Procter & Gamble, usually considered one of the more conservative marketers when it comes to experimenting with new advertising techniques, will venture into the new area of so-called "showmercials"
with a marketing effort connected to its Febreze air freshener. The consumer product company is co-producing a series of eight 90-second animated vignettes scheduled to run on Viacom's Nick at Nite
cable channel about a family of dogs known as "The Poocharellis." Unidentified sources told
The Wall Street Journal that in the short films the dogs help show how Febreze overcomes a variety
of problems. Febreze is expected to appear in four of the shorts, and the campaign was described as "a little show where dogs are the characters and they are sitting around on couches." The cartoons
are slated to begin appearing in April and will be paired with a traditional 30-second commercial for Febreze. P&G's effort comes as more marketers show interest in developing new promotional methods,
rather than relying on traditional TV commercials or product placement, to get consumers to buy their goods and services. New technology such as digital video recorders and video on demand has given
consumers more control over the way they watch TV, and made it easier for them to skip or otherwise avoid traditional ads altogether.
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