Regular readers of the blog will know that I'm a big fan of transmedia storytelling as one of the ways forward for brands to engage more with their audience. So of course I was going to like the idea that Coronation Street actors will be appearing on Jeremy Kyle tomorrow. I think it's inspired. Congrats to whoever came up with the idea.
I've been aware for a while now, about this trend appearing. The Americans have a name for it,of sorts, Madison and Vine, it's the combination of advertising and entertainment. And the rightly awarded and previously commented on here back in January, The Queensland Best Job in the World campaign is the latest example.
This Thursday at 9pm the BBC are showing an hour long programme covering the final round of the competition, when an English lad called Ben is selected from the final 16.
Currently, I haven't been able to find out much behind the production company behind it, but if this wasn't conceived and made by, or at the very least pitched to production companies by CumminsNitro then it bloody well should have been.
Either way, a smart conclusion to a smart campaign.
With TV desperate for content this is definitely a trend that is going to go from strength to strength and yet another example of the return to a pre50's ad/comms model.
Look at the above screen for 20 seconds. Listen to it in silence if you can. Then about 18 seconds in say out loud, 'America runs on Bulova Time'.
Congratulations, you've just recreated the world's first TV commercial.
Did you notice that it played to none of the unique strengths of the medium? (Movement, Sound.)
Did you notice that it borrowed heavily from what was the norm at the time. (It's just a press ad)?
Did you ask yourself, what have we learnt about embracing new technologies since 1941? (Absolutely nothing).
New technologies present new opportunities, but only through new thinking.
My first favouirte NPL of '08 goes to the Venezuelan Black company - manufacturers of fine cacao - pure cocoa to you and me, pretty much.
A niche product by anyone's imagination, but one that was successfully launched with a multimillion pound TV campaign that succeeded in getting it listed in both a major supermarket chain across Britain, the shop of choice for WAGS - Selfridges and no doubt, all good independent delis.
Not bad for a company less than two years old and with a handful of employees.
Admittedly it was far from perfect with some surprisingly basic mistakes made, such as absolutely no cohesion, for example - packaging never matched their communication in style, tone of voice or, and perhaps potentially most damaging, name.
Because the VB Co. is probably better recognised as Willie and his Wonky Chocolate Factory, the name of the TV series which was shown over 6 weeks on Channel 4 in the beginning of 2008, repeated in late autumn and ending with a seasonal burst with it's very own Christmas Special, .
A series that followed the charismatic/annoying (delete as appropriate) Willie Harcourt-Coozie (above) as he followed his dream to get Britain using a previously little-to-unknown ingredient.
We saw every aspect of his business, from where it was sourced to how to use the product, to expert endorsement, to finding out about the health and slimming benefits of his product - nothing it seemed was over-looked.
The series was a venerable marketing masterclass for how to launch a product.
I can't believe there wasn't an fmcg marketing director out there wondering, how did pull off launching his company with 30 minute commercials shot at the production company's cost and with airtime (and a lot of airtime at that) donated free by a TV station?
Unfortunately I can't tell you much more, despite digging around on the web, I've failed to even come up with the name of the production company. Anyone any ideas?
Still, it's not all been one way sunshine basking. Maybe now would be a good time to take another look at that business plan when it comes to employee salaries
I've lifted this from an interview Creative Generalist did with Steve Callaghan, writer and producer of the Family Guy cartoon series. Here is how he describes the process of developing and writing a script.
"Well, as you might imagine, it is a highly collaborative endeavor. There are about 100 people or so who are in some way or another involved in putting together an episode. The process begins, of course, with the writing staff. My fellow writers and I will come up with a concept for an episode and discuss the general storyline that it would contain. The episode is then assigned to a particular writer who will write the first draft of the script. The whole writing staff then takes that first draft and, as a group, rewrites it -- improves jokes that might need some help, fixes any story issues, etc. -- before the show gets recorded by all of our voice actors. Once the audio has been recorded, then our animation team takes the baton, creating an animatic, which is a rough, pencil-sketch version of the show. Once we all screen the animatic, the writers take another pass at the script to address any remaining writing issues. A while later, the show comes back in color. We then do one more, smaller rewrite on the script before the finishing touches (music cues, sound effects, etc.) are added and then you've got yourself an episode of "Family Guy."
Now, compare that with how the typical creative team in the typical ad agency creates their script.
Account person and/or planner explain brief to creative team. They leave. Creative team spend anything from a day to a few weeks sweating it out. They present their ideas to the CD, who says yes, no, maybe, perhaps etc. What is very unlikely is that he will spend any time working with the team beyond this verbal input. Not through laziness, but because the script 'belongs' to the team. Work is then presented back to the account person-planner combo, who are allowed to comment on it, but only within the confines of their job title remit. God help them if they mis judge this and over step into the creatives' domaine. Conversations between planner and account person, account person and client, planner and creative director, planner and client all take place in a isolation to one another. As a result nothing much changes in the script until a director is selected. Now the creative team will listen and make changes, because a) the director is also a 'creative' and b) the team really want to be him.
I've been fortunate enought to have been a part of both processes and I know which one delivers the better work.
Another fine article in The Observer this weekend and for me one of the more persuaive for the simple reason that my mum can now understand what the hell I'm talking about when I say the cultural significance of TV is on the slide. The article itself deals with the fact that The Daily Mail have not bothered to replace their retiring TV critic.
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