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Ellen Runs Live Commercial for Advil; Will Blogs Follow Suit?
Most of us seem to agree that while the traditional online banner ad is still very popular, the ability for it to truly convert is lessening each day. Today everyone is trying to figure out what comes next after the text unit and banner ad. With the current economic downturn, ad dollars are shrinking and what each dollar must produce is growing.
We’ve seen more news and talk shows starting to introduce products and services directly into the shows. My guess is that the ads inside the shows convert better and are higher priced compared with a 30-second TV spot. It’s also way cheaper to produce the “live ads” than a produced ad spot.
The Mike and Juliet show runs Yahoo Buzz spots each week as regular show segments. Oprah is pimping Skype for cash.
Today I noticed Ellen is now running “live ads” for one of her sponsors – Advil. I’ve embedded the clip below. Is this type of ad more effective than a regular commercial? The audience seems to be eating it up even if they are forced to clap and applaud. Do they realize that it’s a commercial? The best part about these live ads is that they beat the DVR or Tivo.
We are currently seeing a variety of new advertising concepts tested on blogs, social networks and websites. Some are on the level, some ride the line and some are way over the “ethical” line. Whether its paid reviews, “sponsored conversations” or the “give product to a blogger”, we will see more new ideas in the market over the next 12-18 months. I do believe we will see WAY more campaigns which “rent” people who have high follower counts on the various networks (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.).
Will we see ads like the one below on blogs? We are already seeing the spots in video, will it enter the text world as well?
great post, Allen, as always ! Live ads on radio are already premium-priced and the return of live ads on TV is a full circle. Pre-videotape, all ads were live – see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzm9t2R1jXY for Lucy & Desi’s ads for cigarettes !
I agree with you that “sponsored” conversations will continue to grow on all networks and that an industry practice will need to emerge.
While I agree with you that the boundaries of ad placements are starting to expand into all sorts of new realms, sadly the inertia of the ad dollars remains amazingly high. Most ad execs are stuck in the past and are still so comfortable with what they know – expensive TV, ineffective banners, etc. This is evident in how easy it is to get $$ for those types of campaigns and what a struggle it is to get $$ for the forward thinking ones. Doesn’t mean we stop trying.
Of course, then there’s the question of the line of ethical behavior. Transparency is obviously key. Ellen made no bones about what she was doing (in her classically sarcastic way!) but I wonder if the FTC will scream “regulate” like they did recently about paid blog posts.
Allen, this type of stuff is extremely popular on spanish tv. just google sabado gigante, their host don francisco has been doing these for 40 years. the show is like a glorified ad.