As soon as the initial spot in the package broke, everyone knew the stakes had been raised. Conceived by Portland, Ore.-based Wieden & Kennedy (W&K), "whatever.Nike.com" had garnered industry billing as being the first ad campaign that started on TV and ended on the Internet (SHOOT, 1/28, p. 10).
Johan Renck, of bicoastal Mars Media and Stockholm-based Pettersson Ackerlund Renck, directed the three spots, which feature Olympic sprinter Marion Jones, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Mark McGuire and snowboarding champ Rob Kingwill. (See Special Report, p. 37, for a profile of Kate Raye, W&K’s interactive producer.) What’s unique is that the TV ads halt mid-story, creating a cliffhanger. To see how the story ends, viewers must log onto whatever.Nike.com, where several QuickTime videos can be viewed. (Apple’s QuickTime is a cross-platform system for the creation and distribution of multimedia Web content.)
For years, convergence—that catchall term for the union of TV and the Internet—has hovered in the minds of spotmakers. Ad agencies, production and post companies have launched interactive divisions, or aligned themselves with Web firms in preparation for the broadband age. The Nike campaign is a giant leap forward, and many consider it to be a telling glimpse of advertising’s future. "The response has been really positive," said Steve Sandoz, creative director of interactive media at W&K. "A number of people [called me to] say they think it’s the coolest thing they’ve seen."
Sausalito, Calif.-based StoryWorks principal/director Michael Shaun Conaway called it "a wonderful example of what we believe the future is all about. Using television and the Web in tandem, anything that can drive people to a Web site is an opportunity to extend the branding experience."
Conaway and his partner, executive producer Alex Melnyk, produced several new media projects; they launched a commercial production division last year (SHOOT, 10/22/99, p. 11). Some assignments have been experimental ads demonstrating how interactivity might look in the future; other projects were geared for the present.
StoryWorks produced a Web companion piece for Hewlett Packard’s recent campaign, "HP Invent," which was created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, and directed by Leslie Dektor of Dektor Film, Hollywood. The Web ad repurposed some footage and stills used in the TV spots with original footage, graphics and Flash animation. (Flash is a vector-based tool that is part of the Macromedia family of authoring and distribution technologies. Sister properties are Shockwave and Dreamweaver.) The ad aired on the HP home page and on several other Web sites.
"We’ve been talking about [interactive advertising] for a long time," Melnyk said. "But now people are really starting to see its potential."
Also active in creating Web content is Sausalito-based eMotion Studios, an interactive communications agency. Cofounder/ director Glen Janssens said that for a recent assignment, eMotion created content for a segment of the HP Web site. "[HP] wanted a consumer site that showed people how they might use technology … in ways that would enhance their lives," Janssens said. "It was basically giving back to the consumer." The result was a series of 60- and 90-second QuickTime videos with MP3 audio. The clips were optimized and compressed with Los Gatos, Calif.-based Terran Interactive’s Media Cleaner Pro software and Logan, Utah-based Sorenson Vision’s video codec. ("Codec" is short for compressor-decompressor. Sorenson was also used for the whatever.Nike.com spots.)
New York-headquartered digital firm Razorfish has been exploring convergence with broadband and iTV prototypes for E! Entertainment’s Talk Soup and PBS Kids’ The Eddie Files. Both projects involved staffers formerly of Fuel, Santa Monica, and Lee Hunt Associates, New York. (Razorfish acquired Fuel and Lee Hunt last year.)
David Jensen, VP of iTV and broadband at Razorfish, explained that the projects utilized various tools, including Flash, QuickTime and San Carlos, Calif.-based Liberate Technologies’ set-top box software.
"Right now, [if] you make a commercial, you don’t distribute it on a computer," Jensen said. "The bandwidth isn’t there. But as television becomes more interactive, the implications … are unlimited."
While the value of digital content will increase as broadband inches closer to the status quo, some say there’s no time like the present for getting started. Peter Zaballos, director of systems marketing for Seattle-based RealNetworks, said that broadband is "a long-term thing that’s really important. But you also have to mind the market that’s here today."
RealNetworks is a family of streaming media tools. The company was founded by former Microsoft executive Rob Glaser; its primary competitors are QuickTime and Microsoft’s Windows Media Player.
Anna Lonergan, a spokesperson for The Gap, San Francisco, said the retailer used RealNetworks to put its recent "That’s Holiday" TV campaign on gap. com. The ads were created by The Gap’s in-house agency and directed by Michel Gondry of bicoastal/international Partizan (SHOOT, 12/17/99, p. 14).
Broad Brand
According to a Dec. ’99 Forrester Research report, two million Americans have high-speed Internet connections; that’s six percent of the online population. "In 2002," the report stated, "video will be part of the everyday PC experience for 19 million broadband consumers." By 2004, households with digital set-top boxes will number 14 million, while "digital set-top box users will spend ten percent of their TV time on Net video."
Zaballos contended that "a critical mass" has already been reached on narrowband. The RealPlayer has close to 100 million subscribers, he said, adding that more than one billion SMIL Webcasts have been downloaded in the past 18 months. SMIL, pronounced "smile," is an acronym for synchronized multimedia integration language, which allows the organization of text alongside an audio-video stream. "The number of people who are regularly tuning into multimedia on the Internet is reaching cable TV-size audiences," Zaballos continued. Webcasters "are going to be able to generate meaningful amounts of revenue by integrating advertising with their programming."
To tap into that, RealNetworks launched the Advertising Extension in December. The tool allows the insertion of banner or broadcast-style ads in streaming media. It is already being utilized on CNN.com. By pairing the software with New York-headquartered DoubleClick, a global Internet advertising service, the Advertising Extension will also track how many people were exposed to the ad and who they were.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based iBEAM Broadcasting, which distributes Web content via satellite, is developing a similar tool called the AdMaster. The AdMaster teams iBEAM with Engage, an Andover, Mass.-based Web marketing firm, and San Francisco-based ZDTV, an Internet company owned by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen’s Vulcan Ventures, Bellevue, Wash. The AdMaster will allow the placement of ads in a Webcast, and is expected to be available later this quarter.
Tom Gillis, VP of marketing at iBEAM, said he believes his company and the AdMaster will "mean a lot" to the spot community. He described the coming of broadband as similar to the desktop publishing revolution, wherein print became a highly targeted medium. On the Internet, he said, "you’re only exposing the ad to the appropriate demographic."
Additionally, iBEAM has partnered with Veon, San Francisco and Herzliya, Israel. The VeonSuite layering technology imbeds links in video. So if a viewer sees a sweater she or he likes while watching a fashion show Webcast, she or he can click on it, get more information or buy it. "The potential is massive," Gillis contended. "For the consumer, it means if they want to, they can watch a Britney Spears video one hundred times in a row." As for advertisers, if you designed Britney’s sweater, ka-ching! You’ve got sales. "It’s no longer about trying to tell you about a soda, it’s about trying to sell you a soda," Gillis said. "The smart ad campaign is going to do both."
Today, the quality of Web content varies tremendously, due to factors such as modem and connection speed, Web traffic and the caliber of the stream itself. Oftentimes a "clip" consists of little else but blurry video and distorted audio. "For dial-up users, the video experience is so poor that charging a fee is impossible," said the Forrester report.
Regardless, Sandoz said, "it makes good sense to start experimenting now, so when broadband does come around, we’ll have some understanding of … how people want to use it. Standard broadcast is push media. The Web gives anyone the chance to determine his or her own destiny. It behooves all advertisers to offer interesting things to experience."
Dan DiPaola seconded that notion. "There’s enough bandwidth now to tell a very compelling story without worrying about what we don’t have," he contended. DiPaola, founder of Burbank RichMedia.com, Burbank, Calif., was formerly producer of new media at Digital Domain, Venice, Calif. Last year, he spearheaded an Internet project for General Motors’ breast cancer initiative, called "Concept: Cure," in association with Digital Domain and Harris Marketing Group, Detroit.
The project consisted of a 20-minute audio-video tour of five originally designed cars. With a live action video host to navigate, there was no text other than Flash graphics. Viewers could stop the tour at any time and navigate the site on their own.
"In the future," DiPaola predicted, "people will not only have to be creative; they will have to understand the technology, so that your creative starts with the limitations or capabilities of the technology."
Janssens of eMotion agreed: "Good storytelling is in greater demand than ever. The people making the transition are the people who are getting their feet wet and embracing [new media]. The area that’s clearly expanding is interactive storytelling."
The bottom line, according to Razorfish’s Jensen, is that digital media is good for the spot business. He mentioned Irvine, Calif.-based chip manufacturer Broadcom, which is developing a digital network to link media devices in the home. "From a live action commercial production perspective," Jensen said, "the fact that you have to create something that will be distributed on TV, PC, laptop, PDA (personal digital assistant such as PalmPilot) and cell phone—that becomes a really amazing business, creative opportunity and challenge."
Next month, SHOOT looks at specialty entertainment Web sites that contend they will provide a new distribution means for filmmakers looking to gain exposure for their shorts, spec pieces and other projects. Conceivably, commercial production house executives, as well as agency creatives and producers, would be able to tap into these pipelines, and find up-and-coming directors in the process.
