New, Evolving Chances for Online Marketing: "Webisodes"

As more and more marketing efforts are shifting towards generating a greater Internet presence, the success surrounding viral online content and videos are quickly catching the interest of the marketing industry. One of the newest forms of integrating a brand's target message into online content is to create video miniseries. These are popping up from numerous brands and feature the product or service throughout the online series, or "webisodes." This week I decided to explore the blogosphere for the most talked about new webisodes and found that a series created by and starring Illeana Douglas, with an Ikea-backed storyline, has received the most discussion. Douglas' series, titled "Easy to Assemble," follows her experiences as she goes through training and the adjustments of working in a Burbank Ikea after recently having quit her other profession: a struggling actress. The series was picked up by CBS earlier this week to be shown on its newly acquired TV.com, where it becomes the website's first scripted original show (see photo to left). With progressively more of these webisodes being generated, questions arise about the effectiveness of these shows as well as wondering if these branded shows will become a lasting form of media? It is tough to answer either of these questions as of yet from a marketing perspective, but the cheap production cost and easy distribution are certainly enticing reasons for advertisers to buy into the creation of more shows like this. On the other hand there is still the tried and true "integration package" (or product placement) route available for dropping massive amounts of money on a few screen shots. Yet with all of this, Douglas' "Easy to Assemble" webisodes are well done, featuring a few notable actors and is comically driven enough to allow the Ikea brand to make light of itself and especially its Swedish history. The first post I commented on, Are Web series generally worth your time?, was written by Rebecca Cullers of Adfreak.com, a blog affiliated with trusted advertising source AdWeek, in her post Cullers briefly details the "Easy to Assemble" series before CBS picked up the show. Correspondingly, in another post I commented on, New "season" of web series is most mature yet, by Maria Russo, of the LA Times blog Web Scout, provides a review of the series and others while later providing follow-up analysis after the show was picked up by CBS. I have commented directly onto each of these respected blogs and have also posted them here below.

"Are Web series generally worth your time?"
Comment
I enjoyed this post a lot, seeing as this is an increasing area of marketing interest and although brief, you provided many details, links and points. Even though a few weeks has passed since you wrote this post and new developments have arisen, I will stick to what you have written here and express my opinion on this post. You were able to make relevant references to Ikea's efforts and those of other brands like Johnson & Johnson and Holiday Inn, while incorporating your point throughout the post. I thought that when you said "But do Webisodes really enhance a brand? Not always. Case in point: Ikea...," that this statement is not true, seeing as I feel they did do a good job of appealing to an appropriate market while incorporating humor into a brand that may have seemed foreign. The use of witty and quirky jokes, especially the extensive job Illeana Douglas does to mock the Ikea brand itself (see photo below) in these webisodes shows that Ikea wants to not only gain recognition but also have fun with this. You also said you had a "hard time getting through the first (episode)," but I thought this was an entertaining introduction into the series, it may seem tough though for the series to develop much of a plot through the season but overall I feel that it definitely has room to grow. However, you did make a good point in questioning the length of the episodes in comparison with normal 15 to 30 second clips as I think it is valid to say there could be a happy medium between where the series is now and a common TV spot. With this too, I enjoyed your commentary on the “webisode envy“ due to the lack in TV time as I strongly agree that a brands money may be better off being placed into the production of an entire cult series online rather than a few ads on TV that might allow viewers to “get a taste of your logo.” I am a big fan of the AdFreak blog and enjoy reading your insightful and up-to-date posts, thank you.

"New 'season' of web series is most mature yet"
Comment
I appreciate your analysis of the new web series which are coming about as modern marketing tools. This topic is becoming increasingly important especially with all of the financial woes our economy is experiencing currently. I feel that these shows are a relatively inexpensive way to produce content that may provide longer lasting and be more potent than a simple TV spot. When considering all of the costs to buy TV air time, this appears to me to be a greater cost than to simply add a little bit more time and care into the production of the "webisodes." The fact you bring about, of the creation of these webisodes being the now dividing line between "amateur 'user-generated content' and the new wave," struck me as an important point here. This really resonated with me to show the constant evolution of marketing and that there is always a way to take a trend like online content and viral videos and to make them better. My favorite example that you highlight is the Ikea "Easy to Assemble" series, put together and starring Illeana Douglas. As her second episode has now been released, we can see her creative use of these short, 5-6 minutes clips to bring about a funny storyline of her new job at the Burbank Ikea. Just as you pointed out here, and in your later review of CBS' newly acquired series, Douglas does a great job of producing a satire-laced show that plays a lot on Ikea's "foreign" culture and quirky aspects. You point out too, the incorporation of a lot of Ikea's brand associations in the episodes, "there's a whole lot of yellow," but still note that Douglas controls the humorous image of "the company’s can-do, relentlessly cheerful aesthetic and its meatball- and lingonberry-saturated Swedishness." I wonder though how far the show can be stretched on this small premise and it seems difficult to continue this cute "gig" with a consistent enough audience for Ikea to get their money's worth. It seems that the success of this and other early sponsored miniseries will shape the interpretation and future development of similar shows. Where do you see the future of these webisodes going and do you think this can become a new prominent form of media? Thank you for your time and I enjoy the great work you have done here on this blog.

A Sweet Reminder: The Corn Syrup Campaign

Too often, consumers often find themselves being fed advertisements of products or services that seem unnecessary of needing any reminders. Brands like Coca-Cola, Nike, and other big name category leaders use their advertising as brand reinforcements, yet smaller, unknown products can, too, use their time and advertising budget to emerge from the shadows. One such example of this emergence is the campaign launched earlier this month by the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) titled SweetSurprise. But why would the Corn Refiners possibly need to advertise to Americans (the same Americans who currently consume the most corn per capita in the world)? Well, the broadcast message is not merely about the corn itself, but rather about the high fructose corn syrup product which has recently received a bad image from our increasingly health-conscious nation. This high fructose corn syrup has taken on many negative connotations and it is still debatable whether all of these perceptions are true or not. But the CRA surely will no longer sit dormant while their syrup product is replaced with "healthier" alternatives. The fact that a non-necessity product that has never been branded before needs to take on such an overhauling of its image means that advances in consumer knowledge are bringing about an abrupt and disruptive change to the many fabrications used in advertising. This is not to say that high fructose corn syrup is the only product to have launched a massive campaign on behalf of revamping their position in the minds of consumers. Moreover, other products that are struggling as of late on market shelves, including common goods like milk, cheese, and various fruits, have also taken to the TV screens and billboards in an attempt to reestablish their favorablility among consumers. However, unlike the others' efforts, corn syrup is not as strongly backed by its product’s parent association.

The SweetSurprise campaign, generated by the DDB Chicago agency, launched with TV spots, print ads, and a website. Unfortunately, the ads initially came off almost humorous and as a result sparked much media coverage. Yet not all of the coverage was exactly supportive. The print ads (see example above) are being run in magazines and newspapers and seem to carry a more serious tone with the textual support and design. On the other hand, the TV spots feel like a Saturday Night Live skit mocking the syrup product. The creative executives in charge of the SweetSurprise TV spots must have just finished working on an awkward-to-sell medical product as the setting and scripting feels forcibly cliche while pressingly informative. Yet when all seems lost, there is that slight bit of comedic relief to close out the spot. The three TV ads- the mothers at the picnic party and the young couple in the park, and the (just released) brothers at home use similar punchlines where the character debating the consumption of a product with corn syrup is quickly stumped when asked to tell of a reason why the syrup is unhealthy. These overtly biased messages did nothing but relinquish the connotation these products' producers, who are obviously aware of their potentially detrimental effects, try the hardest to reverse the conceived negative imagery. To do so, their attempts are focused on swaying the current consumer perception to highlight an often unproven, yet positive aspect. Much of the media coverage, be it mostly online, belittles the Corn Refiners for using marketing tactics similar to those practiced by the tobacco industry (see image to left), while forgetting the importance of a catchy cigarette jingle. Just as was the case in those old black and white tobacco commercials, where viewers were informed by a doctor that smoking cigarettes was a safe, reliable choice. As we are all aware, this eventually was proven to be a mistrusted source. To further illustrate this in a post on the blog AdFreak dealing with this subject, David Gianatasio uses a bit of sarcasm to point out this comparison, "Here's an old Chesterfield cigarette ad that seems to imply that smoking isn't so bad for your health. I wonder why I felt like including it." So, too, it does not help the CRA to provide facts in the ads that seem superficially appealing to the eyes and ears, until they are consistently refuted by numerous current medical studies.

Being compared to the tobacco industry may not have been exactly where the Corn Refiners wanted to come out of this campaign, but it has increased overall awareness of the sugary foods America is eating. The impact of the news coverage has had an apparently reverse effect from the intended one, as more consumers have now become more conscious of their food purchases, or just angrier at the CRA. However, if the future holds strong evidence to back these SweetSurprise claims, the only ones truly enjoying these ads will be the refiners themselves. It is not illogical that the sugar alternative may in fact be the best ingredient to nutritional health after all and for proof the SweetSurprise website offers a title display with numerous references to recent studies conducted by researchers. While the website is a good source of information, regarding the healthiness of corn syrup, the visitors must ultimately decipher just what to believe in this sticky (and sweet) debate.

And in the end, here is the advertising industry stuck in a battle of moral and ethical practices, where agencies struggle with a balance between dollar signs and company values. This campaign may not be quite as controversial from the agency's perspective, as much so as say picking up a pro-abortion client. Yet, this campaign has, however, extended ever so widely across the media likely because of the large categorical span touched upon by the various issues present. Categories ranging from the environmental impact of growing corn for syrup production, to the relation of corn syrup and obesity, and even the morality of “lying” to the public through advertising are covered. Initially the SweetSurprise campaigning appeared to be a smart investment choice as a hope to boost the Corn Refiners declining sales, but the lasting results have detracted from their original, subtle message. Such lessons learned in advertising and marketing will serve as reminders for future campaigns of how to steer their message clear from a nationwide rebuttal.