FOR generations, advertising interrupted the entertainment that
Americans wanted to read, hear or watch. Now, in a turnabout,
advertising is increasingly being presented as entertainment — and
surprisingly, the idea of all ads, all the time, is gaining some
favor.
One reason is the proliferation of broadband Internet connections,
which make it easier for computer users to watch or download video
clips. That is enabling media companies, agencies and advertisers to
create Web sites devoted to commercials and other forms of advertising
for amusement, rather than hard-core huckstering.
Oddly, the trend runs counter to another powerful impulse among
consumers: the growing desire to avoid advertising. TV viewers, for
instance, are spending billions of dollars a year for TiVo and other
digital video recorders that help them zip through or zap commercials,
and click-through rates for banner Web ads are declining.
The difference between "watching a commercial on a Web site and in
your living room," said Michael Jacobs, executive vice president and
executive creative director at MRM Worldwide in New York, is that
online is "an opt-in audience; you're choosing to be there."
"It's the nature of the Web to offer a destination you know you can go
to and know what you're going to see," said Mr. Jacobs, whose agency
is part of the McCann Worldgroup division of the Interpublic Group of
Companies.
"There's certainly an audience for entertainment as part of the
offering," he added. "The numbers seem to support it."
For example, veryfunnyads.com, a broadband Web site operated by the
TBS cable network, has delivered more than 63 million video clip views
since its introduction last August.
"It's a very straightforward premise: You're going to have a funny
experience, and you're going to have it every 30 seconds," said Ken
Schwab, senior vice president for programming at the TBS and TNT
networks, parts of the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time
Warner.
The funny-ad Web site is part of a rebranding campaign for the TBS
network, which carries the theme "Very funny." The goal is to
cultivate an identity for TBS as a home for sitcoms and humorous
movies.
"A lot of people talk about zipping through commercials because the
average break doesn't hold the promise of being entertaining," Mr.
Schwab said. By contrast, he said, "we have a very clear consumer
proposition, on the site and in our shows."
The concept of veryfunnyads.com has been expanded onto TBS, Mr. Schwab
said, as the network will "call out" some commercials as "very funny
ads" in hopes of keeping viewers from changing channels.
"I'm in the industry, and I'll fast-forward through the ads most of
the time," said David Droga, creative chairman at the Droga5 agency in
New York. "But I'll stop for the good ones."
"You put choice on the table, you change the whole game," Mr. Droga
said, adding: "Everything is about control. If an ad is interesting to
you, you'll have the conversation with the brand. If it's not, it's a
waste of time."
In about a month, Mr. Droga plans to test his theory with the trial
introduction by Droga5 and its partner, the Publicis Groupe, of a Web
site named honeyshed.com.
Mr. Droga described the concept as "MTV meets QVC," offering consumers
in the intended audience of ages 18 to 30 product information in the
form of entertaining video clips rather than traditional commercials.
The clips are to run two to three minutes apiece, he added, and be
presented by hosts considered authorities in categories like cars,
clothing or computers.
"The only reason we have any chance of being successful is
transparency," Mr. Droga said — that is, "if people know they're being
sold to, you can celebrate the sell."
The USA Network unit of NBC Universal, part of General Electric, also
intends to climb aboard the pitch wagon celebrating advertising as
entertainment with an online effort centered on brand-centric content.
Plans call for a Web site next year that would include commercials and
movie trailers as well as features like social networking and tools
that would let visitors make ads of their own. The site is tentatively
named didja.com, as in "Didja see that?"
"It's all about relevance," said Chris McCumber, senior vice president
for marketing and brand strategy at USA Network. "Consumers want to be
entertained on their own time, on their own terms."
"If a spot is not relevant, you're going to want to tune it out," he
added. "This will be a platform for consumers to experience their
favorite commercials or find out more information about a product."
•
The proliferation of portals dedicated to advertising as entertainment
could mean the trend is already peaking, just as cover articles in
magazines about a stock market boom are often followed by plunging
indexes.
"I don't think it is so much about putting entertaining commercials on
the Web as it is about brands providing immersive experiences for
consumers of which entertainment is a component," said Mr. Jacobs of
MRM, whose agency recently won praise for musical Webisodes for Intel,
directed by the humorist Christopher Guest, which are appearing on Web
sites like youtube.com and itgetseasier.com.
The responses to a survey this week on the Adweek Web site
(adweek.com) suggest that advertising as entertainment is still a work
in progress.
As of yesterday afternoon, 13 percent of respondents agreed the
portals were "great fits for the current pop culture," while 43
percent called them "too limited and doomed to fail." The remaining
respondents, 44 percent, agreed with a statement that they are
"complete wild cards; let's wait and see."
