Thursday, July 1, 2010

Say good bye to the line between advertising and content.

7/1/10

Back in the day, advertisers who sought to align their creative more closely with content were told that advertising and content were “church and state,” and the two would not be allowed to meld. Boy have things changed. Thanks in part to research that shows both recall and purchase intent are increased when ads are placed “in context,” collaboration is now being encouraged.

Case in point, as HBO’s “Entourage” begins their seventh season, they have asked advertisers, particularly those in the first position in the pod to align their creative with the show by relating their ads to specific scenes and storylines.

So much for editorial integrity. But does it really matter?

Friedman, W. (2010, June 28). WGN Pushes Ad Messages With ‘Entourage in Context’. mediapost.com. Retrieved June 30, 2010, from
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=131011&nid=115968

3 comments:

Alexandre San Galo said...

I think "product placement" came to stay because nowadays the technology is killing ad breaks. To communicate our products we have to look more and more for contextual opportunities to exhibit our value purpose offer. It's as important for the customers as it’s for the industry. Fortunately a lot of new series and "realitys shows" have been created addressing different market targets and will appear even more considering the industry's interests. What clothes the are actors using? What kind of food are they eating?, Who provided the furniture? What services are they using? Everything can be used as a contextual ad. I believe there are so many ways to reach the target that, with the help of good directors, the editorial will not be damaged.

Unknown said...

I agree with the idea that with the help of some good directors, the editorial will not be damaged. However I think, creative and content have to be closely because both are an important part of the advertising, I mean I can do a good ad for a new trendy series and the ad could be so much creative, in addition can show us every detail to target the different communities, but without an editorial maybe is not complete at all.

Cassandra said...

I think it depends on how well the creatives are able to work within the confines of having to relate to specific scenes in the show. Obviously it's going to be more difficult to get the script before you can start your ad, further complicating the production timeline, and that's not a good thing. If the creatives working on the ads are able to take inspiration from the show, all the better...but it could also be a block to their creativity by forcing them to work within constraints. As for editorial integrity, I'm not sure how much we value it in this country these days as it is... and the more information & writing floating around the web, I think that the whole concept will become increasingly less important.