Reebok's global director of interactive marketing talks about the company's experiment with video-on-demand footage of celebrities.
Interactive TV (iTV) just got a lot cooler. The number two athletic shoe maker in the U.S., Reebok International, is testing iTV's saliency as an ad channel with its “I Am What I Am” campaign (its largest marketing campaign in a decade), featuring popular professional athletes and musicians.
iTV is a powerful combination of television's mass appeal and the interactivity commonly associated with the web or DVDs. Using their remote controls, iTV viewers may fetch behind-the-scenes footage, outtakes and other supplemental content. Betting on the attractiveness of this emerging channel, Marc Fireman, Reebok's global director of interactive marketing, recently encouraged the company to experiment with iTV.
While the "I Am What I Am" campaign has been running globally since February on TV and in movie theaters, in print, on Rbk.com and on billboards in certain cities, iTV test-spots launched just three weeks ago in Philadelphia (the city is where Comcast -- a leader in VOD for cable TV -- has its headquarters). Reebok is hoping video-on-demand (VOD) subscribers in the city of brotherly love will take the time to view specially-designed content revolving around basketball star Alan Iverson and hip-hop icon Jay-Z.
Viewers are lead to bonus footage after viewing 30-second spots with remote control clickthrough options. Some viewers see a navigation bar with the “on demand” button at the bottom of the screen; others see a full-screen promotion for the on-demand content during the last five seconds of the commercial. When they click through, they are offered additional one-minute spots of the celebrity featured in the original 30-second commercial. The viewer can choose to watch one or all four of the available bonus spots and repeat them as often as they wish.
In order to gain an insider's perspective on Reebok's cutting-edge iTV experiment, we recently spoke with Marc Fireman. As we learned, the program has been successful, but not without some unique challenges.
iMedia: What was Reebok's objective for the VOD ad spots: to test the channel, to reach a new target or something else?
Marc Fireman: It was a combination of testing a new channel and leveraging long-form content to extend the target consumers experience with the brand campaign.
iMedia: Where do the resources for VOD ads come from: television ad spend? Print? Maybe the internet's budget?
Fireman: VOD content aren't really ads, it's programming... so it could come from anywhere. In this case, it came from a specific budget allocated to new media programming.
iMedia: How has the VOD portion of the campaign performed?
Fireman: It's only been two weeks since the program has launched, but according to Comcast, our content has been selected over 400 percent more than any other content on the Comcast Philadelphia VOD system -- program or advertorial.
iMedia: Describe the process you used to design the iTV content and navigation.
Fireman: The content was developed based on how we shot the ad. We had Allen Iverson in a pool hall and basically interviewed him for two hours while he was shooting around. So, we had lots of edits and many that weren't standardized to commercial spots. Using the extra edits for VOD made sense.
Weeks: What challenges are you experiencing with regard to cutting ad content three ways? For example, negotiating contracts/rights with video production staff, talent (i.e. celebrity endorsers), et cetera?
Fireman: Other than the unique content development for the channel, all of the rights issues -- as related to the content and re-editing the spots for Comcast promotion -- were definitely challenging.
Weeks: Is VOD something that all types of marketers in all industries can do? Or do you think that it’s suitable only for certain types of marketers?
Fireman: I think all marketers can participate in it as long as they have the right content and programming to accommodate it. It needs to be both added-value content for the consumer and be able to add value to your brand as well. Given the thought and costs involved in a long-form content strategy, I would see only a handful of brands participating in this in the short term, and only on an ad hoc basis as the campaign concept allows.