Marketers have found a new way to try to keep viewers from tuning out:
offer them TV shows, movies and online programming created by the
marketers themselves, often with help from their advertising agencies. These new offerings, the marketers hope, will be entertaining enough to endear viewers to the brands behind them.
Burger
King, for example, is making a feature-length film that may star — no
surprise here — the “King” character of its ad campaign. Office Max
recently created a show on the ABC Family channel. Anheuser-Busch plans to start a seven-channel TV network online, called BudTV.
“It’s
the exploration of sort of a new world,” said Doug Powell, chief
integrator of Maiden Lane, an advertising agency. “Clients would love
to have a way for customers to be able to participate with their brands
more often and not have to rely on the traditional media world.” Marketers have become alarmed as consumers increasingly bypass commercials using digital video recorders like TiVo, and spend more time flipping among a wide array of television networks, Internet sites and video games.
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