The OMMA Video Summit, held yesterday in New York, brought industry leaders together for a sometimes exuberant, sometimes critical look at the growing online video advertising industry.
The exuberance started with the morning’s keynotes, when Janet Kestin, chief creative officer of Ogilvy & Mather/Toronto, spoke about the Dove Real Beauty campaign for Unilever, which featured the online video ad “Evolution” that used time lapse photography to show how a normal looking woman could be transformed into a fashion model through tricks and touched-up photography. “It took something people knew and made them see it for the first time,” Kestin said.
Kestin’s role in the OMMA program was to show how traditional TV advertisers like Dove and its parent company Unilever are finding new opportunities with online video advertising — “the evolution will not be televised,” as Kestin said. But much of what’s happening online is TV-centric, including the broadcasting of TV content online. (See today’s SHOOT e.dition article on the Cannes Advertising Festival for news of Dove’s “Evolution” winning Grand Prix honors in both the Film and Cyber categories).
The second keynote speaker was Herb Scannell, CEO and co-founder of Next New Networks/New York, which plans to launch 101 micronetworks in five years that will broadcast specialized online TV content on channels devoted to comic book lovers, Corvette lovers and more. The three rules for new TV are “authenticity, conversation and community,” he said, explaining how the network will provide high quality content for specific communities that can be sold to advertisers seeking to reach the demographics. He said he’s seeking 10 charter advertisers.
Scannell also explained how the new TV will “embrace user control. They’ll watch it where they want to watch it, it’s transportable media.” Next New Networks will play its micro channels on Joost and YouTube as well as on Next New Networks site.
The next program focused on how TV content is coming online, with representatives from two major networks, Fox and ABC, joined by executives from Yahoo! and AOL, who discussed how they are playing everything from primetime programs to short clips online. The numbers are good, with all four saying there is high viewership and length of time spent viewing. The advertisers on the network sites are primarily playing traditional TV ads, with the portals offering new forms of advertising, such as instream tickers at AOL. “We want to offer new forms of advertising for the new content, it’s how we’ll monetize it,” said AOL’s director of product marketing Scott Levine.
The goal of developing new creative was the subject of the next program, as representatives from five companies discussed the new formats they are using, from the Video Egg’s Super Tickers to the video ads that play after users click on the double underlines from Vibrant Media to the branded content advertising from Roo. The agency perspective was also on display as Lars Bastholm, executive creative director for AKQA/New York, showed a video ad done for ESPN that was filmed during the TV shoot, which demonstrates how new creative executions can come from traditional media production budgets.
One of the highlights of the show was the Upfront Pitch session, in which five web-based TV companies pitched their content to the audience like traditional TV networks do during upfront presentations. After the session the audience voted on the content they liked best with Blip.tv’s assortment of shows edging out offerings from ManiaTV, Soma Management, Brightcove and Revver. But what the presentation really indicated was how much original content is available for TV advertisers on the Web, from the Somabeauty and Kids channels to the live music and action sports shows at ManiaTV. Drew Massey, CEO of ManiaTV, also explained how advertisers could take advantage of the new medium by buying exclusive rights to the shows that come with bumper and close ads, two minutes of spots during an hour of programming, clickable banners and customized feature segments. Advertisers on web TV get much more than traditional TV advertisers. They can participate in the shows in a variety of ways.
The show concluded with “The Next Season,” which looked at the future of online video advertising. There was critical discussion of the pre-roll and repurposed TV advertising that plays online now, which is “lazy and results from a lack of resources,” according to Mike Cassidy, president/CEO of Undertone Networks.
The lack of resources is an important point because repurposed TV commercials are chiefly used since clients can’t afford new creative and agencies don’t take the initiative. “We have to create production scenarios that are wider and shoot assets that can cover any platform,” said Alan Schulman, the new senior VP and executive creative director at imc². One of the platforms is long-form advertising that “goes deeper with the online narrative and provides brand centric information. We’re excited to tell a deeper story,” he said.
Long form advertising and all the other formats that were on display at OMMA Video are taking online video advertising in new directions. “We have a chance to liberate advertising,” Gregory Wilson, CEO of Red Ball Tiger, said during the closing session. The remark summarized the attitude of the industry, which is striving to distinguish itself from traditional media as it moves ahead.
Oscar Nominees Delve Into The Art Of Editing At ACE Session
You couldn’t miss Sean Baker at this past Sunday’s Oscar ceremony where he won for Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay and Editing on the strength of Anora. However, earlier that weekend he was in transit from the Cesar Awards in Paris and thus couldn’t attend the American Cinema Editors (ACE) 25th annual panel of Academy Award-nominated film editors held at the Regal LA Live Auditorium on Saturday (3/1) in Los Angeles. While the eventual Oscar winner in the editing category was missed by those who turned out for the ACE “Invisible Art, Visible Artists” session, three of Baker’s fellow nominees were on hand--Dávid Jancsó, HSE for The Brutalist; Nick Emerson for Conclave; and Myron Kerstein, ACE for Wicked. Additionally, Juliette Welfling, who couldn’t appear in person due to the Cesar Awards, was present via an earlier recorded video interview to discuss her work on Emilia Pérez. The interview was conducted by ACE president and editor Sabrina Plisco, ACE who also moderated the live panel discussion. Kerstein said that he was the beneficiary of brilliant and generous collaborators, citing, among others, director Jon M. Chu, cinematographer Alice Brooks, and visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman. The editor added it always helps to have stellar acting performances, noting that hearing Cynthia Erivo, for example, sing live was a revelation. Kerstein recalled meeting Chu some eight years ago on a “blind Skype date” and it was an instant “bromance”--which began on Crazy Rich Asians, and then continued on such projects as the streaming series Home Before Dark and the feature In The Heights. Kerstein observed that Chu is expert in providing collaborators with... Read More