During Thursday's Association of National Advertisers Print Advertising Forum, a panel discussion was held that was entitled "Branded Entertainment in Print - Threat or Opportunity?" that carried a significant group on the dais. MindShare's Debbie Solomon was the discussional leader, which included: Campbell Soup Company's Global Media Director, Colleen Milway; Newsweek editor / ASME president Mark Whitaker; People managing editor Martha Nelson; The Media Kitchen chairman and CEO Paul Woolmington. The idea here was to see if what is currently being called "branded entertainment," mostly on television these days, may start showing up in print anytime soon in a major way.

For the most part, I didn't get the impression that this was really a threat - or an opportunity. The editors on the panel were very much against "purchased" editorial, as they should be, and were very clear in keeping advertising as advertising and edit as edit. Translating something with the success of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which if you haven't seen it is a good hour of promotional opportunity for Sears and the home builders involved, into a print campaign isn't going to be easy, if it's feasible at all.

Some key quotes and commentary after the jump.

Many of the panelists stated that the term "branded entertainment" wasn't really clear, especially when it came to its presence in print media. Newsweek's Mark Whitaker stated that "readers should be able to tell the difference between editorial and advertising," clarifying that there really was no grey area there. One item that he pointed out as a possible conflict would be advertisements that were carrying a certain celebrity happening to be in the same issue of a magazine that had an article about that individual in some way. As the president of the American Society of Magazine Editors, Whitaker did state that the overall guidelines that the organization puts forth should enable editors to make what each one believes is the right call for his or her publication.

Many people who spoke at the forum discussed while television does garner much of the advertising monies spent, that doesn't mean the effectiveness of print isn't seen. Campbell's Global Media Director Colleen Milway called print ads and asset because she knew up front that "consumers are going there for information," as opposed to just coming across it. She cited how a huge print campaign for Pepperidge Farm's Milano cookies preceding the season finale of NBC's Frasier was very successful - with the episode carrying a scene where the Milanos were handed to a particular character on the show - that scene was part of a contest the company ran, with a huge campaign in TV Guide talking about Frasier Crane's ex-girlfriends and other fun show facts. The May 12, 2004 Wall Street Journal ran an article, "'Frasier Finale': Amid nostalgia, a product plug," which described how the cookies got on the episode - as it turned out, Pepperidge Farm didn't do the placement, TV Guide did. So hearing that Campbell's praises print advertising the way they do isn't surprising at all.

So while we came in thinking we'd hear a ton about branded entertainment in print, but ended up walking out with an overall "good" feeling about the industry as a whole. It was interesting to hear from mag editors about their perceptions of advertising as a whole, something that isn't always what people ask them about - typically it's specific article content.