Was that Herbie the Love Bug? or the Toyota Yaris?
There was a lot of buzz today around the launch of Fox's new mobisode series "Prison Break: Proof of Innocence." The WSJ had a piece as did the Red Herring. This campaign has a lot of good components:
– There were four episodes available today. Seven days is a long time to wait between two minute stories. Four two minute snacks is a good number. Also, the video was well done in that there are a lot of close up's. I liked it and could follow it even though I have not seen Fox's show on TV.
– There is theoretical integration among the platforms – TV, Internet and cell phone.
– I applaud Fox for going after the automotive industry. Good target audience for pitching new advertising/marketing platforms. Automotive companies are always looking for new and different in the interactive medium.
What I liked less:
– Not clear who is winning with Marketing. Fox is advertising their show. Sprint customers get to trial more content for free. Toyota is advertising their cars.
– I visited the Prison Break section of Fox's web site. I clicked on the Wireless tab. Nothing happened. I "unblocked" the pop-up at the top of the screen thinking that would help. A T-Mobile banner ad showed up. Ok, now we've added conquest advertising to the mix.
– I visited the Toyota web site. I clicked on the Yaris link, but didn't find any references to the campaign.
– I looked for the option to opt-in for the "chance to walk-on" to an episode. Found an opportunity to win a Tiffany necklace, but not tied to the show.
– Finally, Fox should have shared some of it's knowledge about producing for the small screen with Saatchi. They did well to do a 10 second spot, but didn't show us much of the vehicle. I couldn't tell if it was animation or the real deal. Even the mobisode had a better shot of the vehicle. Seems like the short spots will be a new art form for agencies.
We'll be publishing more research on ad-supported video later this year. Early indications are that it could boost adoption, but will not drive mass adoption.