Figuratively taking a page in tongue-in-cheek fashion from the late Marshall McLuhan’s seminal The Medium Is The Massage, SHOOT launches this column to report–and reflect–on how the ad biz is rethinking media and the resulting impact on creativity. Catalysts for a media rethink were in abundance at the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas where, for example, mobile devices seemed poised to become a significant player in the delivery of content–and advertising.
At CES, Norcross, Ga.-based SmartVideo Technologies announced agreements that will allow SmartVideo to deliver television broadcasts from NBC Universal and The Weather Channel to cellular-Internet enabled mobile devices (Smartphones) using Microsoft’s Windows Media Mobile technology. Additionally, SmartVideo and ABC News entered into a deal whereby the latter will provide live news coverage and video on demand via cellular Smartphones to SmartVideo subcribers.
SmartVideo is betting that the cellular phone business is on the verge of explosive growth; the company reported that 22 million television-enabled Smartphones are currently in use around the world. The London-headquartered market research firm ARC Group projects that this number will grow to 250 million by 2008.
Per the ABC News deal, mobile phone subscribers would have access to ABC News Now, a 24/7 streaming news channel, and daily on-demand video from ABC News–including reports from World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and Good Morning America. As part of that plan, ABC News offers ad space for commercials to sponsor its news content. Logistically the process is easy; advertisers need only to provide a copy of the spot as they would for TV advertising, and ABC will take care of the rest.
Plans call for SmartVideo to announce additional content distribution relationships in early ’05 that would bring sports, entertainment, cartoons and music videos to subscribers, along with content specifically designed to target the financial community, families, children, the Hispanic market, and teenagers.
CONTENT/CONTEXT
But beyond new outlets, a new paradigm has begun to surface, as the ad biz is seeing several media companies and the media buys themselves assume a greater role in helping to shape the creative nature of messages being imparted to prospective consumers.
That’s because content and context are becoming increasingly intertwined as marketers grapple with ways to cut through the clutter and the zapping of conventional commercials. Underscoring this is the emergence of situational commercials in which spots parallel the programs they sponsor.
This was perhaps most dramatically showcased via the Gary Johns-directed short, The Donation, for Ford via J. Walter Thompson, Detroit. (Johns is now with A Film By, a satellite of Fabrication Films, Hollywood.) Half of The Donation ran just prior to last year’s season debut episode of 24 on the FOX Network. This served to whet audience appetites for the second half airing right after the conclusion of that primetime episode. In the middle of those branded content bookends was a 24 episode sans commercial interruptions.
The Donation is a fast-paced action adventure piece, reminiscent of 24 in several respects, right down to the name of its central character, Jeff Bauer, which conjures up thoughts of Jack Bauer, the hero protagonist portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland in 24. It’s this case of mistaken identity–with the bad guys mistaking Jeff for Jack–that provides the plot twist in The Donation, which also employs the split-screen action so closely associated with 24. Playing a key role in extricating Jeff Bauer from danger is a Ford F-150 truck with its off-road capabilities and hauling prowess.
The Donation exemplifies the mini-trend whereby creative content is married to the media environment in which it appears. This is even cropping up in traditional format :30s. For example, as Law & Order: SVU takes a commercial cable break, the Geico ad that immediately comes up shows a convict meeting his attorney in a prison cell. The lawyer says he has good news, which leads the prisoner to believe that he’s been sprung from the pokey. But instead, the attorney’s happiness is due to his getting a major discount on his automobile insurance.
Clearly, in order to engage viewers and potential consumers in the years ahead, it behooves agency creatives and clients to seriously explore and experiment in both old and new outlets, the latter entailing the likes of mobile devices, the Internet, VOD, interactive TV and gaming. While creativity has arguably lagged behind technical new-media innovations–in large part because they haven’t delivered the number of eyeballs for some to take seriously–there’s no doubt that the creative community will narrow the gap. The major question, though, is whether most of that gap narrowing will be done by the traditional agency creative sector, particularly when a significant number of ad shops still client to the conventional advertising model.
Part of that longstanding model has separated agency media departments from their creative brethren. But media outfits–like Carat and Starcom MediaVest–have a growing sense of new media’s relevance to consumers and branding. Forward thinking agency creatives are developing or tapping into this expertise–otherwise they may find it difficult to create the proper content with the proper context for viewers.
Some contend that this could open the door for media-savvy firms to take a lead role–or at least a far greater one than before–in creative. Conjecture is that more major media shops will look to bring on established creative directors to better take advantage of new-media opportunities, a development that is just starting to take hold.
Additional reporting by Carolyn Giardina.
Editor’s note: SHOOT encourages its readers to send in not only great spots they’re involved in but also to share examples of great use of new and old media to help creative content successfully brand and promote product. Send your work and case studies to Robert Goldrich (rgoldrich@shootonline.com) or Emily Vines (evines@shootonline.com). For traditionalists, our mailing address is 6520 Platt Ave., #575, West Hills, CA 91307.
