Commercial Brake
In Belgium, Kia is capitalizing on the fact that people often fast-forward through commercials. Clever!
The replay function is a blessing for TV viewers and a curse for advertisers. Live TV is - with the exception of sports broadcasts - a discontinued model. Program content is consumed with a time delay and commercial breaks are systematically skipped. Although the broadcasters are compensated by the signal providers for the lost advertising attention (but too little in their view)... sooner or later the attractiveness of linear television for advertisers will probably shrink considerably. No one wants to pay dearly to be over-spooled.
Until then, the Belgian agency Mortierbrigade is making use of the phenomenon of advertising overwinding in a surprisingly refreshing way. For its client Kia, it has created a kind of braking aid for rewinding. TV consumers know the problem: if you rewind, you risk missing the re-entry. Too many cuts, too many scene changes, too few clues as to when the actual program starts again. The Kia advertising block in slow motion is clearly recognizable when rewinding and serves as a signal to press the "Play" button on the remote control. Nasty compared to the other bookings. But otherwise a remarkable media stunt. (hae)
