I was able to catch the Thursday edition of the New York Times and read this article about 'Trust Me' - the new TNT drama about a Chicago advertising agency. 'Trust Me' premieres tonight.
The difference between this one, and say 'Mad Men', is that real products are being written into the script, including those from Unilever (Dove), Anheuser-Busch and General Motors.
The article calls this a "...growing trend known as branded entertainment..." In actuality, it's one step away from what we will come to know as common television programming.
Let me explain.
- Television advertising is expensive and difficult to measure.
- Everyone I know except for my kids skips TV ads.
- Consumer attention is scattered between hundreds of choices, so the storyline must be great in order to get ratings. Most programs are canceled after just a few episodes.
- Companies can now, through the internet and advanced databases, communicate directly with customers, rather than promote themselves around traditional programming (advertising).
- People still watch great television (we watch one show in our house - '24' - but we do skip the ads), just as people still engage in great newspapers and great magazines.
If you agree with all this, there seems to be only one solution for corporations that want to promote their products and services through television - they need to become part of the programming (this may be the solution for the broadcasting business model as well). 'Trust Me' takes a leap into this area, but we will begin to see more programming dominated and created by one brand, similar to what Unilever developed with their 24-inspired series "The Rookie".
At this point, I'm not sure when we will see more of this type of programming, but it is coming. In order for corporations to use this channel effectively, they'll need to partner with content producers that understand how to tell a story, much like corporations have partnered with custom publishers for custom magazines, newsletters, enewsletters, microsites and so on. Of course, we believe in this model is coming sooner than later.
Joe,
I enjoyed this post - thanks. I've seen a number of posts on "the death of television" lately, and my response has always been that it needs to evolve, not die. You do a good job of encapsulating how it will likely evolve. The content viewing format (passive viewers, no interaction) works well, we just need to evolve the content itself to make the economic model (skipped ads) work again.
Posted by: Steven Woods | January 26, 2009 at 09:30 AM
Thanks Steve...I think we are all tired with the death of television, death of newspaper, death of magazines rant (I've even talked about that too much).
To your point, they are evolving into new and different business models. People still enjoy watching television...the problem it is becoming more of an issue to support program funding through advertising.
Posted by: Joe Pulizzi | January 26, 2009 at 09:45 AM
Love your blog and (specifically) liked this post. Over the last decade, I think the web has conditioned us to believe that free content with sponsored ads is ok (even if we ignore/tune them out). The "branded entertainment" that I'm waiting for is not simple product placements within a program, but rather, a radical change in the fundamental format of a program: uninterrupted programming with banner-style ads running in a small portion of the screen. So, instead of a program running from 7:00 - 7:30 with multiple commercial breaks, it would run from 7:00 - 7:15 with ads being displayed the entire time. Although I feel strongly that this model is coming, it will be yet another example of something for us to "tune out" in the future. But at least Madison Ave will, once again, have something to grasp for measurement.
Posted by: Dave Morse | January 26, 2009 at 03:00 PM
Hi Dave...thanks...I think your model sounds interesting, and agree that may be one of them - especially more short-term. Long-term, I believe that the corporations will take over more and more of the content responsibility, essentially buying time for their own programming that they create.
We may be a long time from that point...but that's the direction. Your model will most likely come first.
Posted by: Joe Pulizzi | January 26, 2009 at 04:19 PM
I think the banner idea is an interesting one. I have noticed more banner type ads appearing in television programming with a logo and message popping up for a brief moment on a small area of the screen.
I wonder to what extent sales of DVDs of programs have made up for the lost revenue in ads for content producers. Also, with more people watching television online on sites like Hulu which force you to watch ads, and brand placements, I think there is hope for good content producers in television.
Posted by: Charles | January 27, 2009 at 04:01 AM
Hey Joe, What goes around comes around. This ain't new. We're going back in time to the beginning. Think about that, and what it means to transparency requirements. Seriously. Honestly. Hit reset.
Posted by: crawford.sr@gmail.com | January 28, 2009 at 09:59 AM
You are right. I keep thinking about the old Texaco series back in the day.
Posted by: Joe Pulizzi | January 28, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Is advertising like this allowed in the U.S.? I think its creepy to the max.
They would be so busted in Germany.
Posted by: dirk | January 30, 2009 at 10:31 AM
Hi Dirk...the future of media at work around the world imo. More and more content is being produced and underwritten by corporations. Since no-one is watching the ads (outside of the Super Bowl), that's the only choice left. Thoughts?
Posted by: Joe Pulizzi | January 30, 2009 at 03:50 PM
Great post- I think you've pretty much nailed it.
Posted by: Adam E. | February 17, 2009 at 11:03 PM
Yeam advertising will hit ground now. Everyone wants to advertise and thats problem, none watch all that advertising.
Specially not on TV.
Posted by: Funny News | April 02, 2009 at 02:30 PM