Thursday, March 12

What should TV do to save itself?

The PVR will kill TV advertising, so how can TV save itself?

I have a few ideas. If I were making a TV ad for the "PVR generation", I'd:
  • Sight hooks - Perhaps an ad solely for PVR people shot in slow-mo, but with signs held by the actors, an introduction pop-out saying "PVR tuned ad from ". In my mind's eye I keep thinking of those kids books where you flip the corner of the page and create a movie. You could do the same thing for a PVR ad, by showing ten frames, each held for 3 seconds. Watched at regular speed it would look odd. Watched at PVR fast-forward, it would suddenly come to life.
  • Silent ads - Why waste the sound. Plus, a silent ad will attract the attention of a viewer who is watching the ad in real time. With the appropriate pop-outs during that ad, there will be a touch of appealing humor. To that end, you could have sound that is totally out of synch with the pictures. There would be a double joke here. The script could be along the lines of "Thanks for listening to this ad. Since you are actually paying attention and listening to us -- unlike the people fast forwarding through this ad with their PVR -- we thought we'd give you a bit extra ..." The copy would offer "more" of something. Perhaps a tip on life, or an incentive to buy (e.g. "tell your sales person you heard this ad to get an extra 10% off".
  • In-show Ticker overlay or Corner Pop-outs - People aren't going to speed through the show. If your ad shows up at the top or bottom during the show, then you can be sure people will see it. If you had a text ad scrolling by like a ticker randomly during the show, and featuring a company's URL I bet people would be more likely than ever to hit their computer and have a look at your ad.
  • Brand Centric - The brand name should be displayed throughout the ad, and should be featured large. Even filling a full 1/4 of the screen the whole time. Maybe another 1/4 of the screen should have bullet-point copy about the purpose and benefits of the product.

1 comment:

  1. Pretty interesting points...I've noticed more product placement in tv shows. They seem to incorporate products (i.e. Coke, Wii) in the script or storyline.

    It will be interesting to see what happens to TV ads are more people move towards PVR and Tivo....Unfortunately, we're still not there in my household. We're still using VCRs. : )

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