From Moviemercials To Advergaming

In last Sunday's New York Times, Evelyn Nussbaum wrote about the coming of the "moviemercial." The moviemercial is not just a movie replete with product placement but rather a movie built entirely around a product to promote. As Nussbaum reported, presently in the works are movies based upon Hot Wheels, G.I. Joe, Bionicle toys, Super Soaker and My Little Pony. This seems like the logical next step in advertising.

Consumers have become increasingly adept at blocking out advertising when it is presented in predictable ways. The standard commercial break on television is not only largely ignored by the TV viewing public but completely bypassable by Tivo and the likes. The result has been the rise of product placement -- products are presented in the context of the show you have chosen to watch. Thus, the only way to block out the advertisement is to block out the show itself. Moreover, well done product placement not only features a particular product but stresses the virtue of that product in the context of the show itself.

I believe that the hands down king of product placement is Mark Burnett. Burnett is the producer of Survivor and Eco-Challenge, and his shows not only feature product placement, they are clearly designed around it. After starving the cast of Survivor for many days, the winner of some challenge or other is awarded Mt. Dew and Doritos. Now I'm a fan of Mt. Dew and Doritos, but only someone who's sole sustenance for a dozen days has been rice will derive the same sort of orgasmic pleasure the survivors do from their soda and chips. Yet despite the fabricated context in which the cast enjoys the products, the impact is a powerful one -- wow, Mt. Dew and Doritos must be really fantastic. In a similar ruse on Eco-Challenge, Burnett follows teams of racers as they endure some of the most grueling trekking on the planet for several sleepless days. The racers are beyond exhausted when they happen upon a leg of the course that coincidentally has become impassable, requiring the racers to get a ride to the next checkpoint in an SUV. Like the starving eaters of Doritos, the exhausted adventure racers could not possible gush more about the comfy interior of the car. It strikes me as only one small step removed from the moviemercial.

This increased focus on the blending of advertising and experience is creating real opportunity on the Web. The Internet provides an excellent environment in which it is possible to blend brand and entertainment. For example, take a look at the "Advergames" being developed by 3D Groove. There's a car racing game in which the car you drive is a futuristic Mazda and when you drive through certain parts of the course you hear the trademarked "zoom zoom." There's a RadioShack stunt machine game where you drive around collecting up Radio Shack batteries. There's a pool game sponsored by Jack Daniel's in which the JD logo appears on the pool felt. In each instance the experience is the game but the brand is constantly present and the sell to advertisers is that potential customers are immersed in your brand rather than passing by it quickly. Similarly, Evite has the opportunity to promote sponsors like Pampers on its baby shower invitations and Budweiser on its Super Bowl party invites. The online possibilities for product placment are virtually limitless.

My strong sense is that as contextual selling becomes increasingly important in the advertising world, the Internet will grow in value as an advertising medium. The early promise of the Internet as a powerful advertising tool was briefly derailed but I believe that it will ultimately be fulfilled. As unconnected advertising is ignored and marginalized, advertisers will look to the flexibility of the Internet to bring the value they can no longer derive from traditional print and television advertising. Given that, I suspect that there will be some very interesting companies built around advertising models that have been maligned since the bursting of the Internet bubble.

Comments

[roj]

Perhaps not "coming to the big screen" - but a great set of shorts (as in films), started in 2001 and built entirely around a product to promote: http://www.bmwfilms.com/

(And they're actually pretty good!)

[Hornik]

BMW films is an excellent example of the kind of immersive advertising that is possible on the web. Another great example is Buick's Tiger Trap promotion. In that promotion -- http://www.buick.com/tigertrap/tigertrap.html -- Tiger Woods went to a few random golf courses and played against unsuspecting local golfers for the new Buick SUV. When the winners were actually given the keys to a new car their reaction was, not surprisingly, overwhelmingly positive. Teasers of the video were run on TV but the only way to see the full video was to go online. This had two advantages. It was possible to run a longer video segment at lower cost and it was incredibly viral -- people quickly emailed all their friends to check it out. It was a fantastic advertisement for Buick and was very much powered by the economics of the Web.

[swong]

The biggest challenge for the unconventional nature of sponsored product placement is proof that consumers are actually paying attention to the product that are integrated into the content.

To date, I haven't seen much research in this area where advertisers and agencies have looked into measuring the performance and ROI for product placements in the body of reality tv shows as well as online gaming.

I am pretty sure that there is a good impact (awareness, differentiation, purchase intent, and knowledge), especially for lean forward mediums such as online gaming. Looks like a good area to do some research in.

[Curt]

The children's movies like Hot Wheels and Bionicle are really another form of tie-in to an existing toy line, like branded clothing or books. While there's an element of cross-promotion these movies are standalone and (presumably) profitable products, unlike bmwfilms and the like.

The interesting thing here is that video production and DVD manufacturing is now so cheap that it's possible to produce a full-length movie as an accessory to a child's toy.

[anon]

What models were discarded that might work? It seems like most of the models that were discarded worked that way because they were crappy.

[Used Cars]

I used to love those old style advertisements where they would just blatantly advertise the product. Of course, it was about as cheesy as you could be.

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