More hyperbolic shazbot from Business 2.0.
The ad itself is interesting as "actual art" -- kind of the old game
"Mousetrap" meets the Art Gallery of Ontario -- funded by an auto
manufacturer. (www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,50151,00.html)
As actual advertising, it is another familiar novelty.
It's repeating the same process of novelty that has existed from day one
involving the Internet as a medium.
It's no different than 1995's thrills at watching a web cam broadcast of
a fish tank or coffee machine in some university comp sci department
somewhere. (People actually viewed those things back then.)
Sure, you have fun showing it to your friends when it is new and there
are not so many of them. (This is the point in the cycle of
"consumption" that advertising people get excited.)
But, gain, once there are more, the share of that interest that the
provider of these things gains in response shrinks -- until the
over-abundance them these things results in the viewer/consumer
eventually finding it annoying and resorting to evasion of ad intrusion.
The only viable form of advertising in a true multiplex of media is
sponsorship. "Own" the event -- like, oh, say, a school department.
(For instance, vote for Ian Murray as the "Boeing Professor of
Public-Private Partnerships in Local Economics." Give him a $150,000
annual expense account and string of Mini Coopers for his children and
relatives. Something like that. Then you can't separate the ad/branding
from the product/content.)
Ken.
--
Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when
you have forgotten your aim.
-- George Santayana
--- cut here ---
Downloading the Future of TV Advertising
By John Battelle
Business 2.0
July 2003 Issue
Through the simple act of releasing a remarkable television commercial
onto the Web, the U.K. wing of automobile giant Honda (HMC) has
unleashed something of a typhoon in the advertising business. Though it
has yet to fully play out, Honda's ad proves the value of content and
could stand as a turning point in the history of the television spot --
proof that interactivity won't kill television advertising, as many are
now predicting, but may instead be instrumental in saving it.
In April 2003, Honda U.K. debuted an extraordinary two-minute television
advertisement called "Cog."
Back in April, Honda U.K. debuted an extraordinary two-minute television
advertisement called "Cog." Aired only in the United Kingdom, the
film -- and that really is the best term for it -- is a Rube Goldbergian
ballet, a synchronized dance of 86 distinct parts from a Honda Accord
that roll, pirouette, and fly along the floor in a mesmerizing
production of meticulously intended consequence. The spot begins with a
sequence of three cogs rolling along a plank; one falls to the floor,
and a cam shaft rolls, setting an exhaust tube slowly spinning, which
knocks three precisely placed grommets down the slope of a hood, and so
on. (Download the ad for yourself at Honda UK.)
To watch this film is to want to watch it again, which is what I did,
repeatedly, after a friend e-mailed me the link. Not only was the work
beautiful, but it was advertising -- it functioned in ways that
television ads simply weren't intended to function.
"Cog" made me think well of Honda, so the branding was effective. But
more interesting was the way I came across it -- through word of
mouth -- and the expectations I brought as I downloaded it: I was taking
the action to view the message; it was my intent that drove the
transaction. This ad was content I wanted, not a sales message I wished
to ignore. The experience was peculiar -- this isn't how advertising
models for television are supposed to work.
But work it has. Since the film made its debut on British television in
April, Honda U.K. has been besieged by repeat viewers. As was its
custom, Honda had already put the ad on its site; it was instantly
blogged and Slashdotted. Every major paper in the United Kingdom wrote
it up, noting its painstakingly analog production (filming required more
than 600 takes) and unusual length. Traffic to the Honda site
quadrupled; in the first few weeks, nearly 1 million people downloaded
the film. By mid-May, the number was twice that -- and millions more, no
doubt, have seen the film as an e-mail attachment. The Honda marketing
folks are clearly tickled by the response. "We think this campaign has
managed to reposition Honda more toward the quality and sophistication
of the European makers," says Nigel Bobs, a marketing executive at Honda
U.K. "We certainly had no idea it would take off like this."
"Cog" reminds us of the power of great content, and it may well shift
the tired debate regarding what many marketers deride as "vanity ads,"
which capture awards rather than results. It proves that great content
can be combined with intent-based marketing like direct mail or paid
search. Imagine a film like "Cog" as the payoff to clicking a paid link
for Honda or "buy car" on Google. Or as a downloadable promotion on a
service like TiVo. In fact, Honda U.K. tested "Cog" on BSkyB's fledgling
interactive television system in England. Although a relatively small
number of people saw the film, more than 10,000 viewers requested
additional information on the Honda Accord. To get that kind of response
through regular direct mail, Honda would have had to spend close to a
million bucks. On BSkyB it spent about $32,000.
Could it be that "Cog" presages a time when the television spot evolves
to an Internet-based format, courtesy of the fertile mix of broadband,
search engines, and PVRs? Memo to advertising agencies: Pay attention to
"Cog." You can have your vanity ad and ROI it too.
