Building on its strong tradition of being innovative and “people centric”, Renault is launching its own TV Channel – Renault TV – on Sky Guide 883 on 3rd December 2009.

Ever since its creation in 1898 Renault has always offered products and services that are ahead of their time. Complimenting the new brand vision – “Drive the change” – Renault intends to take on the challenges of the future by being attentive to people and their needs.

The objective of Renault TV is to nurture the public’s passion and interest for the Renault brand. The Renault TV channel is a real window into the brand’s heritage, its products and events. The channel will entertain, inform and inspire dreams communicating Renault’s clear people focused values.

Renault was the first car manufacturer to launch an international web based TV Channel: www.renault.tv. Renault TV is capitalising on the success of the web channel, launched in March 2009 in the UK and France and recording an average visit time of 15 minutes (just under 3 times that of Renault’s corporate website www.renault.co.uk).

The Renault TV channel, and the renault.tv web channel, are an integral part of Renault’s marketing strategy of which the one of the main aims is to improve the customers’ experience of the brand.

“Renault isn’t like other brands: we innovate in the interest of everyone” explains Stephen Norman, Renault’s Global Marketing Director.  “A real ‘people centric’ brand and, perhaps, the only one of our time.  Renault TV offers more than the online content and allows a wider audience to have a different and cool relationship with the brand, that goes beyond the ephemeral few seconds of the internet”

Phil York, Renault UK Marketing Director says, “Renault TV launched online earlier this year and has enjoyed significant success.  We are delighted to be able to bring it to the Sky platform channel 883 to widen our audience”

Programme content

Renault TV, on Sky Guide 883, will broadcast everyday, all day, quality television programmes.  The channel presents to the audience the world of Renault through rich and exclusive content.

* Information – tests of the latest Renaults and discovery of the business of Renault
* Spectacle – the world of motor sport and particularly Worlds Series by Renault and Formula 1
* Passion – an exclusive access to the major Renault events
* Journeys through time – through the archives of Renault with more than a century of history
* Real stories – the people who use Renault in their daily lives
* Recreation – with original concepts, broadcasted all the evenings in prime-time

Renault TV allows the viewer to meet personalities:

* the actor and former footballer Eric Cantona
* the World Champion artistic skater Gwendal Peizerat
* the rugby player Benjamin Kaiser.

Examples of Renault TV programmes:

Test Drive: A programme that shows road-tests of the latest Renault models.

Renault Icons: A programme which retraces the history of key models from Renault’s past.

100 years of the car : A captivating programme which brings back to life over a century of history by looking through the brand’s archives.

Zoom:  A programme which offers viewers an exclusive opportunity to get behind the scenes at Renault’s events (International Motor Shows, Cannes Film Festival, London Fashion Week)

My Renault and Me: Profiles of passionate Renault enthusiasts.

Driven: A look at people who use their Renaults for a wide variety of purposes in their everyday life.

Ideas Factory: An enthusiastic programme which allows the viewer to discover the innovations Renault is working on and explains them in a logical manner.

Chefs on Tour: An innovative cooking programme.  Two chefs journey around the beautiful British countryside on board their vehicles in the search of regional ingredients with which to cook.  A panel of judges decide upon the winning meal.

The Key: An original entertainment show.  Contestants answer questions and take on challenges on board a Renault Espace for the chance to win a car.

Surf Break: A series, comprising of four episodes, following the adventures of three surfers on board their Renault Koleos.

Partners

Publicis Entertainment is a new business division of Publicis Worldwide, dedicated to bridging the gap between advertising, content creation and distribution, Publicis Entertainment will create branded entertainment solutions for television content, gaming and motion pictures integration.



by Christopher Wolf

Quick, which restaurant chain embeds its brand within NBC’s “Fit to Boom” and “Chuck” series? What beverage do the judges sip at their “American Idol” table? Which casual-dining chain was the challenge theme for an episode of “Top Chef”? And which restaurant was the subject of a menu-development project for Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice”?*

Most likely, consumers these days could answer these questions more accurately than tell you whose commercials appeared in between scenes on popular scripted shows like “CSI” or “The Mentalist.”

Embedded marketing practices have been around since the introduction of movies, but the proliferation of reality TV programming in the past decade has spawned an epidemic of product and brand placements outsmarting commercial-skipping technologies.

According to the last published numbers, the reality television show that featured the most embedded brand mentions in a year was NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” registering 6,248 product placements in 2008! “American Idol” came in second with 4,636 placements in a year. Whether for cost savings or special brand kickbacks, it appears this tactic is a win-win for networks and marketers alike. PQ Media’s most recent Product Placement Spending in Media report estimates that brand entertainment spending totaled nearly $3.5 billion in 2008.

But just the presence of an embedded message doesn’t mean it sinks in with consumers, especially given the noise of so many placements on TV. That’s why companies like Nielsen measure brand recall in both product placements and traditional television ads. In one case, Nielsen’s brand opinion poll revealed that “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” had the most effective placements last year, registering as much as 250 to 300 percent above average in not only recall but in “improved opinion of the integrated brand” among viewers.

Right now, restaurants are in the minority of placement mentions. But when a restaurant does place, it can have an impact. Nielsen, for example, rated El Pollo Loco third in most effective product placement on Bravo’s “Flipping Out” last year with an index of 254 (100 being an average score). Similarly, McDonald’s appeared in several installments of “The Amazing Race” between October 20 and November 16 last year, earning the chain the highest recall ratings for any branded entertainment placement in that period.

When asked in a survey why they use placement over other forms of advertising, members of the Association of National Advertisers cited a “stronger emotional connection” and enhanced content relevance. But ask any sponsor what their agreement entails, and you’ll get lots of different answers.

Sometimes marketers pay fees or incorporate these arrangements into a wider sponsorship agreement (e.g., Subway and NBC), but other common agreements include providing free product (Whole Foods on “Top Chef”) or loaning expensive items (Ford or General Motors) to subsidize a show’s production costs. Sometimes it’s a happy accident, or an “incidental exposure,” as media people call it.

El Pollo Loco’s appearance on “Flipping Out,” for example, wasn’t a placement at all, according to Julie Weeks, vice president of communications at the brand: “Believe it or not—we do not have a product-placement arrangement with Bravo’s ‘Flipping Out.’ The host, Jeff Lewis, simply loves our food and talks about it a lot! We did participate in successful product placement opportunities a couple of years ago with ‘The Apprentice’ and ‘The Biggest Loser,’ but have not initiated product-placement activities in the past year.”

Similarly, Ashlee Yingling, who handles media relations for McDonald’s USA, told me that the mention on “The Amazing Race” wasn’t something the brand coordinated.

Whether it’s a free or contracted placement, there is still the question of acceptability. Nielsen’s opinion survey highlights brands whose image is enhanced by embedded marketing. In contrast, the popular food Web site Yelp! recently took its own poll among members about product placement in TV programs. One blogger complained that “product placement has become more and more noticeable. They used to be much more subtle about it back in the day.”

Similarly, a columnist on Gawker.com wrote last April that “NBC has shockingly ruined the integrity of its dramatic show ‘Chuck’ by allowing Subway what is perhaps the most blatant (and therefore laughable!) product placement in network TV history.” Ironically, just a few weeks later, fans of the show leveraged this tie-in to appeal to Subway to “Save Chuck” from cancellation through an enhanced sponsorship appeal.

In addition to consumer criticism, a number of advocacy groups such as the Consumers Union and the American Academy of Pediatrics increasingly are pressuring the FCC to place more limits on embedded-marketing practices. Perhaps a more important risk at this point, however, is the lack of control advertisers can have with product placement in unscripted reality shows. One blogger says, “I like how ‘Top Chef’s’ product placements are submarined by the contestants’ complaining about the products.”

For most people, embedded marketing is primarily a matter of taste, and it appears that consumers have more tolerance for branded entertainment within reality shows than within scripted television shows or movies.

But the most important consideration is the appropriate integration of brand mentions into the most relevant programming so that the placement appears to be genuinely connected with the program’s content. Sending chefs to shop at Whole Foods to get ingredients for a “Top Chef” competition, for example, is not only appropriate to the challenge but also a relevant appeal to the target audience of the show.

Perhaps the most effective way to address this marketing trend, however, is to focus on being a standout brand that programmers and hosts can’t resist integrating into a show. Then the potential incidental exposure benefits are likely to far outweigh any costs.

By Vivian Norris de Montaigu

I was thinking about how Mad Men, being focused on an ad agency, is able to place products left and right. It’s like a return to good old American blue chip stocks, back when we still produced things, such as Ritz crackers (in Betty Draper’s kitchen), Clearasil, airlines which were not close to bankruptcy, Hilton Hotel chains, John Deere lawnmowers (ouch!), Cadillacs. They even start focusing on one of the best products to ever be sold at home and around the world… television shows!

Perhaps the show was meant to bring back the supposed “good ole days” when, even if sexism ad racism were rampant, white guys in America still ran the world, and Americans still bought American-made everything. Actually those Mad Men guys remind me of the Wall Street “players” of this past decade or two, except their Betty Draper wives were replaced by second and third wives, and the houses in Connecticut were multi-million dollars manses. Martinis, cigars and a lot of Sex in the City were pretty much the status quo in Manhattan until that dreaded September of ‘08.

After watching an episode of Mad Men, I find myself wanting to go have a drink at the Algonquin, or eat some mashed potatoes and smoke. I want to spend some money on some good ole Americana: a huge car with no seat belts, a weekend in Palm Springs, a good hairdresser, and great Jackie-O dresses. The show doesn’t need any commercials — the whole thing is a commercial. And besides the odd Heineken or Eurotrash episode, or English owner/partners (who disappeared fairly quickly), there’s nothing “foreign” about anything in the show.

But what ad men really did to America was help to make us into consumers. And that is what, in the end, brought us down. It is the wrong message to send that we should jump start the American consumer engine by gently (or not so gently as the product placement is pretty obvious and constant) nudging folks into buying American. If Bay Watch, Dallas and Twin Peaks helped sell America to the world, maybe Mad Men will help sell America back to Americans. Maybe, if we pay attention, what the makers of Mad Men will help us to do, is to understand what went so terribly wrong so that we might do it better this time around… instead of blowing it all in Vegas-style gambling of our futures, and those of our children.

And that leads me to the final point, as the characters I worry the most about in Mad Men are not the grown ups, but their children. I would not be surprised to see Don and Betty’s kids end up in drug rehab (product placement for Silver Hill and various lifestyle adjustment services?). In future episodes, perhaps there will be more and more television selling us more and more emptiness and loneliness, as the ads the mad men create, like those images projected on the skyscrapers during the opening credits, rush past the falling man as his world disintegrates and his country is no longer his own.

Our Client really received a true home run in “The Ugly Truth”.

First we see the package, then we see the star putting on the product. Finally we see the product working… many people have placed this scene on Youtube with some with over 3 million hits.

Because of this scene the brand has increased  their distribution of the product.Needless to say this was a placement the generated sales… and that’s what it is all about

see exposure

By Shannon Fremutz

Primetime on CBS Wowwee had a well placed exposure.

THREE RIVERS is a medical drama starring Alex O’Loughlin (“Moonlight,” upcoming CBS Films “The Back-Up Plan”) that goes inside the emotionally complex lives of organ donors, the recipients and the surgeons at the preeminent transplant hospital in the country, where every moment counts. However, dealing with donor families in their darkest hour and managing the fears and concerns of apprehensive recipients takes much more than just a sharp scalpel. Leading the elite team is Dr. Andy Yablonski, the highly-skilled workaholic lead organ transplant surgeon, whose good-natured personality and sarcastic wit makes him popular with his patients and colleagues. His co-workers include Dr. Miranda Foster, a surgical fellow with a rebellious streak and fiery temper who strives to live up to her deceased father’s excellent surgical reputation; Dr. David Lee, a womanizing surgical resident who’s broken as many hearts as he’s replaced; Ryan Abbott, the inexperienced new transplant coordinator who arranges the intricately choreographed process of quickly

Vous connaissez surement Battle For Milkquarious, la dernière opération lancée par Goodby Silverstein dans le cadre de la campagne Got Milk ?.

L’agence a encore brillé par sa créativité avec cet opéra rock déjanté et son ambiance kitsch qui fleur bon le Flash Gordon.

Comme il se doit, le site dédié comporte la comédie musicale en question, ainsi qu’un jeu concours et une application musicale, mais la magie ne s’arrête pas là, il y a aussi un deuxième effet kisscool…

En tapant le Konami Code lors de la séquence d’introduction du site, vous accédez à un bonus inattendu : un rétro advergame qui réjouira les geeks nostalgiques en leur permettant de revivre l’aventure de White Gold avec un graphisme 8 bits digne des Megamans d’antant !

A noter : les emprunts au rétrogaming semblent se multiplier pour séduire la tranche la plus haute de la génération Y, comme ici, ici ou ici.

http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2009/11/colbert-withstands-miracle-whip-ad-assault.html

Watch and read all that. Then tell me whether or not its branded entertainment or not?

I just can’t decide. Last week, I discovered the story upon an adweek posting on Twitter. From there, I watched it, I laughed, I laughed some more, and then began to look at it from a more analytical viewpoint.

Is Miracle Whip and McgarryBowen serious? Don’t be so mayo?!?! Really?!?!

If you were to simply read me the copy void of visuals, I would look at you puzzled and wondered why I hired you. However, with the visuals, it still seems like a bad idea. I mean, is it even possible to make a mayo substitute seem cool? For heaven’s sake, I don’t even consider putting it on anything except to make tuna salad — and even then I’m reluctant.

But then I realized the beauty of it all. From now on when I see Miracle Whip in the stores, I’m going to think of that rooftop party with all the beautiful people generously lathering their burger with the creamy white substance called Miracle Whip.  And I’m going to buy it over Mayo, even the Great Value brand that I’ve come to love so much in the recession.

Moving on, the next question that came to mind was: Did Stephen Colbert get paid to feature it? Was it all methodically planned as a publicity stunt? Or did Colbert just think it’d be entertaining material for his show and the response by Miracle Whip was completely spontaneous?

That question, I have yet to solve. Either way, the positioning of mayonaise in my mind has been forever altered. Well played Miracle Whip. Well played McGarry Bowen.

I’ve been a big fan of Sesame Street since I was a little boy. Bert, Ernie, Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird were my peeps back then.

Did you know that Oscar the Grouch was orange in the original show?

My respect for the show grew to new heights when my wife and I had twins in 2001. We had the pleasure of watching our favorite characters evolve through our children’s eyes. Ultimately though, my interest in the show waned as my twins grew older. They began searching for more mature content like Blues Clues and The Wiggles and just like that, we tucked Sesame Street into a drawer and forgot about it.

But that all changed when my third child arrived 16 months ago. He’s now officially in Sesame Street’s sweet spot and can be found hobbling around my house barking two words over and over again — “Elmos World, Elmos World, Elmos World…”

So when Sesame Street turned 40 earlier this week, I made it my business to learn more about how this show became such a huge phenomenon.

What I discovered was tons of learnings for marketers. That’s right – marketers.

Just as Jerzy Kosinski’s book “Being There” offers life lessons disguised in the form of metaphors, these lessons are nestled away in metaphors too. But when you think about it, it’s all there in plain sight for you to assimilate and digest in your own way.

Here’s a few to tease you, but I encourage you to read and/or listen to this entire piece featured on NPR here:

Experimentation is a Mindset

Sesame Street was always considered an experiment. 40 years later, it’s still considered an experiment.

Change is unavoidable

In the beginning, Oscar was orange. Cookie Monster originally had teeth. Big Bird had a pin-head. Appearance isn’t everything; if the characters feel real, Sesame Street insiders say, kids will follow them through whatever changes they make.

C Is For Competition

With only a few exceptions, Sesame Street had the children’s education market to themselves for years. But with the success of the program, other characters began moving into the television neighborhood. Over the years, as Barney, Dora, SpongeBob and others tugged away at the Sesame Street audience, producers started to plan some major renovations.

Freshen Up

If you only watched Sesame Street in the early years, you’ll be surprised by the look and feel of the program today. It’s brighter, for one. There’s a nice dappling of fake sunshine on the set, the graffiti is gone, and the sound of cars in the distance has disappeared. Carrol Spinney — or maybe the Grouch inside of him — says, “It looked a little more grungy, and frankly I loved it grungy.” In the beginning Sesame Street was aimed mainly at urban kids who didn’t have the preparation to start school. When everyone started watching, it needed to be brighter.

Learn From Your Mistakes

In 1994, Sesame Street started to sprawl. The show built a whole new set for a segment called “Around the Corner.” It was supposed to be a glimpse of what happened on the next street over. Then they added a hotel, the “Furry Arms,” and a whole list of new characters and a great comedic actor, Ruth Buzzi. But it never caught on.

“We ended up with too many characters and too much going on,” says author Louise Gikow. “So they pulled back the characters and went back to the street.”

Keep It Simple

The early Sesame Street was based on variety shows like Laugh-In. Segments varied wildly in length and subject, and you could never quite tell what would happen next, or how long it would last. At the time, researchers thought the unpredictability helped to hold kids’ attention. But with the advent of the VCR and DVD, it became clear that kids could watch one story for long periods of time.

“We were breaking up the narrative,” says Rosemary Truglio, the head of research at the Sesame Workshop, a non-profit organization that used to be known as the Children’s Television Workshop. “Instead of having the children experience the narrative as a 15-minute story.”

Now, the interruptions are gone. The new season of Sesame Street has a bunch of little shows within the show. One long story might be followed by 10 minutes of Ernie and Bert, after which Elmo gets his 15-minute block. It’s calm and predictable for kids, especially the 2-to-4-year-old audience that Sesame Street is now drawing, says Carol-Lynn Parente, the show’s executive producer.

We’re not the greatest at tooting our own horn, but when somebody else that matters picks up our horn + blasts a fanfare worthy of Aaron Copeland, even we feel compelled to showcase it.

What follows is a feature on SS+K in the latest edition of Communication Arts, perhaps the most prestigious chronicle of creativity in America.

It’s our story, quite well told by award-winning journalist + author, Warren Berger. He wrote nice words + the editors generously gave us pages + pages showing our work. Lots of it.

Far be it from us to make predictions, but when an agency is featured in Communication Arts, it’s often not so much a celebration of an agency’s amazing past as a prediction of an amazing future.

We follow in the footsteps of the Chiat/Days, Goodby Silversteins + Crispin Porter Boguskys. Big footsteps indeed. But as a friend of ours wrote for the New York Lottery, ‘Hey, you never know.’

You can download a PDF of the entire article here: Comm_Arts_SSK

As always, your comments and feedback are welcome here.

What’s next for YouTube (s GOOG)? Branded entertainment, or when a sponsor pays creators to make something that will bring its brand to their audience.

YouTube is extremely bullish on branded entertainment, Kevin Yen, director of strategic partnerships for the site, said on a panel I moderated a few days ago. Expect a lot of branded projects to hit YouTube “in the coming quarters and months,” Yen said. But he added that the site is still evaluating the questions, “How do you scale it?” and “Can it be a $100 or $200 million a year business?”

Branded entertainment isn’t simple like Google AdWords; it would be hard to set up a product that automated these deals. YouTube is undergoing an “adjustment period” in which it learns how to moderate the various creative and controlling forces involved in commissioning sponsored videos from its users, Yen said. For instance, it connected Carl’s Jr. with nine YouTube stars earlier this year and coordinated their simultaneous launch of videos sponsored by the fast food chain to their 3.8 million combined subscribers (see the one from Nigahiga embedded above).

I asked Yen what about the overexposure of these YouTube stars for so many random brand experiments. It seems that the same group of 20 or so people that showed up in Weezer’s Pork and Beans video are pulled for just about every sponsored content initiative. Yen replied that UGC stars know the value of the audience they’ve built, and are highly sensitive to the concept of selling out. He contended that the core group of stars gets a ton of offers and they are very selective.

But what about deals that YouTube talent strike on their own to include brands and products in their videos? In addition to all those inbound offers, a number of services outside the purview of YouTube connect online video makers with brands, such as Hitviews, Zadby, Tadcast and Poptent.

Here’s where Yen’s comments might make some creators uneasy. He said the site relies on users’ “good behavior” to check a box that states they’ve included a brand in their video. At the moment, YouTube isn’t doing much with that information, as it wants to “foster the ecosystem,” said Yen. “But we want to track and find out what’s happening, in case we want to figure out a model later.” For background, YouTube earlier this year had gone so far as to notify some users that independent brand-integration deals in their videos could violate YouTube’s terms of service. And to be fair, YouTube is well within its rights to try to take a cut of profits other people make on its site.

We asked YouTube for further clarification of Yen’s remarks on sponsorship disclosures, and a spokesperson said that the site is “in the process of reviewing what makes the most sense in these situations.”

Math and science scores amongst youth yet again reveal that American students are far behind in comparison to their foreign counter parts. Motivating students towards careers in those fields has become increasingly more difficult in a society that puts heavy emphasis on celebrity and glorifies flashy careers in entertainment and advertising. The military as well as the Olympics are having a similar challenge in engaging youth http://majastevanovich.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/olympics-military-share-a-challenge-engaging-youth/.

Big defense contractors iRobot and Raytheon have embarked on projects to potentially offer some solutions to the growing problem that is lack of interest for math and science; interestingly enough, both of their projects are in the entertainment space. By now, most have realized that the entertainment (music, television, movies, theme parks, professional sports, etc.) is a powerful medium when it comes to attracting youth.

iRobot has partnered with the rock artist Lansdowne to produce the above video. Exposing their robots to the younger demographic through a medium that youth relates to can generate some very favorable thinking about robots. In turn, that should hopefully foster more thinking about science and math.

On the other hand, Raytheon has partnered with Disney to design a ride where guests can customize their own level of thrill enabled through the massive robotic structure.

Understanding youth and what motivates them is coming one step closer to providing messaging that will influence them to think about entities that are not necessarily on top of their mind. Entertainment and using it in a compelling way is one gateway. What are other solutions?

If you think about it, the Olympics and the military share a few things in common. Patriotic messaging and team work are essential for both entities. It is not surprising that both are looking for new and innovative ways to reach youth. The Olympics are starting to face a challenge in engaging youth as the current generation is growing up with so many entertainment options as well as changing views on who they are looking up to and find to be role models. The Olympics used to enjoy viewers, and especially youth anxiously waiting for the next games and relating to the athletes that they saw as role models and national heroes. Although that is still happening today, it is on a lesser scale and the Olympics are recognizing this and adjusting their marketing strategy to better reach today’s youth.

“The Best of Us” campaign is focused to engage youth and connect them to Olympic athletes and one another. They are imploring the use of user-generated content, digital platforms and online communities that aim to reach youth where they are spending most of their time. The use of athletes that have resonated with today’s youth, such as the gymnast Shawn Johnson will also be used. Capitalizing on social media, the “Best of Us” campaign hopes to gain buzz from bloggers and various other outlets that have the ability to make stories go viral.

If you’ve read one of my previous blog posts that talks about media increasing interest in public service http://majastevanovich.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/can-mass-media-increase-interest-in-public-service/ it talks about the decrease in youth getting involved with particular aspects of public service. What is very interesting is that this generation is known to have high civic values as well as be very sports minded. Which brings up the questions, why are both the military and the Olympics having a challenge of connecting to a large percentage of youth? Going back to the initial thoughts in this post, what the military and the Olympics share is the notion of patriotism. Patriotism and love of country are not the first thoughts that come to mind for the young demographic that is looking to identify themselves with brands, celebrities or athletes. Does the notion of patriotism need some re-branding to connect to today’s generation? It is interesting to think about especially for brands and entities that rely on evoking such feelings out of its audience. In the market place that is cluttered and saturated with so much messaging, is patriotism lost?

I’ve been given the privilege of speaking on a panel at next week’s Digital Hollywood in Los Angeles. The topic is Consumer Privacy, Tracking & Targeting: Consumer Rights and Enhanced Technology and Commerce Services. I’m being joined by a great group including Dan Palmer, VP, Atigeo, Bant Breen, President, Initiative, Dave Morgan, CEO, Simulmedia, Michael Dougherty, CEO, Jelli, Shai Samet, CEO, Samet Privacy LLC, Jason Cieslak, Managing Director, Siegel & Gale and moderated by Mark J. Kapczynski, Chief Operating Officer, Kontrol Media.

I will be tweeting from Digital Hollywood as well as posting after our panel discussion. It looks like it’s going to be a lively topic and I’m excited to be participating.

In response to an article by John Horn, Ben Fritz, and Rachel Abramowitz on latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-moviebiz6-2009oct06,0,702751.story

I am not in Hollywood. I am in Cleveland. But movies have always been a dream, an aspiration, a passion of mine. I studied Film production in college, I began my own thriving small-scale video production company, and have been passionate about the interworkings of Hollwood ever since. But I continue to look at it from the outside, from a fan’s point of view, from the angle of a prospective consumer, but also as someone who cares about film from deep within my heart.

With all the financial upheaval in this country, it is no wonder that even Hollywood is beginning to panic about the loss of revenue. Times, they are a-changing. It is time to asjust, things are going to be different and change is never easy, but in times like these it is a necessity. Everyone is feeling it. I’m no economist, and even I have been effected by this recent recession, but I know that I have to adapt to this changing economy.  I haven’t been hit has hard as most, but I too must evolve my business model to cope in this new world. Now, I’m not saying I have all or any of the answers for the higher-ups in Hollyood, but sometimes, when panic sets in, it helps to look to an objective outside opinion.

DVD sales can no longer be Hollywood’s main source of revenue. It has been counted on as being as much as 50% of the profit for a film over the last few years as well as a major source of revenue generated from releasing library titles onto the new format. Of course DVD sales have declined over time. Many studios have exhausted their library releasing sometimes as many a 4 different editions of a film (not including anniversary editions). Consumers snatched them up to bring their home video collection into the new millennium. But now that everyone has rebuilt their collection after the death of VHS, why is Hollywood surprised that DVD sales are in decline?

Blu-Ray discs came along at the wrong time. Sure the initial feud with HD-DVD didn’t help while everyone was waiting for a definitive format winner so they could begin building a high-def home video collection, but by the time a victor was determined, the economy was beginning to decline. Blu-Ray players are just now, 2 years later, starting to become affordable for the average home viewer. Blu-Ray discs are still fairly expensive for consumers who recently purchased their favorite films on DVD. Blu-Ray came out too soon after DVD took off to be a “must have”. Blu-Ray ended up essentially competing with DVD and DVD was far more affordable, and in a declining economy affordable will win.

Then again, DVD sales are down even on new release titles. Of course they are. This again makes sense. DVD titles are now being released within 3 months of a theatrical release. The market knows this, the people know this. Many opt to wait for a $5 DVD rental (or even $1 through RedBox, thank you NetFlix) over paying $20 for a theatrical viewing. Again, affordable will win. Others don’t see the need to purchase a $25 DVD of a movie they feel they “just saw,” especially when the average movie-goer seems to feel that current movies are (of lesser quality and) nothing but a way for studios to make a buck.

I have a friend who refuses to go to theaters because A) he can’t smoke in the theater but can in his own home, B) he can pause the film if he needs to leave, and C) because he doesn’t have to deal with the distraction of other people talking or using their cell phones during the movie. While the public atmosphere of movie-going is part of the experience, the cell phones are a nuisance, but that’s a rant for another time.   

So the income model of the film market is changing. So DVDs (and home video – including downloads and VideoOnDemand) cannot be counted on as your primary source of income. Yeah, that’s too bad. But there was a time when it wasn’t the primary source of income. There was a different model that worked once upon a time. Theatrical releases used to be the primary source of income. This could happen again, but this too has changed: the scourge of cell phones, the outrageous ticket prices, the rude audience, and the abundance of expensive food (whatever happened to a simple popcorn and soda??) have driven, rather than attracted, movie-goers back to their homes where their big-scree high-def TVs and (and soon 3D capable monitors) let them enjoy similar entertainment experiences to the theater but in more comfortable surroundings (again, a rant for another time). Hollywood has always competed with Television. Home video was a concession and it worked well. It will continue to work well in our convenience-driven, sloth-like society.  But now, until Blu-Ray, or the next format, becomes an affordable “must-have” it is not a viable source of primary income.

So returning to the theatrical release as a primary source, what is to be done to drive people out of their homes and back into the theaters?

In a scramble, studios are tossing out old guard management and bringing in new up-and-comers with hopes that they will be able to generate new income for the studios. So their solution seems to be this thing called “branded entertainment” – taking an already existing market and making a film to add another layer of revenue for the successful brand. Is this a boom for the film studios or for the companies on whose products the movies are based? Who wins with a Transformers movie? Does Hasbro win by selling more toys? Does Dreamworks and Paramount win by creating the film? The answer: those who own the rights will win. Hasbro owns the characters. Hasbro wins. A movie may be exciting and drive fans of the toys to the theater, but the overall market of the characters is where the profit lies. A studio licensing characters from a toy company can make a good movie, maybe even two (or one good one and one bad one), but will it become a reliable source of renewable income for the studio? No.

Older Hollywood models of profit were based on studios having ownership of their content and profiting from selling the license to those characters. Disney made a mint on Mickey Mouse and even had copyright limitations extended to protect its investment. Leon Schlesinger did the same with the Looney Tunes characters. Paramount did well rebooting Star Trek because A) it was an exciting film and B) it owns the property.

“Branded entertainment” property (intellectual property, that is) that is owned by someone else can make a good rescue move. It is a temporary fix. It is not a solution. But, even “branded entertainment” needs to be good quality to drive people to spend their money. Word of mouth is still the best marketing in Hollywood. A good trailer can give you a good opening weekend. Good word of mouth can give you repeat business, a longer theatrical run, a must-have home video and, “Titanic” income.

A quality film can become a franchise; a successful film can warrant spending more money for a more lucrative sequel. But planning a franchise based on zero experience with the property is unwise. Even time-tested material doesn’t always stand the test of time. Casablanca is an amazing work. It still holds up today. Turning Casablanca into a remake (or a TV show) doesn’t work. I was amazed at Peter Jackson’s King Kong. Here was a true fan-made film. It even works; it’s emotional and the special effects are amazing. But given the choice, which Kong will I watch? I opt for the 1933 original. We’ve all heard bad cover songs, and we’ve all seen bad remakes. Sometimes a classic is best left alone. But likewise, some material is best to be re-explored; but it is best explored because the material works for the current audience, or the story has a message that applies to current times. It is not best to explore old material simply to remake it. Don’t cover a song that already works unless you have a new take on it. And don’t remake a film just because you can! The results are rarely successful.

A planned franchise is a poor idea. Unless you have a team (and financial backers) 100% committed to a great endeavor, come hell or high water, it simply won’t work. Remember that Battlefield Earth was a planned franchise. So planning a franchise based around “branded entertainment” like a toy line, is a quick-fix. It’s not reliable income merely to put butts in the seats on a single Friday night, that’s like putting a band-aid on a gushing open wound. Hollywood is bleeding and we keep handing out band-aids. This financial trauma needs surgery: a new plan.

Change is scary. I am phobic of it. I am terrified to take steps off of dead center. So I am the last one to be saying this, but it takes guts to face change and to be patient through the transition. Wise investors know and believe that over time most investments will make money. It’s hard to see the forest through the trees. It’s a big risk. But it can pay off. Take Cleveland sports teams for example. Every year we struggle. The Indians are the worst team in baseball, again (and yes, they even made a movie (no, two!) about how bad the Indians have been). The Cleveland Browns, well, you know. Every year in Cleveland we optimistically say the same thing, “maybe this is our year!” And then a few weeks later in Cleveland we optimistically say the same thing, “maybe next year.” And this year, maybe this is our year… The Cleveland Cavaliers have superstars LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal (“Kazaam” himself). There is lots of hype about a championship, a first in franchise history. This change has been a long time coming. It’s taken a lot of work, a lot of patience, and a lot of negotiations. But this year, maybe finally it will all pay off. In Cleveland we are patient. In Hollywood, we can’t be impulsive.

So what needs to change? Almost everything. This goes against much of current Hollywood financial advice, but the Old Hollywood System needs to make a come-back.

Studios need to own their own content so that they can stretch any “brand” across multiple markets: toys, clothes, DVDs, spin-offs, etc. Actors need to partner with studios rather than be their competitors. Studios can’t make films without actors. Actors realistically can’t work without big studio films (independents and theatre are again a rant for another time). Actors need to take greater profit participation deals rather than huge up-front salaries. Someone with something to lose will work harder than someone with nothing to lose – currently all of the financial risk lies with the studios and producers – this kind of deal paid off in spades for Jack Nicholson on Batman. Hard work does pay. And an attractive and lucrative deal will likely lead to another, much as a successful film now almost automatically leads to a franchise. 

Additionally, franchises need to be based on more than profit. A good film, no matter if it was made now or in the past, has always been measured by how good the story is. And we’re not talking the latest Michael Bay flash-in-the-pan special effects driven high-opening-weekend-box-office good. I mean a movie that people will love and cherish and want to view again and again. Casablanca, Titanic, and Star Wars have good stories, great ideas and compelling characters. This is what makes a film good. This is what makes a franchise viable. Making a million dollars doesn’t automatically give you the same return on investment for a sequel.  A franchise needs to be based on compelling characters that can drive a continuing story. Do we care what happens to Rick after Casablanca ends? We can assume he went on with his life and we can be content with that. Do we need to see what happens to Luke and Darth Vader? No, but we sure as hell want to!

Films show us characters we would like to know. They hold a mirror up to life for us and we begin to relate to them. Over the course of a story (in a sitcom, a play, a television drama, a radio show or a film) we begin to care about them as they take us on their journey. When the journey ends either we can make our peace with the outcome and let a story live by itself, or we can be compelled to want to relate to those characters again and again, as in the case of television shows. It is this type of compelling story that needs to drive a franchise. Stories shouldn’t be made just to fill a void. Stories should exist because they need to, because an idea or need or viewpoint is out there and needs to be expressed. Characters in film need to drive the story, their story. We get to spend 2, sometimes 3 hours with them, but ultimately and subconsciously it is the story that compels us to stay in our seats. It is fine to spend an hour with the cast of ER, for example, or a half-hour with The Simpsons, because the characters are hollow enough to be a way to tell a story, not enough to drive one. Nor is the story compelling enough to keep us engrossed. This is the trouble with “branded entertainment,” it exists to fill its own need; it’s not necessarily designed to drive a 6 hour film franchise.

Franchise films and “branded entertainment” are instant gratification tactics, a product of, and fuel for, this instant gratification society. They are the band-aid, not the solution. They are the quick fix and the problem. Films are magical; they whisk us away in realistic ways that otherwise we could only dream about. But our dreams are becoming tainted by the bottom line. Do we want dreams and the rewards that come with a restful night or do we want to knock ourselves out with sleeping pills? What are the dreams worth?

Be patient. Change is coming. Evolution happens naturally and organically, much like a film develops from the imagination of a writer with a compelling idea. I hope these seeds can help. I believe in Hollywood. It still allows me to dream.

The last blog post talks about adjustments marketers will have to make as we embark on a new era of the empowered consumer. I want to focus on one statement from the previous blog which talk about interacting with a brand as opposed to merely being exposed to it. As I mentioned, I wanted to discuss how these new rules may apply to risk adverse industries, and especially the military. Engagement vs exposure implies a loss of control, but I believe that doesn’t have to be the case. In the case of the military, bigger benefits come from the desired demo engaging with the individual branches (brands) rather than just one dimensional exposure. The likely hood of attracting just the right candidates increases by having engagement opportunities. Just like the previous blog post, I wanted to focus on the below five statements and explain how they specifically apply to the military marketing community.

Less is More: Impressions are great, and reaching a wide audience always makes the brand feel like they are doing something right. This holds especially true for the military that wants to make sure its messaging reaches as many 17-24 as possible. Exposure is great, but engagement is better. Engagement results in a deeper level of involvement rather than just reaching eye balls. Smaller campaigns that allow for engagement can prove to be much more effective because they allow for real impact.

Influencers: When it comes to making such an important decision, influencers are a crucial part of the decision making process. Tailored smaller campaigns that involve influencers to the 17-24 market are important to foster acceptance and interest in the military.

More Bang for Your Buck: A lot of resources are put behind messaging to the 17-24 demographic and some efforts may be more expensive than others. Re-evaluating the marketing mix to pin point tactics that are more effective will not only lower costs but improve long term results.

Measuring Metrics: Measuring the impact of marketing programs allows for feedback that shows if a particular program is performing. It also allows for key learnings that can be applied for future programs. This is much harder to do with traditional advertising rather than programs designed for easy measuring.

A Truly Branded World: This is especially true of the 17-24 demographic that identifies with brands and includes them as a part of their lifestyle. There is a need for the military community to include themselves in the conversations taking place. Great examples of successes are partnerships with NASCAR and 3 Doors Down.

Traditional advertising will continue to stay relevant in military marketing; however, alternate marketing methods may be a better fit when it comes educating youth on something as personal as service to country.

iTVX Launches First Tool to Measure Branded Entertainment in Web Video

NEW YORK, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- iTVX the global leader in measuring the
quality of branded entertainment in TV and Movies has announced the
international release of a system to measure the quality and value of branded
entertainment and product placement in Web Video Content.
    According to Frank Zazza CEO of iTVX, "measuring the quality and value of
branded entertainment is of foremost concern as dollars expeditiously migrate
into the digital space."  He continued, "Advertisers and content providers
needed to have a tool and currency to do business in this multifaceted digital
world that includes webisodes, user generated content, (e.g. You Tube) web
music videos, Internet broadcast TV, and Interactive product placement ...
iTVX has fulfilled that need."
    The iTVX "In Web" tool follows the design and look of iTVX's "In TV" and
"In Movies" player, measuring 60 factors per 100th of a second of exposure.
New metrics include a "d/X Factor" which considers brand exposure duration
relative to total content duration, and a "Web Environment Adjustment" which
makes calibrations for the environment surrounding branded content.
    Like other iTVX tools, 'In Web' delivers a Q-Ratio(TM) which is the global
branded entertainment currency that relates the quality of branded
entertainment to media value allowing for a true cross-comparison between
branded entertainment and conventional advertising spending. Value for the
branded entertainment or product placement is easily attained by inserting a
CPM and viewers.  iTVX's technology does the rest allowing advertisers and
content providers to focus their attention on producing quality branded
content. As the "In Web" tool generates reports, iTVX's technology will create
predictive recognition analytics and industry quality comparison charts.  The
system also incorporates a Pre-Valuation tool to help marketers and content
providers manage expectations and do better business at the front-end of a
deal.
    iTVX has been working in tangent with some of its clients Unilever,
Henkel, Toyota, Chrysler, Nissan and Ford to help develop the final product.
    According to Robert Witter, head of Ford Global Branded Entertainment, "We
rely on iTVX for branded entertainment valuations in TV and Movies; having In
Web Video valuations will certainly help clarify Ford's cross platform ROI on
branded entertainment and product placement opportunities".
    About iTVX:  iTVX is the leading global product placement and branded
entertainment valuation company specializing in solutions that will enable
clients to make better branded entertainment decisions.

see original article
http://www.redorbit.com/news/entertainment/1412248/itvx_launches_first_tool_to_measure_branded_entertainment_in_web/index.html

We are slowly entering the world of the empowered consumer. The advertising and marketing industry will have to adjust to this new consumer attitude, as what was considered brilliant marketing in the past may be seen as outdated to today’s audience. Having both choice and control over how they interact with brands, today’s consumers choose what they filter or block and most importantly what they buy into.

User generated content is rising in popularity and peer delivered messages tend to have more clout when it comes to authenticity. When consumers are looking into new brands for products or experiences, community based recommendations become an essential step in the process. The notion of interacting with a brand as opposed to merely being exposed to it is the new mantra brands are starting to live by. What are the exact implications on the advertising industry by the technology driven empowerment of consumers?

Less is More: Soon enough brands will realize that wide reach via traditional media may not be as powerful as smaller, more targeted campaigns that focus on outlets such as digital, experiential, and other non-traditional means that have the ability to really touch the consumer. The notion of really understanding one’s target market will lead towards efforts that provide more value to the audience while at the same time putting the brand at top of their mind.

Influencers: When everything is becoming viral, influencers (may it be friends/family, celebrities, community leaders) have a unique ability to position a brand in a very desirable light. While celebrity endorsers were powerful in the past, in some instances even today, technological advances allow for full emersion of influencers and brands for an even more powerful result.

More Bang for Your Buck: Creating glitzy advertising spots or putting on marquee events tend to have hefty price tags. Because of technological advances in the way consumers get information and interact with one another, creating powerful marketing campaigns is becoming cheaper. Consumer generated content, which may be more compelling than 30-second spots are much cheaper to produce. Specialized micro-sites that may keep audiences entertained and occupied for hours are also much more cost effective. How about those grass roots events that may truly touch a smaller crowed but leave a longer lasting impact? Future of advertising opens the door to smaller agencies that can deliver customized solutions through a more cost effective model.

Measuring Metrics: Brands are getting more serious about ROI and being able to show that specific marketing campaigns are directly tied to sales or other objectives they are trying to meet. With some of the smaller, more targeted efforts, the impact is a lot easier to measure and see, and who doesn’t love immediate gratification?

A Truly Branded World: We are living in a branded world where the lines of entertainment and marketing are blurring and we have such high expectations of brands that we bring into our lifestyle. Branded entertainment will become an even more powerful force in the marketing industry and brands that can immerse themselves with a consumer’s lifestyle will come on top.

The new rules of marketing will be harder to adapt by some industries, particularly for military that is on a quest for new recruits and positive association by the overall public. Next post will discuss how a risk averse, conservative industry can cope with these changes.

Han Hyo Joo to Make Her Singing Debut …well, not a debut as in becoming a formal artist per se, but Han Hyo Joo will be singing a few songs for her new music drama project titled “Soul Special” with Branded Entertainment.

“I have sung once in public at the ‘Soul Special’ showcase, but I’m not a professional singer so I was thinking that it might be a discourtesy for me to sing,” she said with a smile. She also added, “I hope that everyone will just be nice about my singing.”

Now, a little background info about this upcoming music drama, “Soul Special.” This drama depicts the relationship of a man and a woman who are in show business. Han Hyo Joo will star as Jin Mia, who is a singer/songwriter. Others on the cast include Lee Chae-young, will take on the role of Min Sae-hee who is a hotelier and Kim Dong-wook will portray Mia’s significant other.

This music drama will air around the end of October, and will be 60 minutes long, 5-minute previews of it will also be posted on Cyworld every Tuesday and Thursday starting from September 29th.

credits: allkpop

What’s new at the pre-show?

Sept 22, 2009

Leading cinema-advertising companies share their latest efforts to make the show before the main feature engaging and entertaining.

Cliff Marks
President of Sales and Marketing
National CineMedia

Tell us about your typical pre-show and what the content usually consists of.
NCM’s FirstLook is a digital entertainment and advertising pre-feature program showcasing content from some of Hollywood’s most popular entertainment companies, such as A&E Television Networks, NBC, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Turner Broadcasting System, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Warner Bros. along with national, regional and local advertising seen on approximately 15,500 digital screens nationwide.

FirstLook provides both a high-quality entertainment experience for patrons and an effective marketing platform for advertisers. Designed with the audience in mind, FirstLook ends approximately at the advertised movie showtime (when the film trailers begin) and its entertainment content segments are rotated between theatres about every two weeks to help ensure that frequent moviegoers are entertained by fresh content. Multiple versions of FirstLook are presented every month throughout NCM’s media network, and each FirstLook presentation is tailored to a specific film rating category to provide age-appropriate content and advertising for the movie audience.

Who are your pre-show content providers?
A&E Television Networks, NBC, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Turner Broadcasting System, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Warner Bros.

Which pre-show content has been especially successful?
Our entertainment content has been very successful, especially content which is uniquely created for FirstLook and highly relevant for the moviegoing experience. We have just renewed multi-year deals through 2011 with NCM FirstLook content partners A&E Television Networks, NBC Universal and Warner Bros.

What new forms of content have you introduced this year?
Several new clients are buying NCM’s cinema-advertising network for the first time in 2009, including clients in the packaged goods, sports apparel, import auto and telecommunications categories. We are also starting to see interest in the technology area, a whole new category for us. Earlier this year, E*Trade gave movie goers a “FirstLook” at a “Director’s Cut” featuring the outtakes from its popular “Talking Baby” Super Bowl campaign. The humorous campaign really resonated with movie audiences and elicited terrific response. Another great example was when Ford Motor Co. launched a nationwide campaign using NCM’s FirstLook pre-show to highlighting its charitable giving with a two-minute content piece shown before “G” and “PG”-rated films. The content focused on the philanthropic work of the Ford Motor Co. Fund—both its financial contributions and the thousands of hours of volunteer work performed by Ford employees. Ford, like a lot of advertisers these days, followed the people who are flocking to the movies during the downturn.

Does audience feedback or interactivity play a role in your pre-show?
Yes. NCM is taking cinema advertising beyond the big screen with a new 360° mobile, online and onscreen campaign called “r8 it” (pronounced “rate it”). It is an interactive mobile text/WAP polling program that gives moviegoers a unique way to share their thoughts immediately after enjoying a film in their local theatre. Through messaging in onscreen spots in NCM’s FirstLook pre-feature program, Lobby Entertainment Network (LEN) and box-office handouts, audiences are asked to text in the name of the movie they just saw, and will then receive a message back featuring a fun question that asks them to rate a particular element of the film. As an incentive to play, “r8 it” participants become eligible to win movie tickets for a year.

Results of the polls are showcased online at www.NCM.com/r8it and through the new “r8 it” app that is distributed over the NCM Media Network of more than 20 entertainment-related websites.

As an extension of FirstLook online, NCM.com’s “r8 it” provides a unique integrated marketing platform with multiple touch points for clients. Maintaining that connection with people when they are looking for showtimes or after they left the movie theatre was always the missing piece of the puzzle, and now we have a way for advertisers to complete the picture. Perhaps even more importantly, “r8 it” also creates fun, user-generated original content that encourages interaction with the brand and will keep audiences coming back for more.

What makes a good and effective pre-show? What kind of content works best?
A good pre-show is entertaining and relevant to the moviegoing experience, while at the same time being an effective marketing platform for brands. The entertainment content from our world-class partners works especially well, but any advertising that is high-quality, innovative and interesting can resonate on the big screen and generate high rates of recall.

What does your research show about the audience’s feelings about your pre-show?
Cinema is an engagement medium—it provides one of the most engaging ad environments of all major media, with consumers paying attention to ads at a rate of two to five times greater than television.

Research shows that consumers have become accepting of cinema advertising as part of the moviegoing experience—according to E-poll, 90 percent of audiences prefer pre-show entertainment content and advertising over a blank screen. One reason that audiences are so responsive to NCM’s cinema advertising is that our FirstLook pre-feature program is respectful of the movie theatre experience, ending at about the advertised movie showtime when the film trailers begin. As discussed previously, we also rotate entertainment segments approximately every two weeks to help ensure that frequent moviegoers are entertained by fresh pre-show content.

What new content will you be introducing?
We are working with more and more brands to create long-form content so that in the future, audiences might enjoy an entertaining content segment from a consumer brand, as well as from our current group of movie studio or television network content partners.

Screenvision

Screenvision’s digital pre-show aims to revive the great tradition of pre-feature entertainment programming. Their host-format magazine-style show—the only hosted show in the industry—is designed to entertain moviegoers while sparking interest in advertiser messaging. Host Bradford How guides moviegoers through the pre-show experience, introducing advertiser and entertainment content segments that run alongside exhibitor messaging and entertaining trivia, all supported by a contemporary music soundtrack.
Content segments consist of a variety of behind-the-scenes looks at film and TV programming, world-premiere music-videos and branded entertainment pieces. Advertisers and content partners provide this entertainment-driven material, which is seamlessly blended with Screenvision-produced content to create an attractive 20-minute show that’s become part of the moviegoing experience.

Advertisers have included HBO, the E! cable network, Verizon, Daimler Chrysler and the National Guard.

Screenvision’s digital pre-show offers a variety of brand-building opportunities for advertisers: Long-form content segments give more time to reach and engage consumers with messaging. Product integration through content or hosted segments enables advertisers to creatively highlight key product/brand attributes.

Sponsorship of show segments, music, trivia or the entire pre-show provides valuable brand presence in front of an attentive audience. And traditional slide and spot advertising allows advertisers to run existing creative on the big screen.

Screenvision’s high-definition digital pre-show plays on 7,000 screens nationwide, with the majority deployed in the top 50 DMAs across 25 key exhibitor partners, including some of the nation’s most luxurious theatres. Participating circuits include Carmike, Clearview, Coming Attractions, Consolidated, Dickinson, Great Escape, Harkins, Loeks, Malco, Mann, Marcus, Muvico, National Amusements, Pacific, Premiere, Rave, UltraStar and Wehrenberg Theatres.
Consumers give Screenvision’s digital pre-show high marks, achieving 94% receptivity levels, with even higher praise from young adults and teens.
(adapted from pre-show information at www.screenvision.com)

Bill McGlamery, President
UniqueScreen Media
A Cinedigm company

Tell us about your typical pre-show and what the content usually consists of.
The preshow program is a hosted voice-over package made up of local advertisers utilizing both motion graphic ads and video spots along with PSAs for our exhibitor partners and Preflix-branded entertainment content. The entertainment content includes music-videos, behind-the-scenes interviews and commentary and movie trivia.

Who are your pre-show content providers?
The entertainment content is all developed in house utilizing materials provided by the studios and Cinedigm’s Entertainment Group.

Who are your leading theatre customers?
We represent over 50 exhibitor partners and all are an important part of our footprint. Some of our largest exhibitor partners include Marquee, MJR, Jack Loeks, Santikos and Carmike, Alliance, Allen, B&B, Cinema West and Neighborhood.

Which pre-show content has been especially successful?
The music-videos and interviews have been particularly successful, as they offer more audience interaction and are often content that isn’t readily available to the public.

What new forms of content have you introduced this year?
We have added text-messaging features and song download options to some of the content.

Does audience feedback or interactivity play a role in your pre-show?
Yes, on a small scale today. We are currently working toward more audience interaction with the program.

What makes a good and effective pre-show? What kind of content works best?
We believe an effective pre-show maintains a balance of unique, entertaining content and well-crafted, targeted advertising which captures audience members’ attention and slowly draws them into the overall moviegoing experience.

What new content will you be introducing?
We are working on several things, from increased audience interaction with both the entertainment and advertising content to a new content provider that would bring current Hollywood news and movie entertainment to our program.

http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/content_display/news-and-features/features/cinemas/e3i2abb9d0f8f4b8fdcbedead32044fde4d?pn=1

About Hollywood Branding:

Hollywood Branding, started in 2001, works with 30 marketing companies to provide a simple, stress-free avenue to research and run ad campaigns on movie theaters nationwide.

Our database includes every cinema in the U.S. that offers any kind of advertising opportunity on-screen or in the lobby.  We offer free planning, rates, research, and media buying expertise.

Some of our clients include Disney, US Army, the Food & Drug Administration, the state of VA, the city of Los Angeles, the FL Health Department, the state of OR, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, eBay, and the National Crime Commission.

Email Beverly Nation : hollywoodbranding@gmail.com

or call:      314-776-1018

www.HollywoodBranding.com

The iMedia Brand Summit in Coronado California was a great 3 days of learning, networking and great discussions. iMedia does a fantastic job of brining together a great mix of speakers, brand marketers, and industry leaders from all aspects of the digital marketing community. I had the pleasure of making the trip with Tom Short, Rare Method’s President.

The weekend was framed around the theme of “Online Branding in Stormy Times”. It was kicked off with Sarah Fay welcoming the attendees and encouraging everyone to contribute to the group, gain valuable insights from the knowledge of important members in the digital marketing world and help determine the way forward for some of the biggest brands in America.

Over the course of the Summit, I had the chance to attend a variety of speakers, eat and drink with digital marketing mavens, “Speed Date” with over 60 of the worlds leading brand managers, and join in on a town hall style discussion on the future of branding online.  I also met a few folks who came up with some of my all time favorite online campaigns!

All though we may be going through some stormy times – the future is looking good! No one needed to put rain jackets on all weekend; It was also smooth sailing when we head out for a tour of the bay on my friends 60′ yacht. We had a great discussion on the future of their new brand, and its going to be a tasty one! I am glad we have a chance to help them with it.

At the end of the day – the summit was great. Lots of new insights were gained, new friends made, and themes that we believed were confirmed to be true. Thanks again iMedia! I will break out some additional thoughts and share some insights over the next few days.

Join me on Facebook – www.facebook.com/kentspeakman and feel free to take a look at some of the pictures from the event and others!

Kent

I wanted to share this movie trailer that some of our team from Thought Box Creative, Speakman Entertainment, Back Pocket Productions and Rare Method put together for “the Collective”. I hope you enjoy.

Check out the FACEBOOK Fan Page for all the behind the scenes, green screen and making of CG that went into this project!