There was a new act in town at MIPTV this year. The MIP Formats conference had its debut and our very own Doug Scott was one of its featured speakers. The conference showcased a group of panels on topics related to the broadcast and format producer world, with discussions ranging from increasing the presence of major studios in the format sector to trend analysis to bringing formats into the transmedia age...
Check out more, including a feature call out on Real Screen, after the jump!
Looking for all the latest and greatest from MIPTV? Check out our conference-related news round-ups, updated daily! Want more? Hop over to the official MIP Blog for your MIPTV fix in real time.
4 days of MIPTV have successfully flown by and it keeps getting better!Keep reading for more updates on all of the exciting happenings in Cannes.
Looking for all the latest and greatest from MIPTV? Check out our conference-related news round-ups, updated daily! Want more? Hop over to the official MIP Blog for your MIPTV fix in real time.
Twitter Makes First Ad Move With Sony, Bravo – Twitter announces its first foray into advertising with partners, including Sony Pictures and Bravo, as it steps up efforts to entice brands and media companies to come onboard. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: The Animated Series, Disney XD 2011 – A new Spider-Man cartoon series is in the works and set to release next fall, says Marvel Animation president Eric S. Rollman.
Japanese Friend for Thomas the Tank Engine – Britain’s Channel 5 gives Thomas a makeover with a Japanese Engine & a new “computer generated look” set to launch in the UK and rollout in Canada and Tokyo later this year.
Fremantle widens search for formats – CEO Tony Cohen announces search for global formats; cites Japan (Hole in the Wall), Romania (Look Who’s Cooking), and France (Take Me Out) as growth area for the media company. Insights, Spotlights, and On Stage stories after the jump!
Looking for all the latest and greatest from MIPTV? Check out our conference-related news round-up, updated daily! Want more? Hop over to the official MIP Blog for your MIPTV fix in real time.
A Few Words From Doug Scott, OgilvyEntertainment President:
Starz teams with Electus for global drama – Starz CEO Chris Albrecht announced a partnership with Ben Silverman’s Electus, with two new dramas—targeted toward international audiences—in the works.
Comcast Entertainment Studios Open for Commissions – Comcast Entertainment Studios (known for producing such shows as Then and Now for ABC, Baggage for Game Show Network and Miss America: Behind the Curtain for TLC) announced its ready to produce on a global scale for networks looking to commission content.
Sony TV inks sponsorship for soccer doc – Sony Pictures Television and Castrol announce a brand partnership whereby the lubricant giant will sponsor How to Win the FIFA World Cup, a documentary examining the “Defense,” “Midfield,” and “Attack” modes of all 32 nations in the upcoming tournament.
Greenpeace doc announced at MIPTV – Deep Water’s Jerry Rothwell is set to direct a feature documentary on environmental organization Greenpeace (called How to Change the World) with Insight Production Company and Met Film, according to an announcement at MIPTV yesterday.
As part of its new activity schedule, MIPTV introduced a much anticipated new conference event: MIPFormats, a one-day business conference and pitching forum designed for producers, commissioners, buyers, distributors, brands and aspiring creators of breakthrough entertainment formats.
It’s that time of year again—flowers are blooming, winter coats have been tucked into the backs of our closets, sunglasses are out in full force—and 12,000+ movers and shakers of the global media industry are convening in Cannes for the five-day audiovisual and digital content extravaganza that is ReedMIDEM’s MIPTV conference.
For the last three years, Ogilvy has been a leading partner at MIPTV and 2010 is no different as the agency seeks to explore varied and innovative formats and channels for advertising while backing clients such as Coca-Cola and Unilever through contests and panels on site.
In support of Ogilvy's activities at MIPTV, TWEED will go international all week long covering:
-MIPTV Panels & Events -International Branded Entertainment News & Insights -MIP Headline Round Ups -Relevant Tweets & Top Videos
We raise our glasses to all of our colleagues at the Palais des Festivals this week, and look forward to the new wave of trends, ideas, and thought leadership that will surely come out of this year’s activities.
by
Panos Sambrakos, Executive Creative Director, OgilvyOne Athens
TWEED GUEST EXPERT is a series of posts authored by industry experts to introduce various perspectives on the branded entertainment industry.
To promote Lacta chocolate bar in Greece, Kraft Foods and OgilvyOne Athens crowdsourced a 27-minute branded-entertainment film, involving the audience in everything from writing to casting and styling the actors. Some people even popped up as extras in the finished film. During filming, audiences were kept updated through a blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr accounts. On Valentine’s day the film aired on Greece’s top TV channel and online, with great success.
Only months after “Love at first site”, Lacta’s first online film had launched, and long before its award-winning streak had reached its peak, Kraft Foods had briefed us on the next assignment. The goal was simple. Repeat the success of the first one…
What happens when Greek candy bars meet branded entertainment? It’s a love fest for everyone.
This 30 minute short film is the second content push from Lacta (the Greek chocolate mavens), and embodies the brand's key messaging for the last decade: love. Based on a true love story chosen via consumer submissions (with major content plays, such as character names and clothing choices, left to voters online), the film is the result of an interactive “Love in Action” campaign for the brand.
In our raciest Video of the Week to date, Lady Gaga debuts her music video for “Telephone,” featuring product placement from familiar partners Polaroid and Virgin Mobile.
I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. The story behind how I was fortunate enough to land an opportunity with Ogilvy Entertainment is no different.
Let’s start from the beginning:
During my senior year of college, a friend randomly asked me if I wanted to help out with a news television program he was trying to start up at Morehouse. Holding no prior experience in television and having no idea what I would be required to do, I answered the question the only way that seemed to make any type of sense....I said why not?
The Super Bowl has come and gone, and so have many of its commercials. You may still see a lot of the ads aired on TV, but, as Ad Age’s Viral Video Chart proves, most of the Super Bowl ads do not sustain their popularity in the digital world.
On the other hand, some of the more “durable” viral campaigns, such as the Evian’s Rollerskating babies, are returning to the list.
“It's the difference between a surge in audience powered by marketing and exposure from a big event, and a sustained viral campaign, powered by social media and marketing.”
Out of the four Super Bowl ads remaining on the list (Doritos, Snickers, E-Trade and Google), we thought we would share the top 2:
by
Seth Callaway - Producer, One Show Entertainment
The success of the second annual One Show Entertainment, held last week in Hollywood, CA, validated the reason why we introduced the show in 2008 -- branded entertainment is an exciting and rapidly growing segment of advertising. This is true despite the current hesitancy of the industry at large. We saw a dramatic increase in the number of entries and, more importantly, the quality of work.
Seems New Balance is challenging viewers’ perspectives with its very own daily dose of modern (branded) interpretive videos. The short films featured on the sneaker company’s hub site are part of a new film project, art directed by Mother, which will showcase a new 15-30 second video daily in 2010.
This week we find out how IBM uses Disney World to get its message across, and why we’ll soon be seeing a show produced by Oprah about Oprah and her last Oprah show, to be played on an Oprah network.
With NBA All-Star Weekend only a week away, Adidas has created a viral video to promote the lightest-ever footwear and apparel lines.The video strategically encourages viewers to visit the Adidas website and YouTube page and gives an incentive for consumers to share.This genius marketing move allows viewers to watch a 30-second spot featuring NBA star Dwight Howard.When consumers share the content, they will be given more to watch.Building interactive content is difficult, but this strategy is sure to be a success.To watch your 30-second spot, click below.To see more, you know what to do!
For the longest time lacrosse players and fans like myself have looked for validation, that the sport we play and admire is worthy of press and should be broadcasted more frequently as it is the fastest growing sport in the United States.In fact, according to US Lacrosse, the national governing body of lacrosse, youth participation in the sport has grown over 500% since 1999 to nearly 250,000, and there are now an estimated 200,000 high school players.So when I heard the news that they were going to make a movie about lacrosse, titled Crooked Arrows and sponsored exclusively by Reebok, I admit I was excited.But then I wondered, “What if this thing falls flat on its face?And how will this decision affect Reebok?”
I am a self-proclaimed Gleek. I- along with thousands of others- make sure my DVR is set every week to record the trials and tribulations of Will Shuester and his nerdy band of singing saps on Fox’s hit TV show “Glee.” And, sadly, now that it is on hiatus while “American Idol” rules the airwaves, each Wednesday evening I have nothing better to do but sit and ponder whether Rachel will ever get her big break, how Quinn and Finn are going to raise their baby, and why Wheels always wears suspenders.
For those of you who are sports fanatics, the Super Bowl is one of your favorite events of the year, if not the favorite.
And those of you who are not sports fans you will most likely still watch the Super Bowl for social reasons, or at least to see the commercials everyone will be talking about the next day.
One brand has opted to take the road less traveled, though, to focus on a more philanthropic venue for its cash in addition to spots during the game. Coke has launched a campaign intended to raise money for charity rather than spending it all on the Super Bowl commercials, with plans to donate $500,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Half of this money will be raised through a Facebook program linked to the Super Bowl. Consumers are encouraged to virtually gift a bottle of Coke to their friends. For each virtual bottle gifted, Coke will donate $1. The incentive to gift the Coke bottles online is the opportunity to see a 20-second preview of one of Coke’s Super Bowl spots. On top of this preview, the gift givers will be sent an exclusive pre-screening of the full 60-second spot at noon on Feb 7th, the day of the Super Bowl.
Simon Fuller, the creator of Fox’s “American Idol” is branching into the online realm with his new project “If I can Dream,” This new web-series will follow three aspiring actors, a model and a musician in their pursuit to try to make it in Hollywood. Their experiences will all be streamed live online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Viewers will be able to comment and leave feedback via blogs, MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. This “unfiltered and unvarnished” project will launch across multiple platforms: online, TV, radio, mobile etc. (An edited episode will also be available on Hulu.com weekly.)
What makes this web-series so unique is that the audience is allowed to pick the camera angle they watch from. The real time interactive nature of this project allows the audience to be closer than ever to the stars of the show.
To catch a sneak preview, check out the trailer below:
If you’re from Louisiana, as I am, the month of February brings promise of delicious King Cakes, a plethora of MoonPies (perhaps unfortunately), and several weeks of Mardi Gras parades and balls as almost the entire state gears up for the culmination of indulgence that is Fat Tuesday.
Those of us who grew up in the great Cajun state know there’s much more to Mardi Gras than the lecherous party that it’s often chalked up to be. Sure, there’s the initial shock of bead-hungry flashers (“Throw me somethin’, Mister!”) and intoxicated, Hurricane drinking tourists running loose one weekend in late February. But beyond the stereotypical debauchery usually associated with it, Mardi Gras is a month-long celebration that is actually pretty tame (the Krewe of Barkus, for example, boasts an annual pet procession through the French Quarter).
To help assert its more favorable qualities, Tabasco, Belo Corp. Broadcasting, and Zehnder Communications (a New Orleans marketing firm) have pledged to help “rebrand” the Big Easy festival to better align with its cultural and culinary roots.
Can you cook? Maybe just a little? Okay--not at all? If you couldn’t cook a meal if your life depended on it, maybe you should check out some of Food Network’s new programming, as it’s centered around making lousy cooks feel comfortable in the kitchen.
In addition to its newest reality-based cooking competition (aptly titled Worst Cooks In America) and roster of shows based on simplified/pared down meal making (i.e. - 30 Minute Meals and Semi-Homemade Cooking), it seems the network has been working to extend its “basics of cooking” franchise into the video game industry. Through a partnership with Wii, which is known for encouraging consumers to get up off their couches in favor of more interactive gaming experiences, Food Network has developed “Cook or Be Cooked”—a video game in which users virtually chop, prepare, and cook an entire meal in order to win.
According to Ad Age, Ikea has championed web-based branded entertainment with its ongoing comedic series, Easy to Assemble. The show—distributed primarily via MyDamnChannel.com and starring actress Illeana Douglas—is currently the most-watched branded content series on the internet, with upward of 5.1 million views.
Like what you see? Click here to watch full series episodes (which boast guest stars from Tom Arnold and Jeff Goldblum to Keanu Reeves).
Live from the Sony Booth at CES, President of Sony Electronics, Stan Glasgow, speaks about Sony’s plan to launch 3D television sets by mid 2010. Sony is showing nine different big- screen TV models and sizes, all 3D capable at this year’s conference.
For those of you who didn’t know, the recent blockbuster hit, Avatar, was shot with Sony 3D equipment and viewed from Sony projectors.
To hear more this technology and other products Sony showcased at CES, check out the video after the jump...
When I saw this commercial for LG’s new smartphone and projector the other day, I immediately thought exactly what the skeptic voiced aloud in the ad: “There’s no such thing as a projector phone!” However, although his voice dripped with scorn and disbelief, seeing is believing—and the proof was right before his eyes:
For those of you who don’t know, this week is the annual Consumer Electronics Showcase (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The trade show, held every January since 1967, is where new products are announced and, in some instances, previewed. This year is record-breaking with over 330 companies unveiling the latest technology advances. Keep reading to find out what exciting products you can look forward to in 2010!
Though I just started a few months ago here at Ogilvy & Mather in the Associates Program, and have only worked for about a month in OgilvyEntertainment, I feel I’ve already learned so much. That being said, I know I still have a lot to learn, but I thought it would be interesting and different to share with you a quick perspective from “the new guy.”
A couple of weeks ago, we posted the Time Inc. video demonstrating what a typical issue of Sports Illustrated might look like on the as-yet-unreleased electronic magazine tablet. The whole industry is betting on its success: on Christmas many a journalist was kneeling at church praying for not one but two saviors this year.
The video was unquestionably impressive- snazzy colors, fast-moving graphics, quality pictures, and highly customizable layout. It immediately occurred to me that such a product would be an easy sell to advertisers. But an article in yesterday’s New York Times’ Sunday Magazine made me reconsider one of the challenges advertisers may face given this new format.
This past Tuesday, our team member, Randa Munayyer, spoke on a Branded Online Content Panel hosted by New York Women in Film & Television at the New York Film Academy. The panel of industry leaders presented an overview of the current online advertising landscape. The moderator of the panel was Iri Greco, Independent Video Producer, and the panelists consisted of Adam Erelebacher, Co-Founder of Placevine; Melianthe Kines, Director of Online Media for IFC; Gary Nadeau, Independent producer, and Randa Munayyer, Senior Content Manager here at OgilvyEntertainment….
Macy’s already owns one go-to holiday staple, and this year it’s looking to create another.
The department store giant- already known for its Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City- has financed a new Christmas special called “Yes, Virginia,” which aired last Friday on CBS. Macy’s was promoted as the sponsor and subtly appeared in the special itself.
With the onslaught of movies, book deals, and fleeting fame spawned from buzz around viral social media, it seems anyone with a clever idea and an entrepreneurial spirit can make a dollar (or six figures) these days.
Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corporation and Time Inc. have jointly announced that they have entered into an independent venture to develop a device that will allow consumers to read the digital publications on a tablet computer/electronic reader.
Although still in the development phase, this device could potentially challenge the Kindle, smart phones, i-Pods and other such devices.
In it’s new demo, Sports Illustrated editor Terry McDonell speaks about the endless possibilities that this hypothetical device holds.
This past Sunday I had the chance to see Tom Ford’s directing (along with adapting and producing) debut in the screen adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man.
CMOs are constantly under pressure to prove ROI/Effectiveness of brand marketing to the C-suite for the billions they spend on media and brand building. They’re looking to “do more with less” and at the same time apply pressure on their advertising and media agencies to address the topic of ROI and effectiveness.
Art meets all the comforts of home in Art Home, an environmental installation/restaurant made possible by luxury appliance manufacturer Electrolux and sponsored by other high brow brands such as Moet & Chandon.
The project is the brainchild of French artist Laurent Grasso and focuses on culinary and architectural form and function—with highly sought after dinners and lunches (the Nomiya dining room, as it’s called, only seats 12) in a glass setting overlooking a beautiful Parisian landscape.
A one of a kind branded experience, with a hefty pricetag!
If the video isn’t enough, check out the description after the jump…
Can you imagine a world if political speech had absolutely no boundaries? Every candidate would be schlepped off to court for countless acts of misrepresentation, accusations, fabrication, you name it. Everyone needs rules.
Today marks the day the revised FTC regulations go into effect. The update includes needed overhauls from 30 years of marketing, and more specifically the inclusion of social media and the refining of product endorsements. So pay attention everyone, a hefty $11,000 fee is attached for each offence, not your average price of a parking ticket. Even in NYC.
Gatorade, known to showcase the power and strength of professional athletes, has taken a new turn with its new docu-series that follows every-day athletes from rival high schools Easton-Area Red Rovers and the Phillipsburg Statelinesrs. Well, these athletes are not completely “every-day” athletes. They are 30-something year old rivals who after 15 years, have come together to replay a full-contact regulation football game in their hometown in front of a sold-out crowd. (10,000 tickets were sold out in just 90 minutes!)
On Sunday, November 29, at 9:00 p.m. Fox Sports Net (FSN) affiliates nationwide will premiere a one hour special on REPLAY Season One: the Easton Area Red Rovers vs. the Phillipsburg Stateliners.
People look forward to this time of the year. Not because of Thanksgiving-induced food comas, or 8 nights of Hanukkah, or even a white Christmas. People look forward to this time of year because it means they can go to Starbucks and order their favorite seasonal holiday beverages. After all, what’s better than sipping on a steaming peppermint mocha or gingerbread latte when it is forty degrees outside and you feel like you will never see the sun again?
This January, Los Angeles-based brand integration firm Brand in Entertainment (BiE) is holding an unprecedented live “integration auction” at Christie’s in New York City where advertising agencies will be able to bid for what BiE is calling “choice brand incorporation opportunities in a multitude of platforms including network television, online/Webisodes, graphic novels, films, plays, and more."
This is a pretty big break with tradition: usually branded entertainment deals take weeks or months of negotiations to put in place, with lots of research into who is seeing what brand where and how. That way the products usually don’t seem shoe-horned into a plot or too out of place. If you watch The Office, for example, you’ve probably hardly noticed that Michael and the gang all use Cisco phones. It just seems pretty natural.
And BiE isn’t talking about tiny little art films or local community plays here: the company is working on feature films- including one with Keanu Reeves entitled “Henry’s Crime” and one with Jessica Biel called “Unamerican”- and Broadway shows. This is high-profile real estate...
If you are an avid Ad Age subscriber, it’s likely that you saw yesterday’s “3 Minute Ad Age” clip featuring editor Jonah Bloom on “Marketers as Media Companies.” Bloom examines the trend and cites some of the best examples of branded content in the market today, including his “current favorite,” Grape Nuts’ The Guy’s Manual.
For those of you who didn’t catch it:
(And for good measure, videos—including “Landing a Date with the Cute Girl at the Office” from The Guy’s Manual—after the jump).
One Show Entertainment, the branded entertainment awards, is doing it again this year.
The One Club is gearing up for its annual One Show Entertainment in LA where they bring the best branded entertainment of the year to Tinsel Town. Last year's winners included some familiar names such as Scorsese, CAA and yours truly, as well as a few talented up-and-comers like @radical.media's Dennis Liu. Presenters included Mad Men creator Matt Weiner and director Brett Ratner, and this year's show on February 17th at The American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theater promises to be even bigger and better...
As President of a branded entertainment agency, Scott Donaton wrote an article on AdAge where he addressed whether or not branded entertainment has a place in the magazine world. Based on his discussion, we summarized some points we find very interesting and added a few thoughts. Check them out after the jump.
This week we unveil the Christmas cheers from Gap that will likely be driving you batty by December 25th and what companies are vying for your Thanksgiving attention.
The International Olympics Committee (IOC) is in the midst of “The Best of Us Challenge” where viewers are challenged to out do their favorite athletes in out-of-the-ordinary and wacky activities. Viewers are encouraged to submit videos in hopes of not only besting the athletes, but also winning signed merchandise or a trip to the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Viewers could also create and submit their own challenge.
This campaign reaches consumers through multiple social media outlets: facebook fan page, twitter and youtube, which is the platform for the campaign.
If you think you beat Michael Phelps by hitting more than twelve 5-foot puts in 60 seconds or you can pick up and carry more tennis balls than Rafael Nadal in 30 seconds, check out these video challenges and submit your entries! (Off the record, I did beat Barbara Kendall in her challenge by drawing 34 smiley faces in 30 seconds—she got 24 ☺ )
(Rafael Nadal’s Tennis ball pick up after the jump)
by
Megha Desai, Senior Content Manager (OgilvyEntertainment
You may have noticed Google's ongoing tribute to Sesame Street this week - featuring iconic characters such as Big Bird, Bert & Ernie, Cookie Monster and Elmo. Yesterday’s homepage showcased The Count, which really got me thinking about the number of ways that Sesame Street has influenced our lives over the years.
In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell analyzes the 'Stickiness Factor' of Sesame Street, explaining how the makers of the show use robust research to tailor programs that are able to hold the short attention span of their target audience. By employing repetitive messaging, writers are able to actually have the kids walk away remembering something. But I think Sesame Street’s significance goes beyond letters and numbers and segment recall.
With the premiere of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” right around the corner, Volvo has created a website, WhatDrivesEdward.com, where consumers can enter to win tickets to the premiere of the movie, meet the cast, and receive their very own Volvo XC60, the exact car that vampire Edward Cullen drives in the movie.
The new Volvo is featured throughout The Twilight Saga. It is apart of Edward’s character. The movie portrays him as an affluent teenager who drives the nicest car in the school parking lot. He rides in style, and he also happens to ride in a car that can go faster than any other on the road. Edward Cullen makes the Volvo XC60 look like a million bucks, similar to the effect that James Bond had on the Aston Martin. It is pretty much a guarantee that every teenage girl who sees the movie will be begging her parents for the same car that dreamy Edward drives.
In partnership with IBM, OgilvyEntertainment have successfully blended Branded Content with the Fourth Estate to create a new practice known as Brand Journalism.
In piloting this approach we purposely identified timely “new news” stories that also included a compelling contribution from IBM. Our research led us to Smarter Electricity Grids and Electronic Health Records; two topics that have recently been pushed to center stage in the public imagination and legislative arena.
As part of its new “Open Happiness” campaign, Coca-Cola will send three “Happiness Ambassadors” on a year-long expedition to 206 countries (where Coca-Cola is present). After extensive search, Coca-Cola has narrowed its ambassadors to 3 teams of 3. Beginning today, 10/21/09, consumers are encouraged to go online and vote to determine who the three travelers will be.
The chosen bloggers will explore different cultures while blogging, posting updates on Twitter, adding videos to YouTube, and uploading pictures to Flickr in hopes to generate talk and buzz around the happiness campaign. The ambassadors will meet with locals and learn about their culture while uncovering what makes people happy. They will even take part in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, FIFA World cup in South Africa, and the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, all of which Coca-Cola sponsors.
In this week’s Flashback, we find out who Barbie’s godfather is, that yodeling can be a star-maker, and that Seth MacFarlane will eventually have a show on every night on Fox.
Volkswagen has taken good, clean fun to the next level with a Swedish campaign dedicated to the belief that “the easiest way to change people's behaviour for the better is by making it fun to do.”
They’re calling it, “The Fun Theory,” and have enlisted a panel of “jurors”—like Swedish author Johan Tell (100 Ways to Save the World)—to recognize the best ideas, inventions, and thoughts that encourage people to make a change (while actually entertaining them):
From a staircase mocked up as a piano (not unlike the “Big” keyboard at FAO) to a bottle bank “arcade machine” (which rewards visitors with sound effects once items are deposited), VW is promoting good behavior—whether for health, the environment, or your fellow man—through (branded) entertainment!
Last spring, Intel launched a very funny commercial featuring Intel employees fawning, swooning, and gushing over the co-creator of the USB, Ajay Bhatt, with the tagline “Our rock stars aren’t like yours.” Here’s the video:
But, brace yourself, because I’ve got some big news: the man in the commercial is NOT the actual Ajay Bhatt, pictured after the jump...
7-Eleven always brings back the good memories. Free slurpees on 7/11, brain freezes, that awesome Simpsons in-store takeover a few years ago. And now Japanese character Domo is making a splash in stores nationwide! (Just walked by a 7-Eleven on the way to work – definitely going back to check it out some more.)
This week’s Flashback shows that Branded Entertainment is catching on like swine flu, you can write a rock opera about nearly anything in the world, and Barbie can have a friend named Janessa:
I had the great misfortune this weekend of sitting through Ricky Gervais’s newest film The Invention of Lying. And perhaps even worse, I was the one encouraging my friends to choose this flick over any of the others at the theater.
Not all product integrations are created equal. Some blend into program storylines, enhancing both brand and show (while delivering a message that has entertainment value and resonates with the audience). Others—albeit with the best of intentions—are simply inauthentic, and thus fall flat when executed…
Who has the time to scour the Internet each day reading every little piece of breaking news about entertainment, branded content, and marketing? That’s why we’ve got the Tweed Flashback, bringing you the latest and most pertinent stories from the advertising world! This week we’ve got increasingly desperate housewives, more Barbie DVDs than you can fit in a dream house, and a new Google product that will allow you to never actually speak to someone in person again.
According to a recent ComScore study, “Online video reached another all-time high in August with more than 25 billion videos viewed during the month.” Google Sites dominated the charts with more than 10 billion videos viewed (YouTube accounting for 99% of the Google videos).
In tribute to YouTube blowing away Microsoft, Viacom and Hulu, yet again, we thought we’d share “The Hundred Greatest Hits of YouTube” in one hilariously funny video:
Topping the Viral Video Chart, this video mash-up has almost 1.5 million views to date.
Before I flipped from Desperate Housewives to SNF (Go Colts!) during the commercial break last Sunday evening, I was lured into watching Sprint’s new vignette, "Another Desperate Housewife.” (Yes, I admit I watch the show, however, I have to blame my mom for roping me into it.) After the vignette aired, I turned to my roommate: “Oh, this is for Sprint! I thought the show was still on!” Before realizing there was a Sprint tie in, we were both caught wondering who these new characters were!
In partnership with ABC, Sprint created a series of seven vignettes featuring a couple whose relationship unravels care of messages from rival lovers (featured, of course, on Sprint products). Each week, Desperate Housewives viewers will learn more about the couple and watch as their secrets unfold through a new vignette installment. The couple may even make a guest appearance on the actual show.
The steamy and scandalous tone, extending from the show to the branded vignettes, is no mistake on behalf of Sprint. In a recent Ad Age article, “Desperate Spokeswives: A New Marriage With Ads,” Stephanie Kelly (Sprint's entertainment media manager), was in full support of creating a seamless connection between content and advertising: “You want to be able to relate to viewers within the property they know and love and that they have a passion for…”
by
Alex Gulland – Creative Partner, OgilvyEntertainment London
Just over 70 years ago, in February 1928 Scotsman John L Baird – demonstrated the first transmission of human faces and other moving images by radio across the Atlantic.
He had succeeded in sending the "sound of a face" some three thousand miles from London to New York. I love that expression, don’t you? It’s the kind of thing a trendy, skinny creative in a shiny Soho agency would say: “Shall we have a ‘Sound of Face’ Skype call at 5?”
Finally, a reason to celebrate when the market flops.
Puma tasked Droga5 to create a digital campaign to promote the launch of their new underwear line. Introducing a new line’s probably not the best thing to do during a retail dry spell, not to mention who can forget David and Victoria Beckham as the reigning couple of the sexy underwear world?
The new campaign is very clever, and very simple – The PUMA Index - an iPhone application and online stock ticker where as the stocks go down, the models’ clothes come off, revealing just their PUMA Bodywear. Just choose a market, choose a model, and keep things light and happy.
We wouldn’t know either 1superviking.
Tired of looking at those negative red numbers on the stock tickers? Clearly Puma’s sick and tired, too.
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
Any technology that reminds me of a gadget out of Star Trek is immediately something I immediately embrace wholeheartedly. In the past, this mantra led me astray, as was the case when I bought a mini disk player, and—even further back—a Virtual Boy. Though, actually, come to think of it I should give the Virtual Boy some credit, it kinda was on the right track, albeit not very far along. I caught sight of MIT’s Sixth Sense , earlier this year and fondly remembered the old virtual boy – Nintendo might not have quite had the same intention as the team at MIT, but it certainly captured my attention for any and all things virtual reality and primed me for augmented reality. Sadly MIT’s Sixth Sense isn’t even on sale…
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
You might have come across Alternative Reality Gaming (ARG), Alternative Reality Storytelling (ARS) and the latest buzzing term Transmedia Storytelling. So what is it? What is it you ask?! Just about the most immersive way for you, me and whoever else to literally join the storyline of our favorite characters from film, television, comic books, video games and even brands across multiple platforms with evolving content...
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
Last March I got a call that I, Kiernan P. Schmitt, had been chosen as a WPP Fellow, and from across the Atlantic the British head of the fellowship nonchantly asked, "So where would you like to be placed?" A daunting question given that WPP has over 2000 offices in 107 countries. Still shocked at the thrill of getting the fellowship, I mumbled out something akin to, "Uh...um...I don't know. You...probably know the company better than I do. Where do you think I belong? I'm, um, funny, I think...if that helps."
He responded without missing a beat, clearly having already decided where he would put me before even asking the question: "OgilvyEntertainment," he said, "you'll like it there."
Last week the episode four of “IKEA Heights” hit the internet, the latest in a webisode series create by David Seger and Paul Bartunek. The storyline is straightforward in that soap opera-esque kind of way, except its filmed – during store hours – in IKEA’s bustling Burbank location. The series is legitimately funny and enjoyable to watch, a huge win for “branded” webisodes that so often struggle to pull off humor and a branded message simultaneously.
Although we are all overly aware of the growth of online video viewing, it always helps to have some statistical nuggets to back it up. Especially during this time of the year, when most TV shows hit their summer hiatus and we are all forced to deal with a barrage of ridiculous reality television (Dating in the Dark, anyone?), people are flocking to the internet to watch their favorite shows more than ever.
With the season premiere of Mad Men set to air this Sunday (10PM EST on AMC), it only seems fitting that we pay tribute to the award-winning series—and the industry from which its writers continue to draw inspiration.
A look at art imitating life:
“Art & Copy”—a new film about “advertising and inspiration”—chronicles the creative process behind legendary advertising campaigns (from "Just Do It" & "I Love NY” to "Got Milk" & "Think Different”):
What could possibly cause Brazilian soccer fans and Argentinean soccer fans to put their differences aside and collectively enjoy their sport? Adidas’ new series of soccer videos seems promising. Buenos Aires based agency, Brandigital, launched a new digital campaign for three new models of Adidas soccer shoes, each featuring a different star player. The series of videos, one of which stars Brazilian soccer player Falcao battling Argentinean soccer player Buonotte in a juggling contest, has appeared in more than 60 blogs, web portals and digital-media spots. They have generated more than 400 comments, were embedded more than 50,000 times each, played more than 150,000 times (in less than a month) and have been seen by more than a million viewers. In just over 48 hours, the series of videos had more than 30,000 visits. A second video in the series stars Argentina’s “most acclaimed and controversial football players,” Riquelme showing off his dribbling skills while being “shot at with paintballs.”
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback
Some highlights from this week’s edition:
Julia Child: Chef, Author and Copywriter Biography, IMDb
Skimming through my go-to blogs, I found a fairly important study published recently concerning advertising rates on broadband and on air. The first article, CBS’ Poltrack: Online Video Could Be More Valuable Than Live TV, summarizes a breaking report compiled by CBS’ in-house research arm on landscape of online and broadcast content...
If you are one of 250 million Facebook users, odds are you recently received this message, or even passed it along:
“Facebook has agreed to let 3rd party advertisers use your posted photos WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION. To opt out: Click on SETTINGS (located on top of page in blue bar, next to logout); Select PRIVACY SETTINGS; Select NEWS FEEDS and WALL; Select the TAB that reads Facebook Ads. There will be a drop down box; Select NO ONE. Save your changes & then PASS THIS ON.”
For over a year now, Disney CEO Bob Iger has been working to invest more heavily in the online space to cultivate engagement and build loyalty among users.
More recently, he announced Disney’s plans to charge for content online. The Mouse House is currently exploring a subscription model that would allow the company to assess users a monthly fee in exchange for content on a new website it’s developing. Iger explained that the pay-for-play site will offer users a “robust” membership experience similar to Disney’s popular kids’ sites Club Penguin and Pixie Hollow.
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
The viral wedding ceremony entrance became instantly popular on YouTube (currently with 13,092,099 views), so much so that the dancers were asked to recreate the scene on the Today Show:
As advertisers try to break through to communities tired of advertising, it might pay to take a look at the outlets everyone’s tuned into--news, film & TV shows, music, and blogs--as means for communication. Here’s my take on some of these outlets, and how we might begin to use them more effectively…
Everybody and their mother knows Harry Potter. Even so, in order to promote their latest film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Warner Bros raised awareness and increased engagement with the Harry Potter brand by launching a Twitter feature that allows people to cast spells on their followers.
by
Alex Nasson & Matthew Fiorentino, Visible Measures
Viral video marketing is no longer a niche activity. Brands, advertisers, and marketers are using the medium in unique and meaningful ways to produce real results that greatly affect their bottom line—from increases in brand equity and share of voice to consumer mindshare.
While it’s too soon to start speaking about cross-equivalency with television, the medium can produce some impressive numbers. We conducted a joint research study on the performance of this year’s 65 Super Bowl commercials and found that, after a month, they had generated 99 million views in aggregate. Nielsen reported the Super Bowl reached 98.7 million viewers. Not too bad.
So, what can you do to achieve success in viral video if you don’t have a Super Bowl budget? What can you do to get started today?
Though my work primarily focuses on creating brand-funded video, I’m still a softie for print media. Fiction, non-fiction, newspapers, magazines – you name it, I’ll read it. Unfortunately, print’s lagged way behind video in providing innovative, captivating branded entertainment. With the most recent issue of GOOD magazine—riding on the coattails of Monocle’s earlier executions—it looks like there might finally be a viable model for brand-funded media in print and, perhaps, the first signs of a workable 21st century business model for a hard-hit industry.
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
Tuesday night Kodak made a special guest appearance on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, kicking off a year-long branded entertainment and marketing partnership. The integration---which was executed by OgilvyEntertainment, with the help of the greater Ogilvy family---demonstrates Kodak's commitment to entertainment and communicates how Kodak is deepening relationships between friends, family and loved ones - only this time, through comedy.
"This, I tell you, this camera---it’s a take anywhere, anytime camera that delivers crystal clear pictures, that helps you create smiles by sharing your favorite Kodak moments.”
Check out screenshots of the entire integration after the jump…
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
Walking the streets of New York City, you are constantly bombarded with various forms of guerilla marketing---whether it’s someone chasing you down the street or a message written in chalk on the sidewalk. Nike has taken the “chalk on the sidewalk” phenomenon to the next level. Deeplocal and StandardRobot have created the Chalkbot for the Nike Livestrong campaign in support of The Lance Armstrong Foundation’s fight against cancer. This innovative robot allows people to send 40 character text messages, emails or tweets to be painted on the road of the Tour de France.
In the video below, the Nike Chalkbot team answers the question, “What is a Chalkbot” and explains how the campaign uses the road as a canvas. Billions of people are able to see, experience and react with the words that are printed on the path. The physical messages allow the users to be more connected to the message and share their “hope, inspiration and encouragement” with the world.
by
Kevin Barwin – VP Business Development, Overlay.TV
TWEED GUEST EXPERT is a series of posts authored by industry experts to introduce various perspectives on the branded entertainment industry.
Ever since groups of shoppers crowded around shop windows to catch a glimpse of the first television set, video has been a staple of advertising. And why not? Television was the advertiser’s first opportunity to combine the power of visual imagery that was found in print with the persuasive selling power of radio...
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback...
Web strategist Jeremiah Owyang had a really interesting blog post last week that discussed the effect of our obsession with content syndication and sharing on the future of corporate websites. His observation is interesting: we – as consumers, brand stewards and branded entertainment experts – realize that all the action is happening in online communities. Whether it’s in blogging circles or organized social networks, we believe that content is most impactful when it’s organically distributed to targeted outlets where our audience already is. One of the direct effects of this is that we have to monitor increasingly fragmented conversations, and the traditional hub of information – the corporate website – becomes outdated.
So how does the corporate website need to evolve? Observations after the jump...
Does Everyone need an Alice? Brian Wiegand and Mark McGuire, the founders of Alice.com hope so.
Don’t be fooled by its short and sweet URL-- a nod to the famed Brady Bunch housekeeper. According to Wiegand, Alice.com plans to provide “a completely fresh approach to the CPG [consumer packaged goods] industry.” The beta site, which launched on June 22, 2009, sells CPGs directly from the manufacturer to the consumer without taking the markup that traditional retailers rely on. Even better, shipping on all orders is free. Consumers logging on for the first time set up their homes and then can browse thousands of items.
Part housekeeper, part personal assistant, Alice keeps your orders organized, filters your search by lifestyle, and reminds you when you might be running low on certain products. And—as if free shipping weren’t good enough—Alice even hunts for coupons and automatically applies them to your orders.
All this, and you might be wondering how Alice can afford to be so generous? The answer is advertising. Manufacturers of CPGs pay Alice to advertise on the site and to distribute free samples of their products to consumers according to spending data provided by Alice.
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
Turn your iPhone into a 40-inch TV with the new Mili Pro micro video projector from PhoneSuit. Now you can project movies, video clips, podcasts and pictures directly from your phone!
Air New Zealand is jazzing up advertising by taking its slogan, “Nothing to Hide,” to the next level…
To emphasize that prices include no hidden fees, the airline has stripped down its latest commercials—literally—featuring flight attendants and crew dressed only in their birthday suits (uniforms are painted on, props strategically placed).
See Air New Zealand’s “Nothing to Hide” spot below, along with it’s brand new in-flight safety video after the jump (guaranteed to turn some heads)!
Being a huge sports fan, I not only browse ESPN.com for the latest updates on scores, but I also find editorials about various players or teams fascinating. Last week, I came across a lengthy article written by Wright Thompson about President Obama’s affinity and passion for basketball and how it influences “Washington’s most influential.” The article, “The Power Game,” discusses how the most powerful political figures and businessmen are brushing up on their basketball skills to prepare for the slight chance that they will be able to ball with the President.
Baron Hill, democratic member of the House and Indiana high school basketball legend, expressed his interest, stating: “I stayed away from the game and here I am shooting hoops again. And it's because of him. If I ever have an opportunity to play with him, I want to be able to halfway get around that court well enough…”
(Doug Mills/ The New York Times)
President Obama presents a young and fresh approach to the White House and the presidency. He’s not only breaking down cultural and racial barriers, but he is also revolutionizing the way business is done in D.C…
“The black sky, the horizon curving away, the brilliance of the sun, the earth up there…”
The 40th anniversary of the world’s first moon landing is just a month away, and—in response—luxury brand Louis Vuitton is prepared to launch an entirely new chapter of its “Journeys” campaign: one that focuses on the journey beyond...
I’ll come right out and say it: I’m a Taylor Swift fanatic.
While the 19-year old pop-country star has worked her way into the hearts of many a teeny bopper over the last two years, she’s also successfully crossed the divide into mainstream pop charts without missing a beat.
Swift’s second album, “Fearless” debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums and, bolstered by her self-maintained (although expertly skinned) MySpace page (complete with amateur-esque YouTube videos) she has become the breakout country music princess of social media…
I admit that how and where Martha Stewart distributes her content isn’t anything that keeps me up at night, but it does highlight an important set of concerns for the future of content. Namely, who can charge for content, how much can they charge, and where can they charge for it?
I normally wouldn’t pick up Wired Magazine, but the weather being what it was this past weekend in the Hamptons, I found myself peeking over a friend’s shoulder as they were reading the July 2009 issue. When I noticed that the article was about Facebook, my interest was piqued. I had to keep leaning and keep reading.
The article, “The Great Wall of Facebook,” focuses on the Google-Facebook rivalry, Facebook’s 4-Step Plan to online domination, and Google’s desire to crack the brand advertising conundrum…
Post Foods launched a new ad campaign for Grape-Nuts that targets its male consumers. As stated in a recent Wall Street Journal Article, “The cheeky campaign “That Takes Grape Nuts” includes a special Website on MSN with dozen’s of two-minute videos. “When you tackle something tough at work or at home, that doesn’t just take know-how—that takes Grape-Nuts.” Kenny Mayne, an ESPN personality, hosts the 50-episode Web series. Mayne comments on a variety of topics such as, “Going Bald Like a Man,” “Looking Cool Driving a Minivan,” or “Beating Your Boss on Every Hole.” “The campaign is a departure from traditional cereal advertising, which has been dominated by wholesome images of mom and the family breakfast table.”
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
OgilvyEntertainment teamed up with Atlantic Records and Crystal Light to participate in Billboard and Adweek’s Music and Advertising Conference, where key players discussed the brand’s partnership with Grarmmy-winning artist Estelle. The conference, in its first year, reflects the growing trend of brands and bands teaming up to propel their marketing agendas...
Check out this Adweek article, “Where Hollywood Meets Reality” quoting our very own President of OgilvyEntertainment Doug Scott. In the article, author Brian Morrissey, discusses how branded content is still struggling to “find its footing.”
Morrissey discusses how last week at the Onfront NYC gathering, keynote speaker Jordan Levin, CEO of production company Generate, warned his listeners that the entire branded-content ecosystem is at risk.
Doug Scott commented, “The biggest challenge is the total number of producers and creators coming to meet with us. Branded content is not about using the product as prop, its understanding the essence of the brand.”
In the past few years Mountain Dew has invested heavily in branding subcultures--including action sports and indie music with initiatives like the Dew Tour and Green Label Sound.
This month, the brand is launching a new product to appeal to online gamers—a line of drinks called “Game Fuel.”
Game Fuel’s labels are set to feature “World of Warcraft” characters, and are available for a limited time. The products will appear on store shelves this month (in two flavors: Alliance Blue and Horde Red) and has 30% more caffeine than regular Dew…
U.K. cable provider Virgin Media Inc. announced this week that the company will be launching an unlimited music download service—in partnership with Universal Music—set to offer media without copy protection to subscribers in return for a monthly fee. The platform, which is expected to come to market by the end of 2009, will provide users with the ability to stream and download as much music as they wish.
Subscribers will have access to MP3’s from Universal’s entire artist catalog—from the likes of Amy Winehouse, U2, and Elton John—and Virgin Media, in turn, has “agreed to take steps to reduce piracy on its network.” These measures, Virgin announced, will include suspending service of offending users.
With talks also underway with EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV, and Warner Chappell (a division of Warner Music Group Corp.), Virgin hopes to reach additional partnerships that will ultimately broaden the service’s offering…
Kobe and Lebron plug their upcoming movies over a game of ping-pong. Next, with the Cavs out of the playoffs, LeBron starts getting in shape for the 2010 season. And finally, Lil’ Dez gives his babysitter LeBron a hard time about not making the NBA finals. David Allen Grier and Kenan Thompson lend their voices to these hilarious puppets created by Legacy Effects.
Also be sure to look at the Nike Basketball Facebook page, where you can become a fan, post on the wall, watch other MVPuppet videos, and check out the latest Nike Basketball products.
Then visit the MVPuppets’ very own Facebook page.
Last but not least, time is running out to snap up an MVPuppets t-shirt on eBay. Seriously, someone is probably outbidding you right now.
by
Alex Gulland - Creative Partner, OgilvyEntertainment London
Recently whilst flying from meeting to meeting in London with colleagues, one of them (Martin McCabe) pointed out that we were passing the amazing IMAX Theatre and drew our attention to the movie currently being promoted - Angels and Demons.
As you may or may not know the main co-star in Angels and Demons is the Large Hadron Collider, based at CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland.
Part of the storyline, already in the public domain, evolves around the efforts of a secret brotherhood who try to destroy the Vatican by stealing Anti-Matter to create a “bomb of unstoppable power.” Unfortunately the reality is that although CERN have been making anti-matter for decades, annihilating every single anti-particle ever made would only give off enough energy to light a single light bulb for a few minutes. At this rate it would take 10,000 times the age of the universe to accumulate the explosive power of a single large nuclear bomb. However, not to worry this is Hollywood where anything is possible...
After weeks of anticipation and agonizing packing, our team at OgilvyEntertainment has finally made the move out West. (to 11th Avenue that is).
The renovated chocolate factory welcomed us all with a chunk of delicious, rich milk chocolate and plenty of natural sunlight. The new friendly atmosphere already appears to be bringing co-workers closer together, not just in the literal sense. Not only is the new office socially friendly, but it is also eco-friendly. With high-tech lights with sunlight sensors and a new green method of printing, we will surely save our planet earth, one creative pitch at a time...
A new ad campaign for Geoffrey Beene teams some of the most recognizable rock stars in the business with leading scientists working on the world’s most serious diseases—Alzheimer’s, Cancer, and HIV/AIDS.
“Geoffrey Beene Gives Back” sheds light on the brains behind this operation—the real rock stars of scientific research. And at the crux of the campaign is something we could all use a little more of: Hope.
And stay tuned for the next post from TWEED Guest Expert Alex Gulland, as she prepares to examine the increasing connectivity between the worlds of science and entertainment.
Have you ever shared a headphone with your buddy on the train or while standing in a really long line? A few nodding heads to each other acknowledging it was a “good” song...but eventually you get in the doldrums of your friend’s playlist and *poof* you take your own iPod out to listen to the “better stuff.” The concept of “sharing” goes kaput.
Sony took sharing to highest of all levels (perhaps for now) in Japan and promoted pop star JuJu’s song “Sunao Ni Naretara” (Wish I Could be True to Myself) via the mobile music video “Pair Movie.” Sony has asked teen and young women to share the video in half, literally – like cutting a television into two so one gets the right side and the other gets the left.
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
Because you don’t need a bunkmate on the overnight Orient Express to Istanbul and all of your travel photography is done via Leica digital rangefinder…
Picking up a magazine this morning, I was stuck by rather anachronistic looking page 2 BMW advertisement: one full-page color image on the left and a few small photographs interspersed between a mini-article with actual paragraphs on the right. No wry slogans, no colorful charges, no radical page design…just one image on the left and a rudimentary off-white page with black text and spare imagery on the right. I read on, needing to know more...
by
Alex Gulland – Creative Partner, OgilvyEntertainment London
TWEED GUEST EXPERT is a series of posts authored by industry experts to introduce various perspectives on the branded entertainment industry.
As our Chairwoman’s report for the WPP Annual Report and Accounts for 2008 stated that ‘creativity is the very soul of our business’, I thought that the subject of creativity and the persistent pursuit of it would be a good topic for my first Tweed blog.
In the UK recently, Rory Sutherland took me along to talk to a group of companies (majority of the audience was made up of programme makers and creators) that comprise the innovative All Three Media Group. We were there to discuss brands and the opportunity for funding for branded programme making.
Today I discovered the series of short films that Google commissioned in support of its new browser, Chrome, as I was reading an article in AdAge about the company’s first foray into broadcast product advertising (for the same product). I love (the majority) of these!
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
“Narrative” can be characterized as the framework around the “creator” of an experience and the “experiencer”—writer to reader, advertiser to consumer, filmmaker to filmgoer. But narrative is *not* story. Narrative is the context through which story emerges.
Storytelling is the most commonly recognized form of narrative. Books, films, 0:30 spots, billboards, radio programs—all are storytelling narrative. The “job” of the creator is to tell a story. But what is the job of the creator of the game of chess? Or any board game? How about a sport, like baseball or basketball? An interactive advertising app? Or a full-fledged social media engine like Twitter or Facebook or Flickr? The job of the creator is *not* to tell a story. So what is their job?
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
Philips teamed up with director Adam Berg to produce Carousel, a three minute short film enacting a “single, frozen, intricately staged moment” of a masked heist gone awry.
While I’ve posted the YouTube cut below, it’s much better viewed on Philips’ dedicated Cinema site.
One can only imagine how good it could look—on the Cinema 21:9, that is.
If you haven’t seen vintage Bill O’Reilly cursing at his studio staff (“We’ll do it LIVE!”) or little David doped up after his visit to the dentist (“Is this real life?”), you might have been living under a rock for the last few years.
But let’s say you’ve already secured your spot in the viral video hall of fame. Where do you go from there?
See below, as infoMania’s Brett Erlich discusses how to tackle the “Sophomore Slump” in his “Viral Video Film School” series. (And for good measure, Tay Zonday’s “Cherry Chocolate” foray into cola endorsement after the jump.)
Twitter is one of the fastest-growing social media networks, nestled third behind Facebook and Myspace, with an ever-climbing growth rate that may seat them with 50 million users by the end of this year. Presently fourteen million strong (with approximately 99 million hits last month), you can say Twitter is a marketing opportunity not to be easily overlooked.
Telling a story using video, in its most basic form, requires a visual grammar to convey elements including vividness, clarity, realism and depth. The world of stereo 3D is forcing a revision of those elements as when we see an image close to how the real world is.
So tear up the MTV generated visual stylebook, with its fast editing format to grab your attention. With 3D you can instantly command a viewer's attention. Slow "linger longer" cuts will be the new black.
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
This past Wednesday OgilvyEntertainment checked out their cool new digs located at 11th Ave between 46 & 47th St. Yes, that's right folks. We are movin’ on West. Far West.
The Entertainment Arrives:
See more tour photos after the jump. We should be settled in by June 8th…
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
The headline says it all: “Yikes! My Mom Just Friended Me!” In his recent post on Ad Age, Marc Brownstein discusses the transformation of social-media sites such as Facebook. He starts off, “When my father and mother recently created their own Facebook pages, I knew social media was tipping.” As a senior in college, this is one of my biggest fears.
I have seen all the “faces” of Facebook over the past four years. What started out as the website to join to officially become a college student has now turned into a networking site where companies screen potential hires.
Reading Chris Brogan’s post from April 3 on the shifting impacts of advertising gave me pause. Inspired by a piece on Jeff Jarvis’ blog, Brogan contends that advertising is losing sight of its chief responsibility: informing the customer about the product. Furthermore, he takes a pretty direct aim at new forms of marketing by locating the heart of modern advertising’s undoing in one simple phrase: “entertainment overtook function.” Quite a claim, and an especially scary one for someone spending each and every work-day figuring out how to create entertainment tailored to brand objectives.
TWEED GUEST EXPERT is a series of posts authored by industry experts to introduce various perspectives on the branded entertainment industry.
If show business is the marriage of art and commerce, then technology is the pre-nup – it’s supposed to make life easier but at what cost to the relationship? The major technological entertainment breakthroughs of the past decade (DVRs and streaming video sites like Hulu and YouTube for starters) have changed the way audiences consume content and have left programmers and advertisers scrambling for a panacea: branded entertainment.
Since much of this blog focuses on the agency and brand perspective of branded entertainment, I thought it might be interesting to take Hollywood’s temperature on the budding dynamic between money and talent. But first, I want to prolong my earlier (strained) metaphor. So as I was saying…art and commerce got married and recently had a kid and named her Branded Entertainment. She’s show business’ youngest child, and she’s heading into her teenage years (like my yachts, I refer to media phenomena in the feminine gender. Get over it). A bit unruly, a bright future ahead of her, but everything depends on the company she keeps over the next few years. If she hangs out with the “brands” too much, she might feel as though she’s betrayed her principles. If she hangs out with the “talent” too much, she might feel unproductive. Must. Stop. Metaphor. Now.
So I sent an email with similar questions to a few actors, producers, studio executives, writers and directors to see how they perceive the emerging landscape and where the battle lines are being drawn.
Conference Grapples with Emotion in Interactive Storytelling Thursday’s “Future of the Gaming Genre in the Next Interactive Landscape” [http://www.mipworld.net/index.php?pid=15&id=120] panel provided perspective on the next generation in gaming trends.
Nokia Announces Multi-Platform “Heroes” Project MIP Blog reported that Nokia has partnered with “Heroes” creator Tim Kring to develop the TV series across platforms. Niklas Savander (Executive VP, Services at Nokia) said the project, code-named TEVA, is still in its early stages.
Advertising Giant Sir Martin Sorrell’s Keynote Illuminates Multi-Screen Entertainment During his keynote on March 31, WPP Chief Executive, Sir Martin Sorrell, said Brazil, Russia, India, and China will be dominant forces in the global economic recovery and noted the increasing significance of developing content for mobile platforms and other new distribution channels.
MIP Blog reported back on a “Focus on China” panel (on March 31) which would provide delegates with tips on collaborating with television professionals in China.
Digital Creative Party Gathers Industry-Shapers at Carlton Industry leaders attended the Digital Creative Party at the Carlton Hotel on Tuesday night, and MIP Blog provided a recap of the evening—with details on the event’s speed meeting corner and color coded badge system.
From Leo Barraclough: -All Creatures Great and Small Barraclough spoke toThomas Hohenacker, the CEO-President of Telcast (a specialist media group) about the company’s latest multi-platform projects. -The Future is Written A piece discussing format, FRAPA, & ITV at MIPTV.
Exclusive Interview with Niklas Savander Nokia’s Niklas Savander discussed the company’s reception of the Pioneer Award at the International Digital Emmys on Monday, and the importance of networking in the content industry (for the creation of long term, sustainable business relationships).
Ynon Kreiz, Chairman and CEO of Endemol, sat down with MIPTV’s video team yesterday as a followup to his keynote speech at the conference.
In his video interview, featured on MIP Blog, Kreiz calls MIPTV the “world’s greatest gathering of the television industry,” saying: “Everybody’s here.”
He goes on to discuss Endemol’s goals (in terms utilizing digital platforms and expanding into new markets in the Middle East, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America)…
MIPTV is the world’s largest entertainment, media and content market and trade event hosted at Cannes, France from March 30th until April 3rd. For one week all those involved with film, TV, digital, production and distribution meet, network and discuss current and future trends in the aforementioned industries. To get up to speed on MIPTV and the other MIP entertainment communities be sure to read MIP Blog: reedmidem.com/mipblog/
Ogilvy is also a proud partner of MIPTV for a third straight year. OgilvyInteractive and Ogilvy Digital Labs will be showcased at MIPTV as well as other Ogilvy speakers. For more information on Ogilvy-MIPTV events and partnership, check out: ogilvy.com/miptv/
To support Ogilvy's activities at MIPTV, TWEED will go international all week long covering: - MIPTV Events - International branded entertainment news/insights - Posts authored by Ogilvy executives who have produced great work for our clients.
Not enough MIPTV in your face action? Our very own Doug Scott will be sending Tweets on guest speakers, panels, and insights straight from MIPTV, so follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/OE_TWEED.
So kick-back, pretend you’re traipsing along the French Riviera, read our stories, follow our posts, we hope you learn something and as always, be sure to leave your comments and join in on the discussion.
Recently Unilever’s top brand Lux starred international celebrity (and current endorser) Catherine Zeta-Jones in a mini-film to launch the brand’s new product Super Rich Shine.
The film was titled Alchemist, a 7-minute piece where Catherine Zeta-Jones played a spy scientist at a top secret laboratory who stole a sample of the lab’s “fountain of youth” to make it available to all women, i.e. Lux’s Super Rich Shine. Filmmakers behind Alchemist included director Dawn Shadforth and Oscar-nominated screen writer Jeffrey Caine.
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
For the second year in a row, the folks at Together (the non-profit climate change awareness organization) have put their own spin on April Fools’ Day with “Energy Wasting Day 2009.”
To celebrate the mock holiday, they’ve released a faux pop music video featuring fictional character Dan Power (who represents the antithesis of the Green movement as he parades around in his “Polar Bears, Who Cares?” t-shirt)...
by
Panos Sambrakos, Executive Creative Director, OgilvyOne Worldwide, Athens
TWEED GUEST EXPERT is a series of posts authored by industry experts to introduce various perspectives on the branded entertainment industry.
“Love at First Site”, a 17-minute long, interactive film, shot on location at the Greek island of Paros and in Athens, tells the love story of Greek boy Petros and English tourist Joanna. The story unfolds in “flash back” and users get to experience the love story from the beginning. Only through their actions and correct choices can they progress the love story and bring the two heroes back together at the big finale, two years after the events at Paros.
That is the premise of the branded entertainment campaign produced by OgilvyOne Athens, the first of its kind in Greece, which enjoyed a big success, both in terms of user response and critical reaction across the world, but also in terms of results.
Being “in-the-know” about the coolest campaigns and latest technologies is a daunting task. What types of information do you scavenge for without experiencing information overload? How many hours do you have to spend on Facebook and Twitter before you finally think to yourself, “Enough with the surfing?” I have to play with a friend’s iPhone so I know what people are talking about when someone asks “is it Shazam-able?”
Last week I came across these links that really made me think about branded and promotional content differently. It was a bit of an information overload, but I think these types of content have come a long way and they’re here to stay, if done right in the future. Fictional corporate websites, video game promotions, and tech experiments – all part of the advanced world we live in, after the jump.
TWEED GUEST EXPERT is a series of posts authored by industry experts to introduce various perspectives on the branded entertainment industry.
“How do celebs feel about working with brands?”—The question posed to me to answer for my very first blog. As I felt a Carrie Bradshaw moment, looking for a clever twist for the question, I thought, this question isn’t brain surgery and you aren’t Carrie Bradshaw. In fact, Carrie Bradshaw isn’t Carrie Bradshaw! So here it is people; my first blog and the answer to the question: “How do celebs feel about working with brands?”
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
J&J’s Clean & Clear brand has partnered with Disney to ring in 10 webisodes of a “teen soap opera” following Hannah Montana obsessed duo, Celia & Chloe, through an over-the-top struggle to score a spot at the film’s European premiere.
The series, which will run in seven countries across Europe and Africa, features Clean & Clear integration (mostly in the washroom, where the pair hash various schemes to gain entry to the film opening) and plenty of exposure to Disney’s Hannah Montana franchise.
As viewers of primetime television nowadays, our fingers seem constantly poised to strike the volume button as commercial advertisements grow louder and louder.
In observing the various ways brands enlist artists to bolster their message, the Gain/Mandy Moore partnership caught my attention. It’s evidence that the convergence between brands and artists has stepped outside the lifestyle products in the beverage, fashion, and luxury categories that we’re more accustomed to seeing. We are now talking laundry detergent, people!
For the long awaited theatrical release of Watchman, Warner Brothers pulled out all the stops to promote the movie. With failing ticket attendance, there is a need to rope in the audience and fill empty seats. Will this become the norm for film releases?
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
Now that we’re in that sweet spot between lunch and dinner, if might be safe to write about digestive health for just one minute…
Since actress Jamie Lee Curtis teamed up with Activia to promote the yogurt snack and its digestive perks, Saturday Night Live has poked fun of the partnership more than once (as with Ashton Kutcher in April of 2008).
Could the spoof and the brand endorsed campaign have a symbiotic relationship—with Saturday Night Live driving at least a portion of the sales (or, at the very least, contributing to awareness)?
See clip from the most recent SNL sketch after the jump…
To celebrate, Hulu is rolling out a new social networking component that will allow users to share recommendations with each other on the Hulu site. New predicative technology will cull the recommendations and offer new ones based on viewing patterns. While it’s primarily a maneuver designed to keep users on the site, where Hulu enjoys greater profit margins, it’s certainly a functional addition as well. Kudos to Hulu for providing an easy, accessible and slick home for content online.
With viewers’ trust at the crux of his argument, Burnham indicated “very serious concerns about blurring the boundaries between advertising and editorial” as a deciding factor.
A big shout out to Phil Johnson for puncturing the absurdity of the phrase "doing more for less" in his small agency diary on AdAge. As he quite succintly puts it, "It's just a polite way to ask someone to suck it up and give you something for nothing. I want to ask people to be smarter and more innovative, not to work more with fewer resources and rewards."
No one doubts the need to be hyper-conscious of value when offering any service or product in the current environment. However, it might be a refreshing change if the potential for reward could be tied to the delivery of that value...
Kanye West has wholeheartedly embraced his status as a brand—a real-life, self-avowed "walking brand." In an industry of outsized personalities and a genre with personalities that outsize the outsized, what makes this at all noteworthy? Tactics.
His self-branding redefines transparency and gives newfound credence to the aphorism that “the journey is more important than the destination.” One need look no further than the keystone of Kanye’s self-branding, his own blog, to see a masterstroke in fusing branding and content.
Two weeks from today, key leaders in the global entertainment industry will converge in Cannes for MIPTV 2009, an annual conference expected to bring together more than 14,000 representatives from across the media landscape.
Last Friday, MIP’s official blog featured OgilvyEntertainment’s Doug Scott as a guest writer, allowing him to give an inside look on what to expect from Ogilvy this year as well as his thoughts on brands “owning” versus “renting” entertainment…
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
If you’re an archive sleuth and an avid TWEED reader, you might have seen our December post on branded entertainment, declaring: “What’s Old is News Again.”
In the featured article, Doug Scott cites in-show advertisement for Philip Morris on “I Love Lucy” as early as the 1950’s.
But the cigarette brand was also featured on other popular television shows (“The Flintstones,” for example)…
TWEED GUEST EXPERT is a series of posts authored by industry experts to introduce various perspectives on the branded entertainment industry.
As we develop content strategies that include 360° marketing and activation elements for our clients, we often search for new distribution channels to engage consumers with branded content. The P2P (a.k.a., peer-to-peer) platform is becoming an increasingly popular tool for consumers to view and engage themselves with branded video content. We’ve recently had the opportunity to explore the concept of P2P distribution with folks from Jun Group, who has worked with top brands like Unilever, Nike, Kohl’s, and Sprite to produce and distribute engaging branded content via P2P networks as well as syndicate content to blogs, social networks, and viral video sites. We’ve invited Mitchell Reichgut, President of Jun Group author a post discussing key stats and advantages of P2P distribution and what brands should keep in mind about this emerging platform for branded content.
UPDATE: Too much negativity and offensive remarks forced Skittles Twitter page to come down from their homepage. Looks like Facebook is stepping up its role sooner than you think.
I’m sure news of Skittles.com has just about reached every person in packaged goods, marketing, and advertising industries, and by now posting about it seems almost too ordinary. While the new Skittles.comis certainly taking a lot of credit for being a first mover as a packaged good brand, its interface is not as user-friendly and intuitive as its predecessor Modernista.com (an ad agency). And while the buzz is overwhelmingly about Skittles, it’s important to realize just how important of a role each social media site plays to promote the brand. Twitter = real time brand pulse. Wikipedia = library of facts on brand and products. Facebook = community of fans to receive all forms of brand messaging. Flickr = library of photos that portray the beauty of Skittles. YouTube = video content to entertain.
As Doug Scott puts it, "This is the kind of distributed content strategy we need to be pursuing for our clients."
Great minds think alike, right? TWEED Flashback is helping minds connect by scouring the web once-a-week for any and all relevant entertainment, branded content and industry stories. Get a heads up and stay in the know with TWEED Flashback.
We’ve all seen ripped clips of “Saturday Night Live” and amazing sports highlights on YouTube. In fact, if you did a search, you could see clips from the Oscars moments after the live show.
If YouTube takes advantage of the potential advertising opportunities, it will generate undiscovered revenue. YouTube’s ads are mostly contextual overlays, a.k.a. normal, generic ads that have poor digital video streaming quality to them. It appears that this may change soon...
What do dogs and cars have in common? Their owners, according to Toyota.
In an article featured on Autopia—of Wired.com blog network fame—Bob Zeinstra (Toyota’s national product marketing manager), spoke of an inherent connection between the two: "More than half of all dog owners consider their pet’s comfort when buying a car,” he said.
Buckle up, Fido!- Pet safety is a factor for dog owners seeking autos. [Photo courtesy of Toyota]
The Japanese auto maker’s campaign for the new Venza will be targeting dog owners and their pets by focusing on the vehicle’s “creature comfort and pet travel safety options” through sponsorship agreements with the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (launched in early February) and the fifth season of “Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan” on the National Geographic Channel…
On Valentine’s day, in the midst of global Fashion Week madness, YSL released its Spring/Summer 2009 Manifesto by distributing heart-shaped USB keys and branded tote bags on the streets of Paris, New York, London, Milan, Tokyo and Hong Kong to the first 2,000 passersby in each city...
Last week I went to the Pratt Manhattan Gallery opening of “Broadcast,” an exhibit that explores the ways artists and consumers have leveraged traditional forms of media to make artistic statements since the 1960s. It’s a great demonstration of how mainstream media can be both upended and leveraged by people who, with a few tools and a mission, can tell dramatic, entertaining, grassroots stories that engage audiences and shift perception...
Over the past couple of weeks an 8 minute Nightline report has been doing the viral rounds. The video details Salma Hayek’s work with Pampers and UNICEF. The One Pack = One Vaccine campaign works to provide tetanus vaccinations for mothers in developing countries.
A recent article in Ad Age argued that the major broadcast networks are rethinking their method of programming.
In the past, the majors have claimed to feature a full year of original programming, yet they have essentially rendered the summer season futile – filling it with re-runs and second-rate shows. In recent years, however, cable networks have provided commendable competition by developing interesting new shows and successfully serving them up to audiences during the summer months (when the majors are most vulnerable). Year after year, as cable shows gain traction, cable networks continue to compromise the leading position that the majors have always enjoyed...
The past week, the blogosphere exploded (ok, maybe just Gawker and NY Magazine) in outrage over the over-the-top product placement of an underappreciated McDonald’s frozen concoction (the McFlurry) in last week’s 30 Rock. Posters and commenters alike decried the integration as heavy-handed, a weak sell-out to satisfy the corporate bottom line. First, though, a little history to properly situate the matter at hand…
30 Rock has become the “It” show on basic cable, widely regarded as one of the smartest shows on television (both in its writing and in its past placements), a show in which the writers call full attention to in-show advertising lest the fans cry foul and revolt. Interestingly enough, the past week’s episode begins (with the entirety of the episode following)…
As a leader in the branded entertainment industry, our vision for TWEED is simple: to provide an open and engaging forum to discuss the current business challenges and marketing trends.
Each week insightful posts across a wide array of topics, from brand-financed production, business case studies, and consumer research trends will be featured.
In addition, you will find:
- Top Media Stories of the Month
- Video of the Week
- Market Trends
- Guest Blogs from Industry Experts
Please join our Facebook group to receive weekly updates on new posts and other activities.
Our insights woven together with your thoughts will define the future of our industry.
“Madison & Vine recently spoke with [Doug Scott, President of OgilvyEntertainment,] to find out where branded entertainment is prioritized in clients' budgets for 2009; what's happening with the evolving metrics model; and why product placement should no longer be the focus of advertisers' branded-entertainment strategies.”
Click here to view Andrew Hampp’s interview with Doug Scott last week.
This week, we will be posting more details exploring the increasing pressure on CMOs and agencies to address ROI accountability as well as OgilvyEntertainment’s approach to measurement.
Here’s another marketing initiative by Cheetos to reach out to bloggers to post user-generated videos on the subject of “beating boredom.”
BoingBoing staff outsourced to Monochrom, an Austrian “art and theory” collective, and the result was a Cheetos integration into a video game concept, “Alternate Reality of Soviet Unterzoegersdor.”
Katalyst HQ launched February 4th and is the latest web-reality based effort from young celebrity entrepreneur, Ashton Kutcher. But this time he’s not “Punk’n” people on MTV, he’s taking it right to the source via Facebook.
This Cheetos backed show was born from an internal staffer capturing candid office moments via video phone, now turned reality TV-style parody of the average Katalyst workday, with of course Ashton himself. The episodes are three minutes in length and will be refreshed every Wednesday.
Katalyst HQ launched February 4th and is the latest web-reality based effort from young celebrity entrepreneur, Ashton Kutcher. But this time he’s not “Punk’n” people on MTV, he’s taking it right to the source via Facebook.
This Cheetos backed show was born from an internal staffer capturing candid office moments via video phone, now turned reality TV-style parody of the average Katalyst workday, with of course Ashton himself. The episodes are three minutes in length and will be refreshed every Wednesday.
As developers of branded entertainment, we have a wide variety of options at our disposal to shape into content that (we hope) will connect with consumers. Music, is an elastic medium that, thanks to the advances of digital distribution, can be enjoyed everywhere, works on its own or in support of other media and given its nature, evokes an enormous emotional response.
For brand advertising, we've all heard original jingles and more recently, popular songs of the rock and soul eras that have resurfaced as soundtracks to some of our best loved TV commercials.
Today, brands want to find authentic ways of engaging their consumer communities and are partnering with artists who (as brands themselves) have aligned views. We were in Los Angeles this past Grammy weekend working on such a project with Estelle, whose vibrant and female-centric attitude has found a home in the world of Crystal Light.
Stuart Elliot, advertising columnist for the New York Times,published an article today on Estelle’s new song, “Star,” for Crystal Light. The song, which will be featured in a Crystal Light spot set to air on the E! Network during the channel’s pre-ceremony program, is the result of a collaboration between OgilvyEntertainment, Kraft, and the artist.
In fact, some of our very own OgilvyEntertainment folks will be heading to the Grammys for the launch- so don’t forget check back on Monday for a more detailed post on this campaign initiative, along with photos from the actual Grammys event!
In the meantime, tune in on Sunday to see E!’s coverage of the red carpet and visit www.upumpitup.com for a free download of “Star.”
Last Saturday night, Pepsi starred alongside “Saturday Night Live” cast member Will Forte in three “MacGruber” comedy sketches-- meant to be parodies of the popular adventure television series, “MacGyver”--that aired during the show.
The next day, one of the sketches aired again—as one of the main spots broadcast during NBC’s coverage of Super Bowl XLIII. Even the original MacGyver, Richard Dean Anderson, made a cameo.
A brand and entertainment property cross-promotion like this is not new to the branded entertainment world: Last year Will Ferrell starred as Jackie Moon, the leading character in his film “Semi Pro,” in a number of Budweiser and Old Spice Super Bowl commercials to promote both the brands and his film.
Our popular web series “Digital Cribs” got schooled last night.
The original entertainment effort created by OgilvyEntertainment on behalf of Cisco, expanded its format from professionally created videos to include a "College Edition" series. NYU students from the Stern School of Business ("The Producers") and the Tisch School of the Arts ("The Directors") hosted a double fun gala at the iconic Tribeca Cinema. They screened a total of eight short documentary films that celebrated technology, innovation, and the power of the Human Network and a total of $15,000 in prize money was given away.
Click here to watch the videos and here to see more pictures of the night.
Variety published news this morning that Universal has engaged Etan Cohen to write and Kevin Lima to direct the live-action version of Candy Land. This is the latest installment of Hasbro’s deal with Universal Pictures, meant to take the toy giant’s board game megabrands to the big screen. Inspired by the sales phenomenon that resulted from the first Transformers movie on their toy line, Hasbro is trying to leverage as many brands as possible in the entertainment space.
Agency Disintermediation. It's a scary thought for those of us in the agency business. A client wakes up one day and thinks to him or herself, "Why do I need my agency?"
While agencies are still out there and ads are still getting made, there is no question that the agency business is under a lot of pressure alongside their clients in the current downturn. But the economy should not prevent agencies from asking themselves tough questions like, "What am I really selling my clients that is of unparalleled value to them?"
“At 11 o'clock on Thursday 15 January around 350 people broke into a choreographed dance routine in London's Liverpool Street Station for the shooting of a new advertising campaign by T-Mobile.” - http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/dance/
At over two-million views on YouTube (and counting), the T-Mobile Dance has sparked conversation across continents. Check out the official website to get a behind-the-scenes look at how this viral video was produced, with screen shots and additional links after the jump.
“[Brand integration] is one of the fastest-growing seg¬ments…The ability to bring some structure to it I think is overdue.” -Jack Myers, Analyst
With branded entertainment continuing to gain momentum in the advertising industry, PlaceVine, Inc. has released a white paper identifying and elaborating on some of the best brand integration practices in the business. In addition to providing these examples, PlaceVine argues that additional methods of communication and transparency among content producers within the sector would only serve to better integrate and activate this form of marketing.
See the paper, courtesy of PlaceVine, after the jump…
Since July 2008, over 1 million people in the UK have contributed flavour ideas to Walkers, a maker of crisps (potato chips), for their “Do Us A Flavour” initiative.
Just for emphasis’ sake, that’s over 1 million people taking the time to use their imagination to invent for Walkers’ benefit and a chance at glory.
The glory part looks like this: £50,000 for the winner (as voted for by the public from a shortlist of six), and most importantly, a 1% share in future earnings of their creation.
As part of its new “Refresh Everything” campaign, Pepsi launched a “Dear Mr. President” social media initiative to encourage people to share their thoughts on the new presidency. People were able to upload their videos on YouTube, www.refresheverything.com, and via web 2.0 banners. Celebrities like Eva Longoria, Jeff Gordon, Will.i.am, Lady Gaga (and many more) have all recorded their own video letters to the President.
Now if Pepsi can just get President Obama to view ALL the videos…
A year has gone by, and yet, Hollywood finds itself in an all-too-familiar state. The work slowdown that plagued the 2008 development season due to the threat of a strike has emerged once again – this time from SAG.
In the world of web video, 3 minutes is seen as the magic number—the default length producers presume people are prepared to sit through. In the November 2008 “Screens Issue” of the New York Times Magazine, Kevin Kelly made mention of this common denominator, asserting that “ever-present screens have created an audience for very short moving pictures, as brief as three minutes.”
Social networks have already gained considerable traction from the early days of the election campaigns in 2008. The amount of Facebook status updates on Election night itself was so great, that a new partnership was in the works between CNN and Facebook and resulted in the most important web video event in history.
CNN.com LIVE partnered with Facebook to create an interactive live-streaming platform where viewers can watch the 2009 Presidential Inauguration live online, while also getting the chance to post their thoughts and interact with their friends via Facebook’s slightly redesigned social tool.
So it’s another January and another chance to stop and think about how this next chapter will read - a chance to turn the page so to speak. I feel it even more so since I am turning one of those pivotal ages and have lost so much money in this failing economy that I have essentially been told to return to "GO" and not even think about collecting some promised $200. But this is a good thing...a rare opportunity...a gold mine actually. It's a chance for me to hit the reset button of my life and finances and say, “What can I do now?” I have another chance to write the and make it more like what it "should be", what it can be (a slight nod to Barry O), what I want it to be.
A disclaimer: I am a media person working with creatives—the duckling among the swans. I’m the professional wet blanket, the one with the pin threatening the beautiful balloon of the big idea with my questions about metrics and ROI. So here’s a media perspective. I believe that the walls are crumbling more rapidly than we realize.
So AdAge published this article stating that Kimberly-Clark is continuing to divert money away from a traditional couponing strategy to “a big branded-entertainment promotion” for the third year in a row, in partnership with ABC Entertainment and The View. After reading the article, I feel like the strategy is actually a mix between promotions and PR …. not branded entertainment as we typically think of it. Thoughts?
Hip-hop, as a musical genre and as a culture, has shown itself very agreeable to brand engagement. From the earliest days of hip-hop, lyricists have mentioned places, people and, most importantly brands. At the beginning, this was largely gratis endorsement – artists just liked the brands and often it still works that way. But, for artists in 2008, brand funded entertainment became an viable, welcomed method of getting songs heard Pharrell and Santogold (along with Julian Casablancas of the Strokes) collaborated on work for Converse, Chris Brown remixed a classic Wrigley’s jingle, and Rihanna became, fittingly, a partner on Totes umbrellas.
The hit telenovela Yo soy Betty la Fea and its adapted American version Ugly Betty have both seen incredible success not to mention high ratings for other international adaptations, and now China has topped them all with an opening night of 73 million viewers of their very own Ugly Wudi, this time, exclusively sponsored by Unilever’s Dove.
In an article from the Fall ’08 issue of One, the One Club’s quarterly trade magazine, OgilvyEntertainment is described as “one of the heavyweights in the branded entertainment area.” Editor Yash Egami sat down to interview Doug Scott about industry trends, Bobby Flay & mayonnaise, and why branded entertainment is the answer to the changing appetite of an ever-evolving consumer—even in light of the deepening economic recession.
It is a natural fit for Ogilvy client British Telecommunications (BT) to advertise on CNBC. Airing in seven global markets, its audience aligns precisely with BT’s customers: business leaders and executives. This year, BT took its advertising on CNBC one big step further: in addition to airing 30 second commercials, it sponsored an original series entitled Collaboration Now. Created by producers at CNBC, the five-part series examined the role of collaboration as a critical tool that, used effectively, can drive business growth in a global marketplace. This topic directly correlates to the message imparted in BT’s advertising campaign which talks about helping its customers (global businesses) find hidden value in their companies through collaboration.
I’m not much of a Superbowl fanatic, but I work in the ad industry so I at least appreciate the abundance of Tostitos and “Magic Freezer”-ish spots. This year, though, I’m buying into the hype, specifically because of this week’s buzz around 3D film and television, a new wave of technology and entertainment that’s about to hit the mainstream. This post looks at two proof points – the Superbowl and the slate of new products being showcased at CES this week in Vegas.
You’re sitting at the dinner table. Parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, a couple of friends and one random person you don’t really know are also seated, all chattering away. They each have something that defines them as individuals, whether it’s a hidden talent, a unique quirk or simply an eccentric personality. Who would have ever thought that such a diverse group of people could be seated in the same room, at the same table?
More than ever, entertainment is the price of entry for a brand to communicate with a mass audience.
This coincides with the entertainment industry needing another source of funding to counter lost income from digital distribution.
Happy times.
Since my background was in advertising (may it rest in peace), I am more comfortable creating entertainment from a brand’s perspective versus fitting a brand into pre existing content. However, those lines can and should regularly blur.
What has come to be called “branded entertainment,”defined as brands integrating directly into entertainment or indeed creating original entertainment, is not a recent phenomenon. In fact, it goes back to the earliest days of radio in the 1920s.
OgilvyEntertainment combines the global resources of an integrated marketing agency with the creative genius of best-of-breed entertainment companies to create compelling content that produces real business results.
Part of the storyline, already in the public domain, evolves around the efforts of a secret brotherhood who try to destroy the Vatican by stealing Anti-Matter to create a “bomb of unstoppable power.” Unfortunately the reality is that although CERN have been making anti-matter for decades, annihilating every single anti-particle ever made would only give off enough energy to light a single light bulb for a few minutes. At this rate it would take 10,000 times the age of the universe to accumulate the explosive power of a single large nuclear bomb. However, not to worry this is Hollywood where anything is possible...
