Video Print Ads
It has been reported that the average American consumer is exposed to somewhere between 275 to 3,000 advertising or brand messages a day. Whether the answer is closer to 275 or 3,000 does not matter; the point is that advertisers face intense competition when vying for consumer’s attention. It seems like every day there is a new technology, medium, product, person, television show, videogame, book, magazine, etc. competing for our attention. The challenge that all advertisers face is how to stand out in today’s increasingly cluttered environment. Well, CBS and Pepsi are hoping to stand out in next month’s Entertainment Weekly with the placement of a video print advertisement.
CBS has teamed up with Pepsi to place a paper-thing interactive video player into September 18th copies of Entertainment Weekly in order to promote CBS’ fall lineup and Pepsi Max. The video print ads will not run nationwide, instead only consumers who subscribe to Entertainment Weekly in Los Angeles and New York will receive a magazine with the embedded video chip. When readers in New York or LA open up the full-page ad the video screen will start to flicker and load. The first clip that a consumer will see will be from the actors from “The Big Bang Theory” explaining how to explore the different videos on the page. Readers, after listening to the introduction have the options of viewing videos from CBS shows including “Two and ½ Men”, “How I Met Your Mother”, “Accidentally on Purpose”, “NCIS: Los Angeles”, “The Good Wife” and “Three Rivers”. In addition to showing video content from CBS, consumers will also have the ability to watch a humorous commercial for Pepsi Max.
This is not the first time for either CBS or Pepsi to experiment with interactive print advertisements. In 2006, CBS placed a taste strip that tasted like rum into an ad to promote their new show “Cane” about a rum product family in South Florida. During the same year, Pepsi updated the classic scratch-and-sniff advertisement that emitted a black-cherry and French-vanilla scent that, when opened, also played a jazz tune. So it is no surprise that the companies came together to produce an advertisement that features a video library of content that appeals to multiple consumer senses.
Interactive print advertisements are starting to become more common as advertisers continue to search for new and unique ways to stand out from the clutter. One major goal of interactive print advertisements is to increase the amount of time a consumer spends with a brand’s message. If a consumer watches all of the videos within the CBS and Pepsi ad they will have spent minutes watching nothing but advertisements, something that consumers have been trying to avoid for years. As technology continues to develop and the number of things that are competing for our attention keep on piling up, advertisers are going to have to find new and unique ways to capture consumer’s attention because it won’t be long until video print advertisements lose their appeal.
Tags: Advertising, CBS, Pepsi, Trendspotting, Video Print Ads
