• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, September 12, 2005

If I remember correctly, story and narrative are not one and the same. The story is the organization and trajectory of events within a narrative. Or maybe it's the other way around. Either way, I'll keep it simple, and let the latest industry events tell the story.

CBS Digital Media's SportsLine got its own video window to play on-demand clips last week. "TheEyebox," so-called, gives CBS more opportunities to sell 15-second pre-roll ads, and other rich media ad units later. CBS Digital Media's President Larry Kramer called it the second phase of CBS's plan to relaunch its Web sites as 24-broadband channels. Homage was paid to Les Moonves, the network chair and mastermind behind the idea, according to Kramer and Sean McManus, president of CBS Sports. Nike has signed on as an exclusive sponsor of the site at launch, and other advertisers include BlackBerry, Visa, Volkswagen, CDW, and UPS.

Two smaller shops, Scene7 and imc2, teamed up to challenge larger players like Viewpoint, PointRoll, EyeWonder, Klipmart, Eyeblaster, and United Virtualities. Imc2 brings an impressive client list--Blockbuster, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson--with Scene7's tech platform that allows for dynamic imaging, e-catalogs, product configurators, and targeted e-mail.

Speaking of e-mail, an executive at Viewpoint's Unicast caught me off guard last week with a big spiel about the future of rich media and e-mail marketing. Never mind that Forrester says U.S. e-mail spending will slow to a trickle by 2010, he said. Unicast is ramping up with highly targeted, highly accountable technology that everyone's going to love.

The people at American Express prove you can have a successful ad campaign using a sub-par superstar, with the "Andy's Mojo" and its point man Andy Roddick. But Anna Kournikova didn't need to win any tournaments to secure her place in history, either.

With the help of Armchair Media, Coke had embarked on an "experiential" marketing concept that involves a series of short films and breakthrough bottle designs. Dubbed M5, it involved five design shops, each of which strived for "iconic" designs that would affect packaging and other branding elements.

Also, just a day after winning the Volkswagen $400 million account, Crispin Porter + Bogusky continued its run by snagging the $45 million Sprite account from Ogilvy & Mather. I'd like to think we can expect some interesting things from those partnerships.