Search results matching tag 'television'

Love the new Paul Whitehouse hairdresser ad?

2664107 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:16:39 GMT

Wasn't sure about Aviva's ad series with Paul Whitehouse as a goth and the one as a silver surfer. But loving the new one as a hairdresser. What do others think?

Is TV more fun when you tweet?

2292853 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:29:00 GMT

Boring old telly has been getting a lot more fun lately, if you are using Twitter. The micro-blogging service is increasingly becoming the back channel of broadcast, where people turn to exclaim delight or disgust about what they are watching. Tuned into Channel 4's My Monkey Baby, and wondering what others are thinking about the parade of monkey loving characters? Popping onto Twitter and searching for the programme title reveals a trail of hilarious tweets, and you can add in, that is, if you actually want to confess that you are watching the show.

A television programme can come alive when you chime in with your own views, and see the intelligent, dumb, off-colour or utterly bizarre commentary of others, adding a whole new layer of entertainment experience. In America, broadcasters are fully embracing the interactive power of Twitter, with even local news stations inviting people to tweet in with updates about the weather conditions, or share views on issues. Political elections were the first and most noticeable examples of how the views of many can be shared using Twitter, as seen when Hack The Debate aired on Current TV in the lead up to the presidential elections.

For broadcasters, the service can be an instant way to guage if programming is having any impact on viewers, or, for the more clever, use the service to ignite interaction with audiences. When a show starts "trending" on Twitter, broadcast executives can know they have a hit, as has happened with Eurovision, ITV's Britain's Got Talent and Channel 4's Surgery Live.

Twitter got noisy surrounding Eurovision, as it sparked hundreds of amusing tweets about the song contest, and gave rise to an alternative tweeting voice when journalist Ewan Spence used Twitter to cover the event from the show's frontline in Moscow, sending tweets, blogging and podcasting from the event. Followers of @ewanspence got treated to extra facts, insights and a few trumpeted early previews of what was to come, as entrants paraded on stage in gladiator costumes, thigh high patent leather boots or full green body paint.

"I decided to offer pithy, humourous, pre-emptive insight of what we were all seeing, and joined 1,000 other press people from around Europe to cover Eurovision," he said.

With viewing figures of 10 million in the UK, and 112 million across Europe for Eurovision this year, Spence thought that 2009 would be the year that millions of fans would tweet about the song contest, based on the growing number of entertainment trending topics he noticed, and recognizing that this year Twitter's popularity has expanded, with estimates of 33 million monthly visits. He out-tweeted much of the official BBC correspondents by speed of updates and depth of information, winning rave reviews from followers. Several said they preferred the commentary of the renegade Eurovision tweet host to the banter of Graham Norton's debut year as Eurovision host.

"The public love it, but mainstream coverage does not match up to the public viewpoint so the Internet's communities are augmenting what they see using Twitter," he said. Listen to an Audioboo interview with Ewan Spence here.

Ewan Spence

While Spence may still be a rare visionary in how he used Twitter as a journalist, the big broadcasters are certainly wading into the water with experiments. Channel 4's Surgery Live invited people to send in questions using Twitter, some of which the show's host Krishnan Guru-Murthy then posed to both the doctors, and even the patient, on live television. Following along with the programme's hashtag of #slive, a rather surreal conversation developed with audience members, with one even asking if the patient's brain tumour was edible. Brave, risky, groundbreaking, Channel 4 proved that entertainment can also be educational, and the show did manage to top Twitter's most watched trending topics.

"What this new generation of social media brings is a networked conversation which is global, searchable, tagable and open. In other words, unlike emails, text messages or phones, you can join in a discussion among numerous people from right across the Uk and beyond -- fellow viewers, experts, medical students, enthusiasts, all manner of interested parties -- live and simultaneously," said Adam Gee, Channel 4's Cross-platform Commissioning Editor for Factual.

Channel 4 has just started a new programme incorporating Twitter, beginning to share updates from documentary film maker Ed Wardel, who is putting his wilderness survival skills to test in the Yukon, for the series Alone In The Wild. The programme airs in July, but Wardle has already started tweeting about his experience.

Using Twitter, and other social media websites, to add interactivity to television watching might just be transforming how we interact with the medium, and Twitter's founders are keeping an eye toward possibilities, with news that a Twitter television show may be in works for the future.

"Twitter's open approach might have the power to transform television -- the dominant communications receiver worldwide. We're very excited to see where these experiments take us," posted Twitter founder Biz Stone on his blog.

In the not to distant future, a new transmedia entertainment venture called Purefold from Ag8, a partnership production with Blade Runner director Ridley Scott and Tony Scott's RSA Films, will see an even more multi-layered approach to integrating social media with viewing experience. Purefold will cull storyline ideas from comments people share on Friend Feed, and other social networking websites. The programme is not planned to air on any maninstream channel, as episodes will be spread across the Internet's video sharing platforms, and brands will be invited to collaborate in the content creation to fund the programming.

Confused? You are not alone. Best stay tuned, and have some fun participating in the 2.0 tool of Twitter, and think of it as training, to get ready to adpot for the entertainment world flashing forward to even more futuristic technologies.

Watching television and tweeting at the same time,

-Lisa

Re: The attraction of The Internet and Social Media like Twitter ...

1792681 — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:14:22 GMT

mjam, I have come lately, being an older than you ad man,to accept that the Internet is a most exciting medium, some aspect of it works and others don't, I have been developing networking on twitter and frankly I feel that it is losing its' appeal, however there are far deeper problems for the marketing community, these are:

Just what is the problem with Social Media?

Once “The Ad Man” gatecrashes the party and corporate marketers are inevitably a long way down the adoption curve – the kudos rapidly evaporates.
This explains why the assumed valuations of social media companies are often built on greater financial chicanery that Bernie Madoff’s tax return.
In to-day’s market whatever supposed “next big thing” our digital culture favors in any moment faces an ever more accelerated journey to oblivion!

Because ad agencies still don’t understand it – we will not take delivery of your commercial messages – we never have and never will!

However we have created programs where your advertisement becomes a valuable source of information – with surprising ROI results - & there’s more.

Read "Television Killed Advertising" it will show you how advertising has failed us and more...much more.

The attraction of The Internet and Social Media like Twitter ...

1792681 — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:13:29 GMT

is that it is a return to the prehistoric human fascination with telling tales!
Since the beginnings of any civilised society the market place was the hub of civilisation, a place to which traders returned from remote lands with exotic spices, silks, monkeys, parrots, jewels - and fabulous stories. Interactive Communication, properly executed, more resembles an ancient bazaar than fits the business models companies try and impose upon it.

People respond to interactive opportunities like Twitter because it seems to offer some intangible quality long 'missing in action' from modern life. In sharp contrast to the alienation wrought by homogenised broadcast media, interactive opportunities provide a space in which the human voice would be rapidly rediscovered. Unlike the lockstep conformity imposed by television, advertising, and corporate propaganda, interactive communication gives new legitimacy - and free rein - to play.

People long for more connection between what we do for a living and what we genuinely care about. We long for release from anonymity, to be seen as who we feel ourselves to be rather than the sum of abstract metrics and parameters. We long to be part of a world that makes sense rather than accept the accidental alienation imposed by market forces too large to grasp; to even contemplate.

Remember the market place, of old. Caravans arrived across burning deserts bringing dates and figs, snakes and parrots, monkeys, strange music and stranger tales.

The market place was the heart of the city, the kernel, the hub.
Like the past and the future it stood at the crossroads. People worked early and went there for coffee and vegetables, eggs and wine, for pots and carpets. They went there to look and listen and to marvel, to buy and to be amused. But mostly they went to meet each other...to talk and interact! Markets are conversations...as is Twitter and the Internet!
It is all there in my book “Television Killed Advertising” detailing where we have gone wrong in the past and where we could still go wrong in the future. Would you like to discuss the further? paul.ashby@yahoo.com

What’s in a name? A rose smells just as sweet under another name!

1792681 — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:44:29 GMT

What is the perverse attraction of the Internet? Why do advertising and marketing people insist in discussing aspects of the Internet endlessly?
Because it is all totally meaningless!
Not only are we trapped in the worst recession in living memory. But behind all this lurks a horror even more shocking; the entire marketing/advertising-economic model of free enterprise, rugged individualism, creative advertising and marketing is broken beyond all hope of repair.
In 1989 the world, from China and Russia to South Africa, India and Brazil, concluded that there was no serious alternative to market forces as a means of organizing productive activity. In 2009 the whole world seems to have reached the opposite conclusion — that free markets and financial incentives together with marketing & advertising, lead even the richest and most sophisticated societies to disaster.
The question we must ask today is not whether Marketing & Advertising is too big or too small, but whether it works at all.
And that most certainly includes the Internet, which is most definitely NOT an advertising medium.
To reinvent advertising and marketing the first thing we have to do is to fully understand the word "communication". From there comes all else.
Read my book "Television Killed Advertising" and you will discover where we went wrong in the past and we are going wrong now. Already I am drafting my next book titled "Advertising Killed Advertising"!
Certainly the next possible title is “The Internet finally put Advertising to Death”!
Want to discuss this further? paul.ashby@yahoo.com

Hands up who feels sorry for ITV?

673734 — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:18:00 GMT

Talking to contacts this morning in light of ITV's £2.7 billion losses, it's hard to detect too much sympathy around for those who control the broadcaster. Plenty for those among the 600 who will lose their jobs as it restructures but beyond that there is a feeling that ITV has played a part in its own misfortunes.

Sure the downturn and wider economic picture have hampered ITV's chances of turning around its fortunes, but some are arguing that its content and strategy for diversifying away from ITV1 has not been strong enough.

In mitigation, ITV is performing well in holding its audience share against the BBC but the ad revenues aren't there despite this and now it is pushing for rapid decisions over CRR and Ofcom's proposals that it should be allowed to reduce its regional news commitment.

And it is banging the drum for more radical industry reform, perhaps including a merger with Channel 4 and Five. While there is little appetite for this among the advertising community there is at least recognition that something big and structural needs to happen. As one media agency boss told me this morning: "I'm no advocate of the ITV/4/Five merger but there needs to be a radical rethink of advertiser-funded television because it isn't a model that works right now."

Brands are looking more and more at Live Brand Experiences as it is the leading platform to connect directly with consumers

1914250 — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:54:50 GMT

Over the next few years brands will up their marketing spend on experiential marketing due to the mass audiences declining to respond to TV advertising. Digital is always on the rise due to new technology, digital plays a significant role in the live brand experience as it amplifies further channels which will gain maximum reach for campaigns. What are your thoughts about the above integration and what the future holds? Marvin

Sponsorship Help Needed

2307016 — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:11:05 GMT

I am currently looking for a sponsor for a new television show which airs on ITVs Men & Motors from the 1st Dec 08 and then on ITV4 at the start of the new year. The show is called "Classic Gear" and more info can be seen on www.classicgear.tv - as this is a last chance to get this sponsored we are looking for £20,000 for the total show sponsorship for 12 months on both of these channels... we would also provide free advert production on the adverts for the bumpers (8 in total per show!) x 10 parts in the series x 2 channels + repeats throughout the programme schedule = ALOT of airtime!

I am sorry if i have posted this in the wrong section but this is the first time i have used the forums! Please give me a call for more information 01179397773 or email me on john@bristolfilmstudios.com

Five's breaks break the mould

1704826 — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:57:00 GMT

Regular readers (hello mum) may recall that I recently called into question whether Five has ever managed to shake-off its image as little more than a provider of cheap frequency to advertisers' schedules.

While I still maintain that Dawn Airey has much to do upon her arrival as chairman to turn Five into becoming a must-have on any media buyers wish-list, there is strong evidence that the channel is working hard to earn this place.

Break junctions and bumpers - bear with me - may not sound like the most interesting of things but they are increasingly crucial in order to retain viewers throughout the day, and this is important not just for the channels themselves but also the advertisers in the breaks in between programmes.

Real credit is therefore due to Five for attempting to inject a little excitement into the breaks by running frequent and genuinely creative bursts that are intended to describe the brand values of the channel and its programming - something that critics have long said that the channel has struggled to communicate.

Although Channel 4, ITV and the BBC have tried to liven up their break junctions, often, the executions are so few as to have become predictable and tired - for example who can't have failed to notice that when the BBC has hippos swimming in a circle a nature programme is sure to follow.

Five's move is not without risks and therefore shows real confidence in its tone and product. And for that, it should be applauded.

Channel 4 is in danger of sending out mixed messages

1704826 — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:10:00 GMT

Channel 4 cannot have taken the decision to cut its marketing budget lightly. In its chief executive, Andy Duncan, it has a leader who, unlike some of his rivals, is fully aware of the potency of marketing.

Nonetheless, Channel 4 has had to make some tough decisions as it faces up to a future where its funding model is in doubt and it has to wrestle with the dilemma of delivering distinct public service programming without any guaranteed revenue streams.

But it is still surprising that the decision has been made at a time when it is the job of all media owners to listen to the advice of the IPA and show their confidence in the ability of marketing to deliver results by maintaining spends in order to encourage the advertisers that use their channels to do the same. Otherwise surely isn't Channel 4 sending out mixed messages and negating all the good work of Thinkbox?