Digital Hollywood shares new thoughts on old topics: emerging technology, accountability and integration.
Wednesday's kick-off of the Digital Hollywood conference in Santa Monica drew top decision-makers from Hollywood and Silicon Valley. The attendees discussed today's tangible revenue channels for the digital entertainment industry, as well as those with future potential.
During the panel discussion titled "Advertising Strategies in the Diversified Digital Culture: Broadcast, Cable, Satellite, Broadband, Games and Mobile," thought leaders described how brands are using digital technologies to enhance their relationships with consumers. Based on the discussion, it was apparent that new technology is emerging at such a pace that creative and media teams are struggling to keep up with designing and developing new tools and strategies.
The panel's moderator, Carrie Himelfarb, vice president of Mobile Marketing at Vindigo, kicked off with a subject that's getting a lot of buzz these days: viral marketing.
"Blogging and viral marketing must be looked at carefully. I see three main challenges: the first is for marketers to get enough reach with blogs, which is why it's best to use networks," said Brian McAndrews, president and chief executive officer of aQuantive, Inc. "The second challenge is not being able to predict where your brand might end up in consumer messaging. And the final challenge is frequency, since many of the same people come back to the same sites on a regular basis."
Media professionals seem to agree that blogging offers huge potential, but its current impact on sales doesn't seem to justify the hype.
Branded entertainment faces the same issue. Joy Marcus, senior vice president at Time Warner Global Marketing, believes that branded entertainment works when the idea works. She explains that the creative process is critical and that the creative community has to help marketers with the story-telling aspect.
"Agencies have a hard enough time making a compelling 30 second spot, so while it's great that technology supports branded entertainment, it's not easy and not something everyone should do," said Chris Pizzurro, vice president of Multimedia Marketing at Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. This is a good point, but not something easily digested by brands striving for cutting-edge status.
Cure disruption blues with relevancy
"Ad placement has to be logical, and entertainment media offers new opportunities to advertisers without disrupting the content," said Shawn McMichael, group product manager of MSN Games. "We have tons of data on the consumption of our game media that helps us understand these opportunities. For example, we're looking at putting video commercials in front of our interactive game products."
However, McMichael is quick to point out that relevancy is crucial.
"Gamers are sensitive to ad placements because of how hardcore they are, so placements must be contextual and extremely relevant. And if you get it right, it's a home run," said Marcus. An example of a home run campaign that McMichael described was Tyson Chicken's ads and sweepstakes on the MSN game website that resonated with its primarily female audience and drove high ROI.
Accountability and metrics remain important issues
The discussion transitioned into accountability, with McAndrews noting that accountability has been the drive behind so many dollars shifting online. The medium is no longer known only for its direct response results.
New channels necessitate new metrics. Instead of ROI, Pizzurro suggests we consider ROO: return on our objectives.
The chief strategy officer of The Advertising Research Foundation, Ridgway "Taddy" Hall, said, "So much attention gets put on measurement. Measurement in-and-of-itself is not valuable, it's what you do with it. XMOS studies are teaching us to execute on the numbers. People come to me and ask, 'If we had perfect numbers, what would change?' I tell them not much. If you don't have an organization that's willing to change and work with effectiveness, you don't get very far.
He added, "Interactive media, being the new kid on the block, had to deliver ideas with four parts: the business idea, the creative idea, the media plan and the ability to measure it. Online publishers are successful right now because they're going directly to advertisers to present ideas with each of these four components."
In part two, we'll take a look at two of the hottest topics in online advertising: integration and gaming. Is television still central to the mix? Advertisers are keen on integration, but what about consumers? What are some major obstacles to online gaming's continued growth? The answers and more when we continue with part two in tomorrow's newsletter.