• by Joe Marchese , June 26, 2007

A recent Ad Agearticle examines the host of companies aiming to create the "AdSense of Video," including Google itself. Contextually targeted video advertising: It just sounds oxymoronic.

Contextual targeting for video content will inevitably lead to the exact same result as contextually targeting text-based content: a decent return for direct marketers and an overwhelming lack of participation by major brand advertisers. The problem is that unlike with text-based content, the cost associated with production of quality video content will require significant financing by major brands if it is going to survive online. If Coke is restricted to appearing only when carbonated beverages are discussed within video content, Coke's ability to buy media will be seriously limited. Brands are, or at least want to be, relevant to our culture in ways far beyond their products' most basic components. Brands want to be fun, or dramatic, or cool.

How does one contextually target laughter or drama? How would you contextually target cool? Even if you could target these things (something we will get to), the elephant in the room is that there is no current method for delivering brand creative at relevant moments. Do we really have to go through a phase where Nike POPS UP on the screen whenever a character says "football"? I was pretty sure people made their voices crystal-clear during pop-ups 1.0. The answer to integrating brands beyond the 30-second spot is much further up the content creation food chain; it starts during production,

Recently MediaPost covered NBC's leadership in efforts to integrate brands at the creative point in content production. This is something I think NBC was starting to hit its stride on even earlier (more about product placement and NBC here.) All of this leads to some very interesting points. If the goal for brands is to be integrated with or sponsor content even before production, it sounds like what brands need is an agent.

Certainly agencies have been leaders in building brands for some time (see Coke and CAA). But this new emphasis on brand integration and content sponsorship renews the need for matchmaking of brands and talent much earlier in the creative process. Brands want to be funny, or dramatic, or cool, and writers want to write funny, or dramatic, or cool -- along with actors and producers who also want to be funny, dramatic, or cool. The talent agency's potential ability to see opportunities to form these symbiotic relationships between brands (and a brand's money) and talent (and talent's need for a brand's money) is unparalleled. It's the ability to make these matches early enough in the creative process to allow for the vetting of potential brand integration strategies (i.e., anything but pop-ups) that gives the talent agency a major advantage.

There are issues with the current model that need to be addressed. Obviously brands pay for inclusion in content, while talent gets paid for this inclusion, and agencies get paid for both, so there will be a natural conflict of interest to push round pegs into square holes. Avoiding this conflict will be key to maintaining the integrity of the dialogue between talent and brands. Additionally, scaling the model is difficult, to say the least. There are a number of technological initiatives that could/should be created within the talent agency model to facilitate the matching of brands and content prior to content creation.

Then there is the deal. The new media deal is another area where agencies have the potential to lead in creating industry standards. There will need to be standards created involving creative financing/monetization structures that can place enough of the financing upfront to fund production (when necessary), but more importantly, are structured to account for the possibility of content going viral. This is because with new media it's difficult to accurately predict future performance based on previous performance, so for accurate monetization, deals need to be in place covering the occurrence of video receiving massive people-aided distribution (I really hate the term viral).

Overall, I believe that with the right infusion of business process technologies and model adaptation, talent agencies are ideally positioned to capitalize on the shift to new media monetization methods. Who better to target cool than the people who represent those creating cool? What are your thoughts?