Lying on an operating table, a man looks up to seemingly get some words of encouragement from his surgeon.
"Nervous, son?" asks the doctor understandingly. But the pep talk veers off on a curious, humorous tangent. "You probably feel the way Glenn Close’s character did when she first set eyes on Kansas in Sarah, Plain and Tall. Helpless. Friendless. But then she met the lonely widower Jacob, as played by Christopher Walken. And in time, she opened up his heart—much like I’m going to do to yours today."
A montage of scenes from films then flickers before us, including glimpses of Close and Walken. A voiceover queries: "When’s the last time you lost yourself in a really good story?" A super reveals the logo of the Hallmark Channel, a cable network which debuted this month.
Entitled "Surgeon," this :30 is one of three in the Hallmark Channel’s introductory campaign directed by Jim Jenkins of bicoastal/international hungry man. Jenkins also served as creative director/copywriter via nicebigbrain, New York.
The work is smart, with similar scenarios unfolding in the spots "Taxi" and "Date." However, the attraction for me goes beyond the commercials themselves, which are deserving of praise in their own right. The campaign also in a sense represents a harbinger of things to come—or is that, more accurately, things that were?
Advertiser-supported and–produced programming—a staple of the early days of television—is starting to emerge again, albeit in different forms. The Hallmark Hall of Fame presentations date back to the so-called golden age of television. Now, Hallmark is branding itself with its own cable channel.
Meanwhile, other advertisers are exploring ways to break through—looking to diversify their branding tools beyond traditional :30s. For example, in planned test beds, video on demand (VOD) is generating interest aside from its obvious interactive TV application for movie delivery into homes. A consumer looking to buy a car could via VOD instantly see running footage of a particular make or model of automobile, accompanied by pertinent product info. Or an advertiser might simply choose to sponsor and have its agency create VOD content that’s less sales oriented. Some advertisers might simply choose to maintain a VOD channel of quality programming, ranging from documentaries to concerts to short films and episodic series.
At the Producers Conference earlier this year, Steve Armstrong, creative director/editor at Santa Monica-based editorial/design boutique ARTiFACT and a partner in ARTiFACT+itv, Santa Monica, described VOD as "the hidden killer interactive TV application" for advertisers. He opined that agency creatives and producers are in a position to define a new space with short- and longform content that can help to offset the zap factor, whereby a steadily increasing number of TV viewers fast-forward through or eliminate commercials.
While not VOD, the Hallmark Channel represents, in some respects, the changing landscape. "Advertisers are looking for new ways to capture audience, and having a hand in creating their own programming is certainly an option," related Tim Clawson, president of Lot 47 Productions, New York. "The launch of the Hallmark Channel this month is more proof of what’s happening out there. Consider Hallmark’s history. Two hours of top flight programming every few months [The Hallmark Hall of Fame presentations] helped bring greater prestige to the Hallmark name. Hallmark became associated with quality programs. The result—a brand strong enough to launch a channel on."
Clawson observed that one of the emerging challenges for a production company "is not just to produce relevant content, but to provide innovative ways for that content to get to the right audience and consumers."
