Sirius just paid Howard Stern an $83 million bonus. Sirius just paid Howard Stern an $83 million bonus. Sirius just paid Howard Stern an $83 million bonus. (Nope, saying it over and over again doesn't make it any less surreal.)- A couple of days ago AdAge interviewed author Jeff Chester about his new book "Digital Destiny," about how marketers have intruded on the privacy of people to an unprecedented level. Now Chester pens this column that summarizes his ideas, including that safeguards on privacy are inadequate and the idea of consumer control is just a facade.
- Glamour magazine is following up its successful Reel Moments short film series with Reel Music. The Reel Music Contest found three relatively unknown female bands and Pink is directing a music video for the winner, a New York band caled Pretty Boys.
AdAge in However Long It Takes You To Read This
Continue reading AdAge in However Long It Takes You To Read This
Microsoft's DVR targeted ad idea
Ads are almost always out-of-date when a show is recorded on a DVR (digital video recorder) device like TiVo or another set-top box by the time it is watched. Microsoft has now filed a patent for a way to serve "current" targeted ads when a recorded show is being watched, so that the ads on the "recording" will have a chance to impact viewers instead of being too old to matter. It is an interesting idea but makes little sense if the ad will simply be fast-forwarded through anyway. At least they get points for thinking, but in my mind, the other downside is that I like to see the old ads that were running when I originally recorded something. I revel in nostalgic ad non-sense I guess you could say. I suppose that is only an ad-freak's problem (like me), one that sadly many regular-old-tv-watching folks wouldn't have. Man, I am an ad-freak, I just noticed. I wonder if my wife knows. Shhhh!
Previously on WIN
Lots of good stuff from around the WIN world lately:- Slashfood explores 2007's likely food trends, including a heavy emphasis on the marketing of foods whose ingredients come from the Amazon region and other such exotic locales.
- An ad for the PSP game system popped up on MarthaStewart.com and PSP Fanboy has a screengrab along with with comments about how Sony's marketing the item to moms.
- Blogging Baby points out that rapper 50 Cent has a problem with guns being OK on the posters for every movie but his own.
- TV Squad talks about the old sitcom "Bosom Buddies," with Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari playing two cross-dressing advertising execs, coming to DVD.
- The growing rise of advergames by companies is touched on by our friends at Joystiq.
- PVR Wire has a ton of good posts up, including a YouTube channel of TiVo promos, this note on Charter Communication's new VOD advertising program, a study showing that DVRs won't mean the end of TV commercials, an ad from Radio Shack for a Series 2 TiVo and a DirecTV ad from Uruguay.
- Styledash wonders just how much of the excitement over the "right-hand ring" is due to consumer demand or marketing hype.
GM sponsors CBS VOD
General Motors will be the exclusive sponsor on six TV shows from CBS that will be available through Comcast's video-on-demand service. The sponsorship makes episodes of all three "CSI" programs, "NCIS", "Numb3rs" and "Jericho" free on-demand the day after they air on network TV. GM commercials will be placed before, in the middle of and after the show and will be used to promote GMC Trucks and Hummers (not that kind of hummer, you sicko).
AdAge In 60 Seconds
Lots of good stuff today so we might run over our allotted 60 seconds. Bear with me.- Sega is bringing back Sonic the Hedgehog as a brand icon as it preps the launch of the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Sonic has fallen out of favor recently with no hit title of his own and Sega's crashing and burning in the console department so this is kind of a big deal if you're a fan of the blue character.
- One of the dominant themes of the ad:tech conference going on in New York is the power of online communities. Even small ones that have just started up can wield tremendous influence so companies need to pay attention.
- In case you were in the market for a 3-D Earth mapping application to rival Google Earth (and who isn't) you now have Microsoft's Visual Earth to play around with.
- Microsoft is also looking to create the go-to device for entertainment in the house by announcing movie and TV downloads via the Xbox 360. The download service launches Nov. 22nd, which is both the one-year anniversary of the 360 and, just coincidentally, the day before Thanksgiving.
- The corporate entities behind The Transformers did a good bit of reaching out to the online fan community, listening to their conversations and such for the 20th anniversary DVD release of the first Transformers movie. This was an important release since the studios are hoping the DVD will spark interest in next year's new big-screen T'Formers flick.
Previously on WIN
So many of our fellow - Now that T-Mobile has dropped Catherine Zeta-Jones, the provider has engaged in a new campaign that's less brand-focused and more offering-centric. Engadget has the details on the "MyFaves" plan, which sounds like a "Scrubs" episode more than anything.
- Styledash wonders whether there isn't a new Dove campaign featuring men and their "real" bodies to compliment the one featuring women. On behalf of people - both men and women - I'm really hoping this doesn't happen.
- Breast cancer survivor Molly MacDonald is auctioning off a bust of her pre-cancer breasts to raise money for a charity she founded to help women struggling with the financial problems cancer diagnosis can bring about.
- The AutoBlog has a story about a calendar being offered by GM via Flickr that highlights not only the ordinary things like Christmas, New Years and Weasel-Stomping Day but also important dates from the history of the company.
- To the surprise of no one, The Wall Street Journal's experiment with front page ads hits a snag when a story about General Motors and their management problems winds up just above an ad for the company's new warranty plan.
- Intel and Omnicom have teamed up to deliver what they're describing as "10 foot" ads within video-on-demand content delivered on the Viiv-based computers.
- PVRWire digs a little deeper into the study that recommends mobile TV commercials run about nine to ten seconds in length.
- Anna at TV Squad talks about how Cartoon Network put fake covers on copies of The New York Post to promote "Freak Show."
Advertising that works
Hmm. Turns out some advertising does actually work in connecting with audiences and influencing purchases. I'm as surprised as you are. Two recent examples of this phenomenon:- Video-on-demand advertising has turned out to be more successful than anticipated for Cingular Wireless. In the first two months of the campaign, Cingular's ads were viewed over 17 million times. That success is prompting Cingular to plan for even bigger expenditures on VOD in the future.
- Video game players actually remember the brands and products they see, be it in games, movies or elsewhere. Gamers consider themselves to be on the cusp of popular culture, trend-setters and overall fantastic dudes. The convergence point of these two things is that game players are very hip to product placement but it works.
Paramount serves up dynamic VOD ads
Paramount Pictures will be advertising on video-on-demand through SeaChange International and their new technology for dynamic VOD ad serving as part of a deal with Sunflower Broadband, a broadband network. The system allows for more turn-on-a-dime changes to be made by the advertiser as opposed to the old system that locked spots to content for weeks at a time. Paramount will use the spots to promote their upcoming film (a term I use loosely) Jackass: Number Two. This is a test run of sorts for the ad-delivery system and will only be used to insert ads on Comedy Central On Demand and only in a small portion of the country. Sunflower serves up VOD content for a number of other stations, though, so this could expand quickly.
Mastercard makes a mini-movie
As part of a partnership with cable network TNT (they occasionally show "Law & Order" reruns), MasterCard will be debuting a branded mini-movie that will air on the network. The two-minute drama, titled Late: A MasterCard Mini Drama, shows a man with a pile of cash on the carseat next to him who, as part of the plot, uses his MasterCard in various situations. The action drama will debut August 19th during the station's presentation of the film Runaway Jury. Various video-on-demand and online viewing options are also available. Branded entertainment that engages the viewer and which becomes something they want to follow is an increasingly popular tactic with marketers looking to kill ad-skipping. Other networks are considering similar moves, such as a serialized plot that airs in the commercial breaks that, it's hoped, become another reason people choose to watch that show.
Dell is the first to advertise on CNN viewer video site
TV Week has news that Dell has signed on to be the first advertiser on CNN's new Exchange website. CNN Exchange was launched last week as a repository for viewers to upload homemade videos, audio, and photos of news events. Unlike other user video sites like YouTube, CNN staffers will vet every contribution for accuracy before posting them to the site.What's unusual about the Dell deal is that, along with the "traditional" banner ads and sponsored polls, CNN will attach a 30-second Dell ad to the beginning of all videos, which is something that is usually not seen on sites with user-generated content. Those ads will start later this month; the banner ads are already up.
VOD finally gets some tie-in attention
Movie studios have finally begun experimenting with promotional partners and tie-ins for the video-on-demand presentation of the films. As VOD increases to gain market penetration studios are seeing this as yet another way they - and their marketing partners - can reach people in their homes. Marketers have been quick to express interest but slow to actually sign on to any partnerships in this area, despite assurances from studio execs that this is a very measurable medium. They know exactly who and how many people requested the movie through VOD. Traditionally VOD movies haven't gotten much attention because they hit there a month or more after the DVD release. But that could change if, as some suggest, they focus on products that are home-oriented like pizza delivery and things like that.Free ad-supported Survivor on VOD
Comcast digital cable subscribers in a handful of markets will soon be able to watch Survivor Finale and Survivor Reunion free through video-on-demand the day after they're broadcast. The deal comes about as a result of General Motors signing on as a sponsor of the VOD offerings and the carmaker will be presented as such. This is the first time Comcast VOD will offer a show for free so soon after its initial broadcast and is a real test of whether viewers will take the free show with the ad sponsorship. Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago and Detroit will be the only markets this is available in since those are the markets CBS, the network that airs Survivor, owns stations. [via Lost Remote]
