Online product placement takes a step forward on AOL, which is playing three new broadband video programs that incorporate GMC vehicles into the action. The shows, which started running Jan. 16 on AOL’s Living Channel, were created by AOL through a partnership with GMC under the direction of GMC’s agency, Digitas/Boston.
“You might see Tyler going shopping and putting the veggies in the Yukon,” an AOL spokeswoman said of a product placement sequence, which occurs on “Cooking with Tyler Florence,” a show that stars the celebrity chef and the GMC Yukon.
Three GMC vehicles are integrated into the campaign–the Yukon, the Acadia and the Sierra, and each is used exclusively on one of the shows, “Cooking,” “Home Entertainment with Michele and Gia” and “Home Improvement with Eric Strommer.”
The shows run three to five minutes, they are free to view and 78 have been created for the GMC program that will run for a year, according to the AOL spokeswoman.
The advertising also includes pre-rolls in front of the shows and sidebar videos, which are tips relating to show topics that are labeled GMC Trade Secrets. One hundred twenty Trade Secrets, 40 for each show, were created. They run about a minute each. The tips include their own “pre-rolls,” short intro clips in which the talent interacts with the vehicle. “It communicates the brand message and it’s a tie in between the brand and the show’s relevant content,” said Sean Kegelman, VP/director of marketing at Digitas.
Kegelman said the sidebar videos will be used on their own. “We’ll play them on video syndication sites like Google and YouTube and podcasts with messages that will draw them back to AOL.”
Digitas created the pre-rolls and sidebar videos from existing footage from TV commercials and new footage shot with the talent from the shows, Kegelman said. AOL produced the shows.
“We believe the Trade Secrets campaign will enable us to connect to our consumers on a more emotional level than traditional advertising,” said Mary Kubitskey, GMC advertising manager. “They’ll actually have the ability to interact with our brands. Also, GMC owns the rights to these assets, so throughout the year these vignettes can be repurposed for different uses.”
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More