Take It Face To Face

The Simpsons, viewed by many as an American institution, are currently celebrating their 20th year on TV..with an interesting twist.

It has recently become more expensive for advertisers to run their ads during the popular animated show on Hulu, than on TV.  30 second TV ads run at a rates between $20 and $40 per 1000 viewers, while the Hulu ads cost $60 at the same rate of impressions.

While this day may have been inevitable, with the emergence of websites such as Hulu and major networks putting their own content online, it still has an odd feeling to it.  It raises the question “what about TV?” and the traditional 30 second spot advertisements?

For the time being, the 30 second spot isn’t going anywhere.  Hulu only shows 37 seconds of ads during its shows, while half hour TV segments include 9 minutes worth of ads.  This distribution shows the majority of advertising money is still spent largely on the traditional TV ads, but this shift towards online may be a growing trend.

One ad offering for online TV is a sponsorship of a specific episode, such as Sprint’s for this episode of NBC’s The Office.  The company, or brand, sponsoring the episode has an outstanding opportunity to create a unique experience for the viewer.  The most common approach has been a combination of a “skin” for the webpage and short video clip (or commercial).  The spot is then ran 4 times during the online viewing, and a “brought to you by” message is displayed at the bottom of the screen throughout.  It’s a golden opportunity for marketers to reach their target in an environment they willingly enter, by choosing to watch the episodes online.

Moving forward, do you believe more TV shows will become more expensive to advertise with online than during the actual TV programming?  Do you watch TV shows online?  Have you seen any online TV ads that you liked?

Maybe you remember when M&M rolled out the “Become an M&M” feature on its website about two years back? The program, which is still active, gives users an opportunity to design their own M&M avatar, typically in their likeness. With the exception of the blue skin, you could argue that mine looked just like me (As much as I’d like to let you judge for yourself, the site doesn’t allow users to share their creations).

Towards the beginning of 2007, the create-your-own avatar had a pretty good stint. During its heyday, opportunities arose left and right to fashion your animated self, most memorably in the distinctive styles of South Park and the Simpsons.

Though it’s unclear how recently this launched, a different sort of avatar creator has gained popularity lately: the Hero Factory, which invites users to develop their own crime-fighting computerized doppelganger.

Unlike the aforementioned programs, though, the Hero Factory doesn’t explicitly identify its creator, nor make any clear indication of its aim. It’s clear a good deal of resources were poured into the site, but it is not immediately obvious why. Did some programmer somewhere have too much time and money on his or her hands? Doubtful.

In reality, the program is the creation of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, a virally-oriented advertising agency with clients including Burger King, Coke Zero, Microsoft Windows and Volkswagen.

But if their avatar creator is doing so well, wouldn’t it be logical for them to slap the company label all over it? Maybe not. The Hero Factory is presumably a proof of concept, which the agency can later use to demonstrate its viral capabilities to potential clients. The success of the demonstration could be impeded if it was perceived to have a marketing agenda.

Though these are understandable motivations for keeping the site purely logo-free in theory, I don’t believe any obvious brand association would’ve stopped me from using and sharing the site. Frankly, I’m just excited to have a cape.