Advertisers and the ad agencies that service them are fighting hard to stay relevant and keep hold of the consumers mind-share. With today's technology is making this a wee bit difficult. With the advent of the DVR (those cable boxes that pre-record programs) viewers have been able to fast-forward through traditional ad breaks, thus by-passing all the commercials.
In the past, to combat this, advertisers have used inventive measures, such as product placement. But that has a limited effectiveness. And it doesn't exactly result in what the advertisers are looking for.
They want interaction. To achieve this, ad agencies are driving traffic to Social Media sites via a new method: pod-busters. Not to be confused with pod-casts, these are mini ads that look and feel exactly like the show that the viewer is watching. It may even include actors from that very same show.
The pod-busters aren't soft-sells like product placement. As one exec from Discover Channel says, "It's a form of creative insinuation, it's a little Zen-like: being intrusive without seeming intrusive."
Here is the key to their mission & ultimate success: Ads that reflect the shows you like, tempt the viewer to transfer positive feelings about those shows to the products being advertised on them. If you're feeling good about the Modern Family, Mad Men, or other program and are urged to visit a FB, web or other social media site, the likelihood is that you will do it. And what advertisers are looking for now, is building brand value by expanding their social network.
You can read more about pod-busters at today's New York Times or listen to a report on today's NPR.org.
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