• Los Angeles Times (free registration required), Monday, May 22, 2006 1 PM

A new TV network is offering marketers a new way to advertise. Forget about traditional commercials--the CW network wants companies to think in terms of "content wraps," a hybrid that employs story lines in two-minute segments that would be presented three times throughout an evening of programming. The CW network announced the idea at last week's upfront presentations. "It's entertainment," said Dawn Ostroff, entertainment president for the new network, which is a combination of the soon to be defunct WB and CBS-owned UPN networks. "This is a way to keep viewers with us throughout the night." Although advertisers and networks have experimented with long-form commercials in the past, industry experts said that no network had ever undertaken such an ambitious project to try to build a serialized advertisement that unfolds over a night of programming. The goal is to provide an incentive for viewers not to get up, zone out, or zip through ads. No sponsors have signed on yet, but the idea is generating interest among buyers and advertisers. "It's an interesting way of addressing some of the issues that we all face," said Marc Goldstein, chief executive of ad-buying agency Mindshare North America. Andrew Jung, senior director of advertising and media for cereal maker Kellogg Co., said, "As long as it is done appropriately, it's a very, very smart idea. It's a great way to hold on to an audience."

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