotional and sponsorship events.
"Video games are another form of interaction with our potential customer," John Maloney, a Volvo spokesman, said. "It's a way to demonstrate your product. In this game, you're becoming more familiar with these three Volvos and their features, and it tells you what these cars do in the real world."

General Motors Corp.'s Pontiac brand, a sponsor of NCAA sports, also simulates real-world situations in its involvement with NCAA video games. NCAA's College Hoops 2K6 game for Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox and Xbox 360, for instance, is complete with replays and players grandstanding.

It also has sports broadcaster Greg Gumbel announcing the Pontiac's Game Changing Performance award for outstanding plays, and Pontiac ads appear under the scorer's table in front of the basketball court, just as in the real world.

Players can go to http://virtualfinal4.2ksports.com/ to compete for a chance to play a virtual Final Four competition in the same city where the real-world NCAA Final Four will be played and ultimately to win seats to the real NCAA games.

The 2K6 game Web site links to the Pontiac Web site and vice versa.

"It's a very legitimate integration," said Mark-Hans Richer, marketing director at Pontiac. "It mimics our real-world promotional efforts."

U.N. Game Wins Hearts and Minds

Feb, 15, 2006 - wired news

The roar of the chopper blasts through my headphones. Frantically clicking the mouse, I adjust my aim for the wind speed and fire my payload: a pallet stacked high with bags of rice.

What -- you were expecting a cruise missile?

With no guns to fire and no cars to steal, you would think that Food Force wouldn't be a very popular video game in today's market. But after it launched on Yahoo Games last spring, it quickly became the most popular free game on the site, racking up 1 million downloads over the first two months.

Created by the United Nations World Food Programme, Food Force is made up of six stages, each one built around a certain aspect of the emergency food program's operations. The entire game takes about 30 minutes to play.

Justin Roche, the game's project manager, said Food Force has had continued success since its launch, with more than 3 million downloads through December 2005.

The United Nations created the game after witnessing the success of the U.S. Army's recruitment game, America's Army. "We became more interested in a downloadable after we saw how prepared kids were to download the large America's Army file at over 200 MB," said Roche. "We come in at 230 MB, which is slightly smaller than the first America's Army."

"Video games is a language that kids speak universally, so I never hesitated to try it," said Julie Shannon, a teacher at Patria Mirabal School, a New York City middle school. "I know that technology is an important tool in the learning process, and also felt that the world hunger crisis needs attention. Our students are mainly Latin American and Dominican, and many are here because of the very issues that Food Force highlights," she said.
Shannon built an entire lesson plan around the game. In science lessons, her students studied nutrition, weather and agriculture. During math, they figured out how to feed many people with few resources.

"The familiar technology, the action and music, and the interactive elements are all very important pieces of the kids' interest," said Shannon. "But I also think that the subject matter grabs them -- they are at an age where they are looking at and judging everything around them. Somehow tragedy and disaster spark their interest -- it's human interest, I suppose."

Food Force's appeal to kids might even turn out to be an excellent recruiting tool, Roche points out. "We have many e-mails from children, saying that they would like to come and work for us when they are older. It's wonderful to think that our little game is having this kind of impact."

ABSOLUT is proud to announce the launch of ABSOLUT KRAVITZ

absolut.com

A new music project which sees Lenny Kravitz creating an exclusive new track based on his interpretation of the ABSOLUT brand.

‘We are thrilled to have Lenny Kravitz with us on our creative journey and in this, our first high-profile music project’ says Michael Persson, Global Brand Director for ABSOLUT VODKA. ‘Not only is he supremely talented; his output, inspired by so many genres and eras of music, defies categorisation, making him truly individual – a quality which means he is perfectly at home with the creativity of ABSOLUT.’

"Absolut has had a history of working with great artistic people – like Andy Warhol, Tom Ford, Jean Paul Gaultier, Gianni Versace and Kenny Scharf. I thought it would be interesting to do an artistic collaboration like this and be part of that heritage."

Kravitz’s new track "Breathe," part of the ABSOLUT MUSIC COLLECTION, will not be for sale. Instead it will be available to download for free, along with is accompanying video, from www.absolutkravitz.com.

Brandchannel's 2005 Product Placement Awards

by Abram Sauer
27-Feb-2006 - Brand Channel

Brandcameo 2005 Award for Best Performance by a Product in a Supporting Role: Audi in “Transporter 2”
Like a reliable character actor, Audi has proven itself to be a scene-stealing supporting player. Sexier than a Volkswagen but less ostentatious than a Ferrari, Audi broke out in 1998’s “Ronin,” where audiences were introduced to its signature, high-performance whine. Later, Audi played off its TT model as the bachelor ride in 2002’s “About a Boy” and the girlie cruiser in 2003’s “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blond.”

In 2005, Audi shed its over-the-top performance from last year’s “I, Robot” to get back to its “Ronin” basics. Audi stole the role in “Transporter 2” from the original film’s chosen vehicle, BMW; the automaker even garnered top billing in the

Brandcameo 2005 “But What I Really Want to Do Is Direct” Award: eBay
Not only did online super-depot eBay turn in a monster starring role in the 2005 hit “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” it also went behind the camera.

From kung-fu flicks to porn, eBay became the go-to resource for low-budget productions looking to market their onscreen real estate.

More winners at Brand Channel.

Advertisers Are Getting Into the Game

By Mike Musgrove
March 2, 2006 - Washington Post

The 90th or so time you speed by the same Burger King in Rockport, it starts to dawn on you: There aren't any other types of fast food joints in this fictional, video game town.

Also, what's with the billboards? There are only a few different ads, and they're all for guy stuff like Edge shaving gel and Axe deodorant. What's more, it's impossible to play this title -- the Electronic Arts street-racing game Need for Speed: Most Wanted -- and miss the branding on the Cingular text-messaging service your character uses to get the latest tips or trash-talking challenges.

Product placement and in-game advertising are nothing new -- the '80s-era Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles once promoted a pizza chain in an arcade game -- but it's a trend that is rapidly turning from a novelty into a serious business. Nielsen Entertainment, the television tracking firm, has started to follow such advertising and estimates this will be a $75 million market in the United States this year and will grow to $1 billion by 2010.

It's not hard to see why gamemakers and advertisers might be attracted to each other. Advertisers have been trying to connect with a hard-to-reach market of young men who aren't spending as much time watching television while they invest dozens of hours cranking through a title like Need for Speed. Game publishers, meanwhile, are regularly looking for ways to offset their ever-growing software-development costs without making their products more expensive.

Thus, skateboard fans are suddenly finding themselves doing tricks off a Jeep Commander in American Wasteland, the new Tony Hawk game from Activision, while players of the company's recent True Crime titles might take a break from fighting gangs to recover a set of stolen Puma sneakers.

Game companies say they don't insert such ads if they don't somehow fit. "We don't approach advertising in our medium like an NBC would," said Dave Anderson, senior director of business management at Activision. "The products and the brands all have to make sense."

In-game marketing gets a mixed response from gamers, but many seem to accept it or even like it if it keeps in line with advertising they would expect to see in the real world. Such marketing can walk a fine line, though: When a Splinter Cell game featured superspy Sam Fisher rappelling off a billboard promoting a specific deodorant, it was kind of cool. But when other scenes gratuitously lingered on what brand of gum he chewed, some fans complained.

Sometimes, game fans embrace marketing if it's entertainingly weird. In EA's new boxing game, Fight Night Round 3, the Burger King mascot -- the retro one with the oversized head and the burgundy robes -- becomes part of a player's in-game entourage if players complete a side-mission challenge. On game Web sites, some fans have posted comments that the feature makes them more likely to pick up the game.

Julie Shumaker, director of in-game advertising at EA, said she wasn't worried that players would react negatively to the Burger King placement in Fight Night.

"We knew it was so over-the-top that the consumer would get it," she said. "It worked because we didn't pretend that it wasn't an ad." EA will put some form of advertising or product placement in about a third of its games this year, she said.

If game companies are exploring the comfort zones of gamers with this sort of thing, they're also exploring advertisers' limits. In the upcoming Burnout Revenge, players will be able to drive and crash a delivery truck for the Carl's Jr. burger chain.

But most advertisers are too squeamish to see their logos in a fiery crash. Need for Speed players can crash through a generic doughnut shop, but they can't crash through a Burger King. Many companies also steer away from games with mature content.

Product placement and in-game advertising are nothing new -- the '80s-era Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles once promoted a pizza chain in an arcade game -- but it's a trend that is rapidly turning from a novelty into a serious business. Nielsen Entertainment, the television tracking firm, has started to follow such advertising and estimates this will be a $75 million market in the United States this year and will grow to $1 billion by 2010.

It's not hard to see why gamemakers and advertisers might be attracted to each other. Advertisers have been trying to connect with a hard-to-reach market of young men who aren't spending as much time watching television while they invest dozens of hours cranking through a title like Need for Speed. Game publishers, meanwhile, are regularly looking for ways to offset their ever-growing software-development costs without making their products more expensive.

Thus, skateboard fans are suddenly finding themselves doing tricks off a Jeep Commander in American Wasteland, the new Tony Hawk game from Activision, while players of the company's recent True Crime titles might take a break from fighting gangs to recover a set of stolen Puma sneakers.

Game companies say they don't insert such ads if they don't somehow fit. "We don't approach advertising in our medium like an NBC would," said Dave Anderson, senior director of business management at Activision. "The products and the brands all have to make sense."

In-game marketing gets a mixed response from gamers, but many seem to accept it or even like it if it keeps in line with advertising they would expect to see in the real world. Such marketing can walk a fine line, though: When a Splinter Cell game featured superspy Sam Fisher rappelling off a billboard promoting a specific deodorant, it was kind of cool. But when other scenes gratuitously lingered on what brand of gum he chewed, some fans complained.

Sometimes, game fans embrace marketing if it's entertainingly weird. In EA's new boxing game, Fight Night Round 3, the Burger King mascot -- the retro one with the oversized head and the burgundy robes -- becomes part of a player's in-game entourage if players complete a side-mission challenge. On game Web sites, some fans have posted comments that the feature makes them more likely to pick up the game.

Julie Shumaker, director of in-game advertising at EA, said she wasn't worried that players would react negatively to the Burger King placement in Fight Night.

"We knew it was so over-the-top that the consumer would get it," she said. "It worked because we didn't pretend that it wasn't an ad." EA will put some form of advertising or product placement in about a third of its games this year, she said.

If game companies are exploring the comfort zones of gamers with this sort of thing, they're also exploring advertisers' limits. In the upcoming Burnout Revenge, players will be able to drive and crash a delivery truck for the Carl's Jr. burger chain.

But most advertisers are too squeamish to see their logos in a fiery crash. Need for Speed players can crash through a generic doughnut shop, but they can't crash through a Burger King. Many companies also steer away from games with mature content.

Game industry execs argue that there are more variables to take into account in this area than in a 30-second television ad. In a brainy game that requires players to move slowly and study the in-game environment, ads might make more of an impression than ones in a faster paced "run-and-gun" shooter, said Monika Madrid, director of strategic sales and partnerships at game publisher Ubisoft.

As an increasing number of PC games and consoles are plugging into the Web for online matches, companies such as the New York-based Massive Inc. are springing up to launch ad campaigns that are updated whenever a player logs on.

One month, Massive will broadcast an ad in a virtual subway station to promote the sci-fi flick "Aeon Flux"; the next month, the same space might flog another movie, "V for Vendetta."

Massive can broadcast ads based on where players are located, as well. If a movie is opening in New York and Los Angeles, for example, Massive can put ads for the movie on the computer screens of players in those cities. Players in different countries might see the same marketing, but in a different language.

Massive chief executive Mitch Davis said he got the idea for the company while playing a Grand Theft Auto title years ago. He saw a store that was a parody of the Gap and he thought it would be cooler if the game's Vice City had real companies lining the streets instead of the game's satiric, Mad Magazine alternatives.

"I though as a gamer it would make a lot more sense for that ad to be real," he said. "That's something as gamers we're always looking for."

'Desperate Housewives' Actress Stars In Dove Webisodes

March 2, 2006 - Online media daily

For the campaign, Dove is sponsoring a new America Online microsite, and has commissioned MindShare Entertainment to create three original Webisodes starring Felicity Huffman of ABC's "Desperate Housewives."

The AOL microsite, "Chief Everything Officers," is built around the concept that women today (and men) are faced with the need to constantly multitask, which requires resourcefulness to match any corporate CEO. The site highlights AOL original programming, including its content from its Coaches section--where self-help authors offer tips on wellness and work-balance--as well as hosted content from Real Simple, Health, and All You. The site also offers budget advice and other money-saving tips through AOL Money & Finance. Additionally, AOL plans to incorporate social networking components, including message boards and blogs, into the microsite.
AOL's microsite carriers banner ads that direct visitors to the Dove Calming Night microsite. That property, DoveNight.com, offers three original webisodes directed by Penny Marshall and starring Felicity Huffman, in which Huffman dreams of appearing in classic sitcoms like "The Brady Bunch" and "Leave It to Beaver."

The shorts were produced exclusively for the Web by MindShare Entertainment and will not air on television, according to David Lang, MindShare's senior partner and director of programming. "It's a new day for online marketing," said Lang. "I think we've moved way beyond the day when streaming a repurposed TV ad on the Web sufficed."

Dove is also promoting DoveNight.com across AOL's Web properties and the broader Web, as well as print and television advertising.

AOL's last such "special," "America Takes it Off", did boost traffic as intended. Over the January campaign, for which AOL partnered with ABC's "Good Morning America," AOL experienced 22 million page views--a 128 percent increase over the next-highest month year-over-year, which was August 2005. AOL also saw a 78 percent increase in monthly unique visitors compared to next-highest month, which again was August. (AOL had not yet transitioned to a free portal in January 2005.)

For AOL, the "Chief Everything Officers" site--at AOL.com/ceo--represents a broader strategy to rally its base of modern and upwardly mobile women, and boost traffic several times per year, similar to TV networks during sweeps season.

"Like TV Sweeps, AOL is working with content and marketing partners at different points in the year to create special programming," said Tina Sharkey, senior vice president, AOL Network Programming.

Using CGM to create your campaign so you don’t have to? Priceless.

March 1, 2006 - AdFreak

If three of something is a trend, what’s four ... overkill? We’re asking because even though it’s late in the day, this new “Priceless” campaign from MasterCard, which asks people to create their own ending, is piquing even our pre-dinner, semi-somnolent interest. (It breaks on the Oscars.)

It contains a gimmick to keep people watching—in this case leaving the items for purchase and the priceless items in the commercials blank. (Thanks to Adrants for posting them on YouTube.) People can then go to the brand-spanking-new Priceless.com Web site—“a weekly online guide to life’s upscale adventures” (the company’s words, not ours)—and pretend to be a copywriter! Write their own ad! MasterCard’s favorite will air as an actual ad later in the year. Since people have long been writing “Priceless” ads without MasterCard’s approval, we have to admit, it’s a great idea to capitalize on it.

Former Sega executives join in-game ad company
Video games seen as next advertising frontier

Mar. 01, 2006 - monterey herald

The opportunity to build advertising inside video games heated up Tuesday as two former Sega executives announced they had joined a company that promises to weave advertising into both video-game landscapes and their embedded communications.

Bernie Stolar, former president of Sega of America, will be chairman of Adscape Media, a Canadian company moving to San Francisco, while Chris Gilbert, former executive vice president of sales, marketing and operations at Sega of America, will be chief executive. Their decision to join the company suggests that there is a lot of enthusiasm among advertisers to put ads into games, since young males and other players are spending more time with games than other entertainment media such as TV or movies.

''This space is in its infancy,'' said Gilbert in an interview. ''It will continue to change and morph. We think it is early and expect rapid growth over the next few years.''

For instance, Gilbert said, consider a game where a player goes to a cell phone store as part of the landscape in the game. The store could have real-world models of cell phones on display, and if the player likes the phone, they could click a button and order one on the spot or step out of the game and go to a Web site for more information.

In another example, he said that players could communicate with friends from inside the game using the game's own messaging system, or conduct online financial transactions while they're still in a game.

Gilbert said that Adscape Media would make money by splitting the ad revenues between itself and game publishers who build the ads into their games. The company's tools work with any game system, whether consoles or PCs.