ad funded programming, broadcasting, television, viewing

Opening up the store: how Sainsbury’s gave us an authentic and balanced window into their world

brilliant bit of PR from Sainsbury's last night in the form of I'm Running Sainsbury's on Channel 4. in the first of four episodes, Becky Craze aimed to prove that her idea of bagging a meal would not only deliver on Sainsbury's feed your family for a fiver efforts, but would help the coffers of the supermarket giant, which we were reliably informed are to the tune of £30k per minute.

described by C4 head of factual
entertainment Andrew Mackenzie as "a look at the psychology of shopping and an opportunity to understand
the institutions where we spend our money" the show – made by Silver River – was a genuinely balanced view of life working at the retailer.

overnights are reasonable – pulling in 1.6 million viewers and an 8% share, with a further
284,000 watching on catchup service Channel 4+1 an hour later (source MediaGuardian). and the show seems to be generating a fair amount of chatter online.

positives were the genuine support that colleagues seemed to give each other (especially in the stores) and the enthusiasm of Becky to make a real difference to the company for which she works. negatives were the patronising looks and comments from more senior figures within the company. but with such negatives came credibility, the programme had an authenticity which I suspect will do well for the retailer.

but the real insight for me was the growth of own label. Sainsbury's products in Sainsbury's now number 15,000 lines and account for half of all the sales in the supermarket. one in every two items sold in Sainsbury's is own label. and they're clearly holding their margin – the own label reportedly count for – nearly – half of all revenues). enough to make any doubters of the continued rise of the retailer think twice.

next week should be fun, the show will feature an enthusiastic employee who takes the store to the customer – "it's not really stalking" she observes, "it's targeting".

broadcasting, cinema, content creating, viewing

The danger of applying old models to new technologies: why brands need to make the most of cinema’s platinum future

Monsters vs Aliens; Hollywood's latest digital offering

Pearl & Dean are hosting their first annual Film Festival today… think presentations interrupted by movies (or vice versa depending on your attitude). Mediation popped along this morning and heard a couple of cracking presentations.

the first – Peter Buckingham from the UK Film Council – outlined the Council's view of cinema's future. he observed that whilst "cinema has stubbornly maintained its analogue status", digital technologies would herald a new "platinum age" for the industry. its predicted (by Charlotte Jones of Screen Digest) that there will be 250 x 3D cinemas in the UK by 2010, up from the 172 on which Monsters vs Aliens (above) launched earlier this month. a good job too, considering Jerry Katzenberg – who knows a thing or two – has apparently predicted that within 5-7 years all movies will be 3D.

but 3D is only one aspect of cinema's revolution in the making: archive films are proving popular, as are "more obscure films" such as Man on Wire, indeed as Buckingham noted, "the big alternative content success [in cinema] is live Opera". add to this live sport in 3D (as being trialled by Sky) and the concept as cinema-as-studio (broadcasting the Shine a Light premiere to other cinemas for example) and you get an idea of where cinema could be heading.

at the heart of the UK Film Council's digital cinema vision is community; cinema "in the hands of local audiences", with cinema as "facilitator as well as curator". Buckingham cited locally produced UGC from schools and collages, Nollywood movies making it big in East London, and broadcasting of events such as Royal Society lectures as further evidence of this "democratisation of culture".

unfortunately talk moved on to brands, where the vision is apparently a little more limited in its scope. producer Phil Streather observed that brands had the opportunity to make ads that made full use of the 3D 'punch'. why is it that we can't attach some of the "platinum age" thinking to brands?

why settle for ads? if the vision and hope is that cinemas become locally-centric centres of culture and content, why are we slapping the outdated and outmoded format of an ad on the front of them. cinema's opportunity is the same for brands… how can we use these screens as platforms for our points of view on the world? what could we create and curate for these screens that say more about us than 30" of stuff with an awareness aim.

we're better than this, and if the promise that digital cinema offers is realised, audiences will expect better; platinum brand work for a platinum channel.

broadcasting, innovating, television, viewing

One email chain about Whedon’s Doll House: Two great hopes from Mediation about marketing TV shows

there follows a genuine email chain from my inbox today, names have been initialised to protect the innocent:

OB: "Dollhouse, the new Joss Whedon show, has started in the US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollhouse_(TV_series) Hopefully over here soon…
CS: has had a lot of critical slating but lovely premise, can't wait to see it. Cx
AK:Oh how very exciting. I like Dushku. Can't wait to see it. Ax
JG: I saw the ads whilst out in Ottawa earlier this year. I do hope
it gets picked up here. The likes of Battle Star Galactica (great show) were
part funded by Sky… they’d do well to get behind some of Whedon’s stuff too.
OB: We stopped watched BSG half-way thru
second series, just didn’t grab us. May try again.
JG:You’ll have to catch repeats then as it finished last night! It didn’t really change style or quality through the series so I’m
not optimistic you’ll enjoy it much more if you go back to it.
HDL: I really enjoyed the first series of BSG and then it all got a bit a silly. V exciting re Dollhouse though sounds weird even for JW. I miss Firefly…
JG: Dollhouse is coming here very soon, maybe on FX I caught the
tail end of an advert for it yesterday – hope it’s good J
OB: In my efforts to find a date for Dollhouse
in the UK
I noticed that Knight Rider has been re-made too. Will def. be watching that!
JG: Not found an exact date – it’s going to be on the Sci-fi channel
in May (Dollhouse that is) Sci-fi have got Knight Rider too.
OB: Thanks, will keep an eye out for it. It’s
great that US TV comes over here so quickly these days rather than having to
wait ages…

I hope two things. one, that somewhere out there Sc-Fi is planning some media beyond it's own channel to tell people about this programme. too many shows languish for too long with too small an audience because of the perceived difficulty – and cost – of promoting them.

this is because in the main, promoting programmes beyond your own channel is expensive and is most likely to pay back in the medium or even long term. but Doll House is one of those rare exceptions to this rule: its a TV project which, because its from Whedon, is genuinely anticipated by a core fan base. something on which I hope and pray that Sci-Fi are planning to capitalise on.

secondly I hope that for not too much longer the world doesn't have to live without some software that tracks what I like and tells me when TV shows that I may like are coming my way. or indeed coming back. I was on the phone to a lovely lady from Sky yesterday week (part of the flat move trauma) who informed me that Fringe was back on Sky. if she hadn't have said something I may never have known.

this is an application waiting to be written, first brand to write it wins the prize. watch this space; I will be…

content creating, converging, innovating, user-generating, viewing

Video. Everywhere. Always: What we can all learn about P Diddy’s adventures in mobile broadcasting

Free TV : Ustream
the idea that there will ever again be a status quo in media planning has surely got to be abandoned. technology and interaction are now evolving at such a pace that the challenge is not just how best to use what's out there but firstly to know what's out there.

case in point is Mashable. for two years it's been creating editorial about the best of Social Media news and views. and I had no idea it even existed. none. so it's a thanks to PAffleck (thanks) who pointed me in the direction – via Mashable – of how P Diddy is using mobile app. Ustream.tv to broadcast his life direct from his mobile to the world.

he's not alone. loads of people are doing it. assuming you have a good enough phone (current limiting factor but this will change), you can upload your clips direct to your own broadcast stream. better than that – if you see something cool you can start live broadcasting it – there and then – from your phone to your mates, or whoever…

I never thought I'd say this, but I guess we all have a thing or one to learn from P Diddy. if he can do it why aren't brands? how often are we and the clients we work with creating reasons and incentives for people to engage there and then with experiences that are happening right now in the real world?

it's difficult, but the reality is that we're moving to a world of video being everywhere always. that's a lot of competition for our precious advertising space. I for one – no matter how much I sometimes feel I have yet to learn – want to understand this now… cos the brands that get this sooner rather than later may be the ones that don't just thrive, but survive, in a digital world where any status quo no longer and will never exist.

broadcasting, innovating, television, viewing

Doing digital on TV: How lastminute plan to get us all channel-hopping on Saturday night

thanks Emily for the heads up on this brilliant bit of thinking from lastminute.com who – fresh to to TV advertising for the first time in four years – are playing for a media first on Saturday night. an emailer to their database explains:

"On Saturday 28 February at 9.50pm, watch us on telly and win a big bundle of
good stuff.

We're creating a television first – and we want you to be
part of it. Tune into ITV on Saturday 28 February at 9.50pm. Three 60 second
adverts will be aired, straight after each other, starting on ITV, moving to
Channel 4 and then ending on Channel 5.

It's going to be the world's
first Mexican wave of thumbs up… spanning the channels and spreading the good
stuff, right around the UK. Watch the three adverts and guess the number of
thumbs you see.
Come back here and tell us
how many thumbs you think you saw. Simple!

You
could win a great big bundle of good stuff"

everything is in place here; (1) an dCRM and PR strategy to get this onto people's radars, (2) an innovative bit of media thinking that is consistent with and relevant to the campaign aims and (3) incentive to get involved, in the form of prizes to be won after the event.

but what's most smart is the line of thinking that got them to this idea in the first place. Simon Thompson, chief marketing officer at lastminute explained in a Guardian article that "because Lastminute.com is a digital-based brand we have to go on to telly with a digital mentality … To follow this ad consumers need to participate". a brilliantly simple bit of logic that has gotten them to a very smart place indeed.

so it's all good – unless you're the OMD TV buyer, in which case 9.49pm on Saturday night may be a very nervous moment indeed ;o)

broadcasting, television, viewing

Taking the lead: how Doctor Who and Matt Smith prove the potent ability of broadcast TV to amplify a message in the digital age

two established and respected TV programmes. two significant cast changes. and that's about where the similarities end. just before Christmas Channel 4 introduced us to the new cast of Skins, and on Saturday the BBC introduced us to the man who'll play the Doctor post his tenth regeneration in about a years time.

both aim to achieve the same two objectives: one, mitigate against viewer decline when an established lead or leads leave; and two, capitalise on any potential positive PR that results from the casting of the new guy or guys on the block.

but the ways in which each programme went about achieving those aims couldn't have been more different. the principles undying the BBC's approach to Doctor Who were uber traditional from a commissioning pov. hold back information (only 6 people knew prior to the announcement in a DW Confidential special on Saturday night), and broadcast to maximum effect.

Skins on the other hand has maintained the approach that has served it so well hereto: establish communities, seed information to them, and allow / use the community to spread the message. the two approaches could be summarised as:

is one right? …or at least more right than the other? well no, each channel is communicating as is right for that programme brand and its audience. but a comparison of the results of each – as measured on Google Insights for Search – does show a clear benefit, at least in one regard, of one model versus the other.

comparative searches for skins, new skins, doctor who, new doctor who and matt smith as reported on Google Insights for Search application

both Skins terms (light blue and red) stay very consistent, the announcement of the new cast didn't seem to generate any significant interest (as measured by number of Google searches) at the time of release. compare that with the BBC's broadcast approach… searches for 'Doctor Who' (yellow) and 'New Doctor Who' (green) increased 5.2 and 7.5-fold respectively between Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd Jan, the day the announcement was broadcast.

the real winner of course in Matt Smith, searches (shown above in purple) for whom increased one hundred fold (the maximum on the Google index); interest that Mr Smith should probably get used to.

broadcast TV sometimes seems rather under siege. the dual forces of digital switchover and the evolution of on-demand hardware (including the humble desktop) sometimes paint an incorrect picture of the decline of the power broadcast TV. but the power to amplify a message remains as potent as ever. as this blog has argued before, the ability to broadcast a message to millions of people (over six million for Matt Smith according to the Guardian) becomes more rather than less important in a digital world. TV may be changing in many ways, but it's unique ability to excite and unite around new news remains as powerful as ever.

broadcasting, engaging, regulating, viewing

Here we go again: why brands should care whether or not viewers trust that their votes will count

the last few weeks have seen the spectre of viewer trust raise its head again, but unlike last year's Blue Peter name-the-cat debacle and Ant and Dec's Jiggygate affairs, recent events are far more opaque.

last time round, the cheating was obvious. judgments were delivered and calls were made that clearly ignored the voice of viewers. sanctions were duty handed out and much hand-wringing ensued. everyone learned their lesson, got it off their collective chests at Edinburgh, and everything was OK again, right?

well no actually. because the last few weeks have seen the voting viewer confidence undermined once more, again in the arena that is Saturday night event reality TV, and by both ITV and the BBC.

first up we had Dianagate courtesy of the X-factor. to cut a long story short she let rip at a bonfire party, was ill, the producers gave her a get out of jail free card and Laura went out. cue a call for the decision to be referred to Ofcom, a massive online petition to get Laura back in, and a mention in Parliament.

up next we had of course Sergeantgate on the BBC. one of the biggest stories of last week saw the big guy pull out saying "The trouble is that there is now a real danger that I might win the competition. Even for me that would be a joke too far." Sergeant hinted at the existence of pressure to go (from the BBC / judges / other contestants), The Daily Mail suggested that the reason was a P&O cruise that was beckoning, whilst Richard & Judy writing in the Express blamed his wife.

why does this matter? why is this getting a post? why can't we all just accept that it's just a TV show, get over it and all agree to get along? and most importantly why should brands have any beef with all this?

because it's either reality TV or its not – if Sergeant winning isn't an option (in his or anyone else's mind) he shouldn't
be taking part in the first place; if we're going to ask the time and
money of viewers to participate then they have to believe that their
contribution will count.

because the principles of viewer interaction and contribution are too important to allow rules to be broken. because the principle of 'have your say and the majority will determine the outcome' has got to be seen to be upheld. and most of all because the difference between voting-viewer and contributer / co-creator is in name only…

in both the above cases we're asking people to engage with branded content. similarly in both cases the decision of producers – to allow Diana to stay and to allow John to go – took the ability to control the outcome out of the hands of viewers and into the hands of producers.

brands should tread carefully where Saturday night producers seemingly don't fear to tread. in a digital age that demands engagement and co-creation with brands thru media, brands (1) have to remain transparent and (2) have to be content for power – once devolved – to lie and remain with their consumers.

this is the reward for engagement; the quid pro quo for the time and energy of getting involved; consumer ROI if you like. time will tell what the fall-out is for X-Factor and Strictly – but brands that fail to learn the lessons will find it less easy to waltz off in to the sunset with their credibility intact.

engaging, integrating, praising, television, viewing

Don’t say, do: how HBO’s Voyeur showed the world how great a storyteller it is.

Jonny (thanks Jonny) pointed me in the direction of the above describing HBO's 2007 Voyeur activity, a campaign that won the Best Integrated Promotional Campaign at this year's Cannes. great example of how brands should do rather than say.

advertising so often get's in the way… we want people to think of us as great storytellers so let's make an ad about storytelling. this campaign missed that cul-de-sac by a mile and instead created a campaign that immersed viewers in stories on their terms… this was the objective from the start, this from the info on the above YouTube page:

"the campaign goal was to fortify HBO against increasing
competition by strengthening the brand's relationship with super-fans.
Incredibly engaged in all forms of media, they seek intelligent,
cutting-edge entertainment experiences. Super-fans recognize HBO as one
of the few brands that respects their intelligence. They don't just
watch HBO programs – they're completely involved and engaged before,
during and after a show.The creative task was to ignite this same level
of passion around the HBO brand itself"

a website was of course integral, but mobiles, on-demand and blogs took the story much further. for me though the best bit about this campaign was the outdoor projection. we too often miss opportunities to use real spaces to bring campaigns to life… context tells us that as content proliferates consumers prefer and expect real experiences (cost of recorded music coming down whilst live goes up etc)

innovative – digital-led – ways to take campaigns to the streets are too few and far between, but the reward is there for the brands that can integrate the physical and the digital so seamlessly and to the mutual benefit of each.

advertising, broadcasting, researching, television, viewing

Getting more out of the ad break: how ITV prove the extent to which content affinity is transferred to advertising

some new research from ITV attaches some numbers to what we all – should – intuitively know. the network's Event TV research, which can be viewed here, quantitates the simple theory that "compelling content generates higher levels of interest and awareness" in advertising.

the research looked at 'event TV' – programming that is anticipated, time-sensitive (ie less likely to be time-shifted), and which often involves ritual behaviour (getting the pizzas in for example). what most defines such programming however is the extent to which it is a shared experience. 'true fans' – those more likely to seek-out additional programme content and talk about it – are also those most likely watch in groups. the shared experience doesn't of course stop there – they are very much aware that the same broadcast is being watched by millions of others at that very moment.

watch with other (source: ITV)

the research goes on to quantify the extent to which such fans are less likely to flick over when the ads come on, and therefore more likely to watch the commerciality that is the break (eg true soap fans are 97% more likely to watch the ads during their shows than their non-fan equivalents). finally, it demonstrates the extent to which affinity for programmes seems to be transferred to ads, with fans of TV shows having more positive opinions of the advertising in breaks throughout the show.

it must be said I find myself asking what this actually tangibly means for planning and buying. the benefit for ITV is clear; this research makes the case for the justification of investment in event (and therefore often peak-time) programming. but this airtime is oversubscribed as is – further encouraging agencies to plan into this space will only lead to further premiumisation (I know that's not a word btw) of said airtime.

that quibble aside, this is not only a solid bit of research to add to our collective canon, but is research brilliantly presented in the form of a video-diary of a day ('sofa-Saturday') in the life of a household from the perspective of the TV. you can view it from the above link, I recommend it.

it also highlights the extent to which viewers will track desired content across platforms; there's an interesting multi-platform (transmedia) opportunity for a campaign that wanted to acknowledge and capitalise on the multi-platform relationship true fans have thru their content.

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