Commentary

That's Rich: Originality Is the Key

I have a great suggestion for Steven Spielberg. Rather than spend a hundred million dollars or so on your next cinematic extravaganza, why not generate some real ROI by recycling that old Night Gallery television episode you directed starring Joan Crawford? I mean, it’s already in the can taking up space. People haven’t seen it in years. Just think of all the money you would save!

As ridiculous as this sounds, the idea of “repurposing” old content is currently being suggested as a viable solution for streaming video advertising. “Repurposing” by definition is creativity by and for accountants. As an online advertising technique it can be the shortest route to an ineffective and lifeless campaign. The notion that a high-impact advertising strategy can be executed by using the Net as a dumping ground for television’s creative hand-me-downs underscores a fundamental lack of understanding about how to use the Internet as a tool for innovation.

Over and over again, advertisers are encouraged to resurrect old TV commercials for use in online streaming video banner and email campaigns: the repurposing of old television commercials is often touted as the best and easiest way for traditional advertisers to get their feet wet in the wonderful world of Internet advertising. Little do the advertisers know that their feet aren’t the only things about to get soaked. Perhaps the reason that such scant attention is paid to online creative issues is because there are so many technical issues involved in the delivery of online advertising that creative issues take a backseat. It’s as if a course in creative writing were needlessly bound up with printing and binding issues.

All available evidence points to the fact that, for streaming video at least, the key to online success is originality. An agency that really seems to understand this is Fallon in Minneapolis. Last year, as part of an innovative viral email campaign it developed for Lee Jeans, Fallon filmed unique, Internet-only video segments during the shooting of their offline television spots. The pieces were incorporated into a streaming video email that achieved 25 percent pass-along rates and helped introduce awareness to the offline campaign. The agency’s current online work for BMW raises the creative bar even higher. At BMWfilms.com, renowned movie directors such as Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) have been commissioned to direct a series of action-based “mini-movies” that each feature a different BMW car. CNET Networks also understands the importance of developing creative that takes into account the specific limitations of the online video medium.

We have all experienced online video “hiccups” in which the video image seems to freeze while the audio portion plays normally. These hiccups are the result of video buffering problems that are unique to the web as a medium. CNET discovered that it could anticipate these video “glitches” and minimize them when designing the order of the camera shots by insuring that the camera remain focused on “still” product shots (rather than the moving lips of an announcer) at the times when these glitches are most likely to occur.

In the end, developing creative that is unique to the medium on which it is deployed and takes into account that medium’s strengths and weaknesses is the most effective way to achieve success in your online advertising efforts.

Emerging Interest founder and CEO Bill McCloskey can be reached at bill@emerginginterest.com.

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