New York, NY (May 16, 2008) – Turner Entertainment is working to make the commercials you watch actually relevant. Peep science:
…Ever smile while watching a movie on TV because, say, you just saw the scene from “The Godfather” when Vito Corleone leaves his office at the Genco Olive Oil factory and a commercial comes on for Bertolli olive oil? Turner Entertainment Networks wants to turn those coincidences into sales opportunities.
At the Turner Entertainment upfront presentation on Wednesday, Linda Yaccarino, executive vice president and general manager for advertising sales and marketing, described a new system intended to pair commercials with relevant moments in the shows they interrupt. The system, called TV in Context, was more than a year in development, she said.
Ms. Yaccarino likened TV in Context to contextual targeting, which is all the rage in online advertising and takes advantage of tracking the online behavior of computer users to serve them ads they would find relevant. The Turner Entertainment system, part of Time Warner, “matches spots with relevant scenes,” she said, in the movies and series that are shown by the TBS, TNT and TruTV cable networks.
TV in Context involves combing through the thousands of properties in the Turner Entertainment library, cataloging scenes by subject matter and tracking the commercials that agencies deliver to the networks to run. The first placements are available in the fall.
No shit! Why haven’t they been doing that all along? If people are tuning into something, clearly they’re interested. If they’re interested in the show, movie, concert, etc., pitch them products that are relevant to those experiences or that they can find some sort of connection to! It’s not rocket science.
How does it apply to you? When you’re seeking a licensing opportunity, target your market by your content and image, and seek out relationships that would allow people to intimately associate a brand or experience with your music. It could be on a local (pitch your music to radio stations or local access commercials), regional (have your best song be the theme behind an event or conference) or national level (videogames, Sportscenter highlights, and the dream of TV/movies).
However, be careful that you don’t saturate the market with your tunes; there’s always the risk of overexposure. Check out this article on how to avoid that. In brief:
… Countless brands are trying to associate themselves with music, and using so many sounds and styles that the music itself is starting to become a disposable, devalued and generic commodity rather than the legitimate brand asset it can be. Television advertising sometimes can seem like a radio station sampler, and this is usually to the detriment of a brand's unique identity.
One way to start evolving your thinking is to try to answer this question: do you have any idea how many different bits of sound and music your brand is using? Put another way, do you have any idea how chaotic your brands sounds to your customers?
Most brand managers are shocked to find that their brand is emitting between 25 and 50 tracks of music and sound across all its consumer touchpoints. Some brands actually use well over 100 when you consider how many advertising agencies, promotion companies, web site companies, retail locations, customer service centers, and product development people have a hand in commissioning music and sound.
For those of you in control of your publishing or those of you trying to establish an identity for your product line, whatever it may be, take notes.
