Strategy Session
Long-Form Ads: Delivering Entertainment and Results
February 18, 2004
By Ben Grill
In a world where nearly every article about the future of TV mentions how empowered TiVo owners are giddily skipping past 30-second commercials, it seems inconceivable that some advertisers would actually be producing longer ads that they expect viewers will choose to watch voluntarily.
But that seems to be the story with long-form advertising, sometimes known as advertainment, the genetic hybrid of advertising and entertainment.
Long-form ads are not to be confused with that lowest common denominator of advertising: the infomercial. For starters, they're usually not as long as an infomercial - generally running two to ten minutes. The main difference, however, is the way they are viewed by audiences: Whereas infomercials are delivered broadcast style to late night junkies, long-form ads are served up through on-demand technology, like video-on-demand (VOD) or digital video recorders (DVRs). Most analysts, the clairvoyants of business, believe the two technologies are on a one-way warpath towards living room dominance.
Serving Up Long-Form Ads VOD-Style
VOD, currently accessible in 12 million (of approximately 70 million) digital cable households, has quickly become the hot topic of the TV industry, right up there next to HDTV and Janet Jackson's privates. VOD allows digital cable subscribers to access video content at any time through their set-top box. Some of the VOD content is free, (FVOD), but most of it costs a fee to view.
Cable operators, fiscally exhausted from having just spent a whopping $70 billion on upgrading their systems to digital, are looking for a healthy return on their investment. Most the revenue is expected to come from subscribers who "rent" movies or subscribe to a VOD package (SVOD) like HBO On Demand. But by placing long-form ads on their systems, they are also able to generate additional dollars from advertisers who pay to have their ads included in the free VOD programming, or simply placed in a special area accessible by viewers who might be crazy enough to watch the ads on their own.
And crazy they are: Cable operator Cox Communications published staggeringly impressive results from its ad-supported FVOD area it calls FreeZone, based on a test run of the service in its San Diego market. It found that nearly 50% of all VOD-enabled homes used the service during a five-month period. During any week, the average unique visitors included 5% of the VOD-enabled homes, with an average of 3.76 accesses a week, spending about 25 minutes viewing long form advertising. For those long form ads with some sort of direct response capability baked in (1-800 number, visit a website, or use the remote to request a brochure), a resounding 4.4% of viewers took the offer, which is nearly double the response rate on traditional direct mail pieces.
Advertisers that took part in the Cox FreeZone festivities included Best Buy, BMW, Diet Coke, Kraft and Volvo. Such blue chip brands indicate that Ron Pompeii, the king of late-night infomercials, may not stand a chance in the on-demand world.
TiVo: An Advertising Ally?
Like VOD, Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) like TiVo are also having success delivering long-form ads to the 3.8 million homes that own the device. The Yankee Group estimates that 19.1 million homes, nearly 20% of all US households, will own a DVR by 2007. It seems ironic that TiVo, the much-ballyhooed technology that is supposed to wreck havoc on ads, might end up being the saving grace of television advertising. When it had a showcase of trailers and interviews for Jim Carrey's Bruce Almighty, 65% of all TiVo owners accessed the programming, and spent an average of 3 minutes watching. Universal Pictures, smart enough to recognize that a 3-minute interactive experience trumps a passive 30-second ad, has responded by vowing to place another 20 films and DVD releases in TiVo's "brand showcase" area over the coming year.
Long-Form Over Broadband
The heavily awarded series of short films produced by BMW might be looked upon as the godfather of long-form advertising. Thousands have logged on to the website BMWfilms.com to view them. But perhaps even more innovative is Mitsubishi, which ran a 30-second cliffhanger ad during this year's Super Bowl. In the ad, labeled Accident Avoidance Test, a Mitsubishi and a Toyota are speeding down a highway behind two semi-trucks. A pair of men keep throwing objects out of the back of the semis, like bowling balls and Webber grills. The cars swerve to avoid the oncoming objects of mass destruction. Finally, a couple of dilapidated cars roll out of the trucks, and smash into each other. Just as they're barreling towards the Mitsubishi and the Toyota, the commercial freezes and tells the viewer to log on to seewhathappens.com .
The site saw an immediate spike in traffic. 170,000 unique visitors came to the site within the next 28 hours, which is the same amount mitsubishicars.com .receives in an average month. In addition, 40,000 unique visitors came to the site each day for the next three days. What's most amazing is that two-thirds of the visitors watched the commercial's 20-second finale two or more times. And in just one day, the number of people requesting brochures, locating dealers and viewing the car's warranty equaled that of a usual month.
Clearly, whether the long-form ads are delivered over VOD, DVR or broadband technology, advertisers are onto something here.
Ideal Brands for Long-Form
So which brands are best suited to take advantage of this advertising opportunity? Here are a few:
Brands that deal in entertainment, like Universal Pictures, seem almost too obvious for long-form advertising. BMG Music picked up on this by featuring the new Elvis album titled Second to None. Viewers could choose to watch a video, enter to win trip to Las Vegas, or buy the CD, which, disappointingly, they still had to do through the 1-800 number or website it lists.
Products that involve technology are also ripe for long-form advertising. Any device that is new to consumers, like DVD recorders, mp3 players, and HDTV, could benefit from having a few minutes, instead of a few seconds, to demonstrate the usage and explain the benefit of the product. Acura used long form ads on TiVo to explain some of the new technologies being incorporated into its Acura TL, like a navigation system with voice recognition.
Pharmaceuticals could also take advantage of long-form ads. Instead of generic 30-second spots in which the last 10 seconds are devoted to side effect warnings, there could be a ten-minute ad with information about the condition, how to treat it, and how the medication helps. The possibilities are endless, yet most advertisers have only just begun to dip their toes in the long-form waters.
Given the fact that consumers are becoming more informed by researching products and services online, it seems only natural that they would embrace the ability to learn about products in a manner that is more entertaining, and easy, than reading a computer screen. Long-form advertising combines the best of marketing with the lean-back nature of television. Call it lazy learning . . . with active results.
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About the Author
Ben Grill moderates qualitative research at Sachs Insights, a New York City market research company. By conducting focus groups, ethnographic studies and website usability testing, Grill specializes in understanding how digital technology is affecting the relationships between consumers, media and brands. He can be reached at bgrill@sachsinsights.com or through www.sachsinsights.com.
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