• USA Today, Monday, March 6, 2006 11:31 AM

A major marketer used last night's Oscars' telecast to run traditional TV spots that included interactive elements in an attempt at converging old and new media to promote its product. The spots for MasterCard prompted viewers to visit the company's Web site to participate in a contest in which they would create their own MasterCard ads based on the popular "Priceless" campaign. In the ads the announcer says "blank" and a dollar amount. In one ad, a man sits at a typewriter in a pasture and an announcer says, "Blank: $9." In the next scene a woman on a motorcycle drives by and the announcer says, "Blank: $60." Winning words will appear in one finished copy of one of the ads that will be televised later this year. "This is the next step in converged media," says Harry Keeshan, director of national broadcast for buying agency PHD. "It's the next step of maximizing the investment you make in broad reach programs and supporting it in other channels."

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