Yahoo! on Monday said it added globe-trotting author/director Richard Bangs to its growing stable of content producers. Bangs' first assignment--which took him up the side of a Swiss mountain peak--is already available to viewers who visit Richard Bangs Adventures via Yahoo! News in the form of written stories, and streamed audio and video. Some of the footage will be used in an IMAX film scheduled for release by 2007. Electronics manufacturer Casio is currently the exclusive advertiser supporting Richard Bangs Adventures--located at adventures.yahoo.com. And beyond topical ad placement, Bangs is also using Casio's EX-Z750 digital camera to capture the footage on display. In hopes of creating more original content to differentiate itself from rivals like Google and MSN, Yahoo! approached Bangs over the summer, offering to take him on full time. Just last month, Yahoo! said it hired its own war correspondent, Kevin Sites, to provide multimedia dispatches from armed conflicts around the globe. Soon after, Yahoo! Finance added several columnists to create content that can only be found on Yahoo!. Bangs is no stranger to intensely documented, far-off expeditions. He had worked with MSNBC and MSN, creating similar material for about nine years prior to joining Yahoo!. He has also published countless magazine pieces, 14 books, and several documentaries--and recently co-directed the IMAX Film, "Mystery of the Nile," which is currently showing in theaters. Yahoo! also released survey results on Monday to illustrate its users' demand for adventure/travel writing and content. Yahoo! found that 72 percent of the respondents to its survey said they had been on or are planning a trip that involves adventure travel in the next five years. High-ranking travel destinations included Australia, Africa, and Alaska, Yahoo! said.
America Online has launched its first ad campaign for AIM, its popular instant messenger service. The campaign will run online and in outdoor ads at 40 college campuses. Web ads are running on sites visited by college students, such as MTV.com, MySpaces.com, and TheFacebook.com. "As they graduate, they'll really start to establish a lifestyle and a habit that will carry through into their lives," said Chamath Palihapitiya, AOL's vice president and general manager of AIM and ICQ, referring to the students AOL is targeting. "We hope to see success long-term." Amy Essene, AOL's vice president of audience brand strategy, said a large part of the branding effort will be focused on depicting AIM as a multiple-media communications platform, encompassing VoIP, e-mail, and SMS in addition to instant messaging. "We have tremendous loyalty--what we're trying to do is extend that loyalty through other areas besides instant messaging," she said. In the past, Essene said, the company relied almost exclusively on viral passalong to AIM. The campaign is scheduled to run through the end of next month.
Bugs Bunny might not have new adventures on network TV these days, but his escapades continue on the Web. The famous rabbit, like several other WB cartoon characters, can now be seen in new animated shorts distributed on about half a dozen child-oriented sites, including Kaboose.com and Funschool.com. This summer, Broadband Enterprises quietly began syndicating short Warner Bros. cartoons online. The arrangement, which was recently extended through the end of the year, involves distributing new clips--created just for the Web--for shows such as "Looney Tunes," "Gotham Girls," "Timberwolf," and "Cartoon Monsoon." Kellogg's and Procter & Gamble run streaming ads before the shorts, and display a static banner next to the clips, said Matt Wasserlauf, president and CEO of Broadband Enterprises. The pre-roll ads--mainly 30-second units--target children between the ages of 6 and 11, as well as their mothers. Kellogg's has promoted Pop Tarts, Frosted Flakes, and Twistables, while Procter & Gamble has been touting Bounty towels, Wasserlauf said. Broadband Enterprises is currently evaluating whether to extend distribution to other sites to which it provides video streams. "We laid out the opportunity across the board and are awaiting feedback," said Wasserlauf, a former WB executive who once was responsible for syndicating network programming to local TV stations. All Warner Bros. shorts currently streaming are original, but Broadband Enterprises might in the future make repurposed TV clips available online, Wasserlauf said.
Online video provider Roo has tapped 24/7 Real Media to sell in-stream advertising, the companies are expected to announce today. Roo and 24/7 will market the video content to 24/7's network of more than 850 publisher sites. "In an online media world that's fast becoming all about video, this is our first significant pre-roll network opportunity," Steven Goldberg, vice president of business development at 24/7 Real Media, said. "With 24/7 and Roo, advertisers will be able to easily extend their existing TV campaigns online," along with the Web's ability to target and measure usage, added Goldberg. Roo mainly licenses the clips from companies like the Associated Press, Reuters, ABC, Sony Music, and Disney. Roo, which has a content library of over 7,000 video titles--including an extensive collection of music, news, sports, health, entertainment, and fashion videos--also produces about 5 percent of all clips itself. Early next year, the company plans to ramp up original production to around 20 percent of its library. Using its Open AdStream ad management platform, 24/7 will deliver video-based pre-roll ads in front of Roo's streaming video content, and will fulfill other ad units with the Roo Media Player, which is embedded in the publisher site. 24/7 also plans to target ads by demographic and geographic information, as well as Web-surfing behavior at some sites within its network.
Burgeoning production firm Weinstein Company has tapped Deep Focus to oversee online promotions of all upcoming films, including "Sin City 2," "Young Hannibal," and "Master of the Crimson Armor." In addition to standard online ad fare, Deep Focus provides content from the films to major portals as well as niche publishers, like blogs. "Depending on the film and the audience, we may get creative with how we get that content out there," said Ian Schafer, founder and CEO of Deep Focus. The deal is something of a return to the fold for Schafer, who formed Deep Focus in 2002 after leaving his job as vice president of new media at Miramax/Dimension Films, then chaired by Harvey Weinstein. Prior to this deal, Deep Focus has promoted a number of the Weinstein's movies, including both volumes of "Kill Bill" and "Spy Kids 2." Schafer characterized the deal as "the natural extension of the relationship that we've had with them for quite some time." He added that Deep Focus' past work with the Weinsteins has given the agency a good understanding of how to leverage the Internet to promote films. "We're also going to act as interactive consultants helping them shape their digital strategies," he said.
CLICK by Jason Heller We all read study after study that proves that consumer engagement drives increase awareness, recall, purchase intent and elements of response and conversion. So why are so few online ads offering consumers brand experiences, versus simple "display ads"? DoubleClick's recent "Evolution of Rich Media Advertising" report states that by next year over half of all ads will be rich or streaming, while Jupiter predicts that figure will be 35 percent. Those are significant numbers, you say? Don't forget that these industry statistics include a good volume of basic flash ads, which, let's face it, are usually not that rich. However, pegging an exact percentage is tough, due to the data being dispersed among multiple providers and research companies. Industry statistics provide directional guidance as to where we are as an industry, as opposed to an absolute position. As reported by Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance service during the third quarter of 2005, only a mere 2.4% of non-search-based ads were rich media, while basic flash ads accounted for 29.5% of all ads served. Keeping in mind that Dart Motif and Atlas rich media ads are most likely being reported as basic flash (generic), therefore the 2.4% rich media number is most likely exponentially higher. However, I would say that as an industry we are just starting to walk the rich media walk. So why are most ads not rich? We can segment most of the direct response marketers who buy high volumes of very low-cost inventory (often at very high frequencies) and can't always offset the incremental costs. Most of the major ad categories--consumer packaged goods, auto, travel, and entertainment, for example--do, of course, utilize rich media. But there is apparently a huge disparity between the industry's call to engage consumers, and the types of units that make up the majority of ads served. Of course, increases in rich media usage bring potential consumer desensitization and eventual decreases in ad effectiveness... but that's a story for another column. I actually hate the phrase "rich media." The name has outlived its purpose and doesn't truly explain the concept of what we are trying to accomplish, which is breaking through the marketing clutter to better engage with, and influence, consumers. Of the "rich media" ads I see online, most are not executed in a manner that excite me as a consumer. Yes, they are rich with multimedia components, but many ads do little to truly engage with the consumer. Those that do, stand leaps and bounds above the crowd. Let's take a look at a couple of common myths behind the reluctance to use more engaging forms of rich media. Myth #1--Cost: "It's too expensive." There are three components to the incremental costs of using rich media: serving costs, media premiums and creative costs. Serving costs are continuing to drop as competition has increased between vendors as well as the major ad-serving companies, who have incorporated rich media tools into the ad server itself. In most instances increases in performance will outweigh increases in cost, often significantly. Media premiums are relatively small, and sometimes non-existent. Granted, your agency will charge more to develop rich media versus standard ads, but it is usually well worth the expense. Myth #2--Technical Complexity: "It's too complicated and we don't have time." Developing rich media has also become easier. Rich media and ad-serving companies provide various authoring tools and templates to streamline the process of development and testing. This has made life a little easier for flash developers, as they adapt their skills to developing engaging rich media ad units. Acceptance of rich media is widespread and transcends sites large and small. Most sites have rich media policies regarding user initiation, the use of audio and/or other elements that impact user experience. Additional rich media guidelines are on the way, which should continue to streamline the process. Media planners do need to take the extra time to examine the environments in which their rich media ads will be displayed, in order to ensure that the placements will not be clashing with other units or site content. Media planners have had to morph into marketing consultants in order to provide guidance on the most effective formats and units. Remember, in some environments a simple text link or other unit may be most effective. So what's the magic number--the percentage of rich media beyond which an investment reaches the point of diminishing returns? I will try to look deeper into my crystal ball before writing the next rich media piece... Fortunately, there is a way to seek the answer. By providing consumers with engaging advertising, putting a measurement plan in place and testing various types of units and formats, you can establish a model. Haven't we been working hard enough as an industry to demonstrate the increased value of engagement with consumers in digital environments? So make those ads come alive--take advantage of the medium that we all love so much. Don't just talk the talk--walk the rich media walk! Counter-CLICK by Paul DeBraccio I agree with Jason that more advertisers should be taking advantage of the great performance opportunities that rich media offers. However, it appears that many advertisers are walking the walk already, with their checkbooks in hand. A recent Jupiter estimate claims that rich media ad spending will be $1 billion in 2005 and rise to $4.5 billion by 2010. We receive about 50-60 RFPs per month, mostly from blue-chip advertisers, and more than 90 percent of them require rich media capabilities. It seems that more people are walking the walk than it appears to my colleague. However, I do concur that more advertisers should put creative effort into developing high value creative for the Internet, as they do for TV. Of course they don't, always, since online budgets are considerably smaller than TV budgets, and agency resources tend to be allocated by return on investment. The industry should get together and contribute to a rich media marketing budget that advocates better use of the rich media tools. It could consist of kiosks located near major agencies showing a dull ad made brighter through the use of rich media. Too, maybe we could hold a rich media jamboree every six months, providing big awards and recognition. (After all, we do need another conference, don't we?) Other than that, I have seen a definite upswing in Rich Media campaigns, at least among the top- spending categories, like pharmaceuticals, food, entertainment, auto and even conservative financial advertisers. Some changes that could streamline the process: 1) Standard T&Cs developed by committee.2) Maybe more precise universal product classifications among rich media companies.3) Ongoing training targeting media buyers and sellers, instead of only creatives.4) Studies that drive home increased conversions via rich media. We are walking and even running with the rich media ball, but maybe we can make it easier to run. This will have the side effect of accelerating the maturing process of the online (and mobile) ad industry.