The product is the message
Television: In the U.S., «programming» and «advertainment» are giving rise to some bizarre TV phenomena. And the most effective commercials are recorded on TiVo.
Television In the U.S., «programming» and «advertainment» are giving rise to some bizarre TV phenomena. And the most effective commercials are recorded on TiVo. It was an unforgettable TV moment: For a week, the Vardon family from Detroit went on vacation at the expense of the ABC television network, and when they returned home, their modest home had been completely renovated—courtesy of the sponsor of the series «Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,» the home improvement chain Sears.The deal between Sears and ABC satisfies the needs of everyone involved, not just those of the surprised Vardons. As a result, Sears spent over three million dollars on additional commercials on ABC in just one month. A subsequent survey revealed that viewers’ likelihood of shopping at the DIY giant had increased by a quarter.
The line between entertainment and advertising isn’t just becoming increasingly blurred, says Miriam Smith, who teaches communication studies at the University of San Francisco: «It has simply disappeared.» Other TV formats built around a brand and its products also aired on NBC last summer. This is the same network where, in Donald Trump’s reality show «The Apprentice,» toys and toothpaste were already seamlessly integrated into the plot.
TV Clips as Web Teasers In the fragmented American television landscape, where advertisers dare to dream of a mass audience even less than in Europe, innovative forms of advertising are in greater demand than ever. Alongside «product integration,» «advertainment» is therefore experiencing a veritable boom in the U.S. Alongside big spenders like Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and General Motors, American Express is considered one of the clients that pursues the fusion of entertainment and advertising most aggressively and professionally.
The credit card company even managed to get Jerry Seinfeld this year
to star in one of his «advertainment» clips. In it, arguably the most popular American comedian of the moment got into a fight with Superman—
... At the bottom of the TV screen, a line appeared displaying the corresponding web address. Millions of viewers were thus drawn to the American Express homepage, where several four-minute «webisodes,» produced by Hollywood director Barry
Levinson, as shown.
To watch the movies, you first had to sign up, and in the process you were informed about new offers. «The campaign was originally—
»It was really only intended for the Internet,« says Marc Goldstein, CEO of Mindshare, the lead agency in New York. "But people were so enthusiastic about Jerry that we started working with NBC and Turner Broad-
»to negotiate casting deals so that they would air during prime time.« American Express also sponsors the NBC reality series »The Restaurant," where the card is prominently featured as a payment method.
One in every 20 households has a DVR
But it’s not just a desire for creativity that’s driving the U.S. advertising industry to seek new ways to reach its audience. The industry is under enormous pressure: Digital video recorders (DVRs), also known as hard-disk recorders, are on the rise and allow frustrated viewers, among other things, to easily skip commercial breaks with the push of a button.
According to a study by the market research firm Forrester, 92 percent of all DVR users do this. «Any advertiser today—
»Anyone who still thinks it's enough to just run 30-second spots is fooling themselves," says Tim Hanlon, DVR consultant at the consulting firm Starcom in Chicago.
Although the hard-disk recorder is not catching on as quickly as initially expected, it still seems only a matter of time before this «anti-advertising wonder weapon» becomes standard equipment. Currently, about six of the roughly 100 million U.S. television households own such a digital recording device. Two million of those households have a “TiVo,” the brand-name device considered the pioneer in this field. According to optimistic estimates by Forrester Research, that number is expected to reach just under 50 million in five years.
A Paradoxical Business Idea: Tivo is considered particularly innovative in one area: the promotion and production of alternatives to the 30-second commercial. The company, which is now publicly traded, produces so-called “showcases” in the run-up to major events such as the Academy Awards or the Masters golf tournament. In these, of all people, the gravedigger klas-
TV advertising allows companies to place their message in long-form segments—ranging from ten to 30 minutes—on their DVRs. This could be, for example, a golf lesson with Bernhard Langer, a report on a cruise aboard the «Royal Caribbean,» or an interview with Nicole Kidman. TiVo customers see these and
He can view other showcases in the main menu of his recorder and download them whenever he wants. The best part: Since users actively request the content, the ads embedded in it are considered particularly effective.
In the U.S., this new technology is gradually becoming mainstream, primarily because more and more cable companies are integrating it into their services. «Cable providers are experimenting with hard-disk recorders and video on demand to see how they can benefit most—and most sustainably—from these new possibilities,» says Miriam Smith. Experts, however, consider the idea that the average viewer will one day no longer have to watch any commercials at all to be illusory. «Our lives today are so permeated by brands,» says Alex Halavais, director of computer science at the University at Buffalo, «that it seems unrealistic, even unimaginable, that we might one day no longer have to »digest’ commercials as part of our daily TV viewing.”
TV Commercials as an Art Form? If media research forecasts are to be believed, traditional commercial breaks and interstitial ads will soon be a thing of the past on German-language television. According to Professor Mike Friedrichsen of the University of Flensburg, conventional TV commercials will, «in the foreseeable future,» be of interest only from an artistic perspective rather than a commercial one, as has been the case until now. Due to their lack of effectiveness, surreptitious advertising is being «systematically normalized» by advertisers and broadcasters.
Thomas de Buhr, Sales Manager for Special Ads at IP Deutschland, on the other hand, believes that «special advertising formats such as product placement or advertainment will never replace the traditional TV spot.» Rather, their complementary value lies in «selectively reinforcing core campaigns with one or two exclusive placements.» However, it is also a fact that the supply of such special formats from marketing agencies is still «significantly smaller» than the demand. (oc)
TiVo is considered a pioneer of (paradoxically) advertising-based digital video recorders (DVRs).
Gerti Schön
The line between entertainment and advertising isn’t just becoming increasingly blurred, says Miriam Smith, who teaches communication studies at the University of San Francisco: «It has simply disappeared.» Other TV formats built around a brand and its products also aired on NBC last summer. This is the same network where, in Donald Trump’s reality show «The Apprentice,» toys and toothpaste were already seamlessly integrated into the plot.
TV Clips as Web Teasers In the fragmented American television landscape, where advertisers dare to dream of a mass audience even less than in Europe, innovative forms of advertising are in greater demand than ever. Alongside «product integration,» «advertainment» is therefore experiencing a veritable boom in the U.S. Alongside big spenders like Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and General Motors, American Express is considered one of the clients that pursues the fusion of entertainment and advertising most aggressively and professionally.
The credit card company even managed to get Jerry Seinfeld this year
to star in one of his «advertainment» clips. In it, arguably the most popular American comedian of the moment got into a fight with Superman—
... At the bottom of the TV screen, a line appeared displaying the corresponding web address. Millions of viewers were thus drawn to the American Express homepage, where several four-minute «webisodes,» produced by Hollywood director Barry
Levinson, as shown.
To watch the movies, you first had to sign up, and in the process you were informed about new offers. «The campaign was originally—
»It was really only intended for the Internet,« says Marc Goldstein, CEO of Mindshare, the lead agency in New York. "But people were so enthusiastic about Jerry that we started working with NBC and Turner Broad-
»to negotiate casting deals so that they would air during prime time.« American Express also sponsors the NBC reality series »The Restaurant," where the card is prominently featured as a payment method.
One in every 20 households has a DVR
But it’s not just a desire for creativity that’s driving the U.S. advertising industry to seek new ways to reach its audience. The industry is under enormous pressure: Digital video recorders (DVRs), also known as hard-disk recorders, are on the rise and allow frustrated viewers, among other things, to easily skip commercial breaks with the push of a button.
According to a study by the market research firm Forrester, 92 percent of all DVR users do this. «Any advertiser today—
»Anyone who still thinks it's enough to just run 30-second spots is fooling themselves," says Tim Hanlon, DVR consultant at the consulting firm Starcom in Chicago.
Although the hard-disk recorder is not catching on as quickly as initially expected, it still seems only a matter of time before this «anti-advertising wonder weapon» becomes standard equipment. Currently, about six of the roughly 100 million U.S. television households own such a digital recording device. Two million of those households have a “TiVo,” the brand-name device considered the pioneer in this field. According to optimistic estimates by Forrester Research, that number is expected to reach just under 50 million in five years.
A Paradoxical Business Idea: Tivo is considered particularly innovative in one area: the promotion and production of alternatives to the 30-second commercial. The company, which is now publicly traded, produces so-called “showcases” in the run-up to major events such as the Academy Awards or the Masters golf tournament. In these, of all people, the gravedigger klas-
TV advertising allows companies to place their message in long-form segments—ranging from ten to 30 minutes—on their DVRs. This could be, for example, a golf lesson with Bernhard Langer, a report on a cruise aboard the «Royal Caribbean,» or an interview with Nicole Kidman. TiVo customers see these and
He can view other showcases in the main menu of his recorder and download them whenever he wants. The best part: Since users actively request the content, the ads embedded in it are considered particularly effective.
In the U.S., this new technology is gradually becoming mainstream, primarily because more and more cable companies are integrating it into their services. «Cable providers are experimenting with hard-disk recorders and video on demand to see how they can benefit most—and most sustainably—from these new possibilities,» says Miriam Smith. Experts, however, consider the idea that the average viewer will one day no longer have to watch any commercials at all to be illusory. «Our lives today are so permeated by brands,» says Alex Halavais, director of computer science at the University at Buffalo, «that it seems unrealistic, even unimaginable, that we might one day no longer have to »digest’ commercials as part of our daily TV viewing.”
TV Commercials as an Art Form? If media research forecasts are to be believed, traditional commercial breaks and interstitial ads will soon be a thing of the past on German-language television. According to Professor Mike Friedrichsen of the University of Flensburg, conventional TV commercials will, «in the foreseeable future,» be of interest only from an artistic perspective rather than a commercial one, as has been the case until now. Due to their lack of effectiveness, surreptitious advertising is being «systematically normalized» by advertisers and broadcasters.
Thomas de Buhr, Sales Manager for Special Ads at IP Deutschland, on the other hand, believes that «special advertising formats such as product placement or advertainment will never replace the traditional TV spot.» Rather, their complementary value lies in «selectively reinforcing core campaigns with one or two exclusive placements.» However, it is also a fact that the supply of such special formats from marketing agencies is still «significantly smaller» than the demand. (oc)
TiVo is considered a pioneer of (paradoxically) advertising-based digital video recorders (DVRs).
Gerti Schön
