Split Screen

In principle, I wanted to hate BMW Films because it pretends to be something it's not. But I couldn't. It's better than any other product placement I've seen. And the plot lines hooked me. You know the story by now. Last spring, Fallon and BMW went Hollywood. They ditched splashy prime-time media buys in favor of producing short films to run online—enlisting David Fincher's pro duction house, Anonymous Content, and hot directors like Ang Lee and Guy Ritchie. The films were teased with trailer-style TV spots and print ads and promoted to the entertainment press. According to the car maker, they've been downloaded more than 10 million times. Now, hiring filmmakers to direct commercials is nothing new. If you've got the cash, it's a great way to add a layer of cool. (Unless you wind up with a snoozer like the Coen brothers' Super Bowl spot, but that's another column.) BMW Films is different. It's so novel and successful that it brings into question nothing less than the future role of creatives. The campaign has been doing well at awards shows, and deservedly so. It never could have aired on TV without clunky disclaimers. It drove TV viewers to the Internet. With its strong, stylized storytelling, it has become the gold standard among entertainment/advertising hybrids. I admit that I'm generally not thrilled about this sort of thing. I'd rather see a brand flaunt its entertainment sponsorships than slink around, pretending that the 100th shot of that soda can adds something to the story. But BMW Films pulls it off. Its success won't go unnoticed. The growing popularity of digital video recorders, which let viewers skip ads entirely, means advertisers desperately need to find new ways to connect. Branded content will be a huge part of it. And if BMW Films proves anything, it's that the marriage of advertising and entertainment, if nurtured properly, can produce attractive offspring. All of which begs the question: What does this mean for creatives? Will they be content providers or ad makers? And does it really matter? At this stage of the game, you'll find few people who define themselves as content providers first and ad makers second. Still, creatives are already trying to entertain consumers enough to prompt a sale. Few would resist the chance to flex their storytelling skills on a larger scale. But there will be a learning curve, and creatives from both disciplines may have to team up at first to get it done well. The good ones will produce work that lets us ignore the fact that our leisure activity is brought to us by a corporate sponsor. The mediocre ones will clutter every medium with useless corporate dribble. The advertising business is still about making ads. Just as they learned to use the Web, radio, billboards, urinals or whatever, creatives will learn to produce branded content if a client demands it. Or be keen enough to suggest it if they don't. It won't be for every client or every consumer. I don't think I want to see an entire program with laundry detergent as the star. Wait, isn't that how we got soap operas?

Brand Marketing

Split Screen

Eleftheria Parpis

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Eleftheria Parpis