Agency Spy

Omnicom can’t stop. Won’t stop. The latest news is that the company has teamed up with a newly created NBC Universal production unit to create programs around sponsors’ products. It’s like Honeyshed, but with air of pretension. This is straight up selling. Forget the cool kids, let’s make some money!

NBC Universal Digital Studio will work with a division of Omnicom Group Digital to create web specific shows that allows advertisers to get in early and have some say in how their products will be featured. For an example, there’s the Rosario Dawson (so hot) project titled Gemini Division, which comes with sponsors Intel, Microsoft, UPS and Acura TSX. Dawson is not only the star, but a producer. The Hollywood Reporter is saying, naturally, the web version is really just a test to see if the program can fly in prime time.

Omnicom Media Group Digital chief executive Matt Spiegel said that this new method of creating shows is:

“a unique way of giving brands a seat at the table with writers and producers in developing episodic programming that ties directly to brand needs.”

Bravo to NBC for figuring out to be more flexible with content generation, as well as delivery methods, but um… doesn’t that sound awful? The part where CMOs are getting in on the creative level? Oh. Oh. So, bad. You deal with these guys all the time. Good idea machines? Not so much. Wishy washy, knock-kneed, consumer fearing blowhards? Hell, yes.

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Phenomenal! AdGabber, the social network for advertising professionals, has hit 4,043 members. Steve Hall, the maestro behind the long established Adrants blog and network told us that:

“I just want it to be a place where the ad industry can come together, network and exchanges ideas for the betterment of the business.”

I’m a member and admittedly, haven’t been using the site to its full potential. Since I last dropped by, AdGabber has exploded into a mash of message boards, forums and groups such as The Creative Director’s Club where CDs can chat about their work while exchanging ideas.

Well, well, well… who knew that ad folk could socialize without a beer or very, very dry white wine in hand?

Nielsen is getting ready to acquire IAG Research for $225 million. According to Adweek, IAG is a privately held firm that measures consumer engagement with television programs, national commercials and product placements. Meanwhile, AdAge recently asked the question: Can “TV-ratings kingpin Nielsen maintain its dominance as the gold standard by which video advertising is priced?” Competitors abound and the first to provide marketers with real time data will win the rat race.

Tracey Scheppach, senior VP-video innovations director at Starcom USA, pointed out the obvious: “It’s hard for a monopoly to be the force of innovation.”

Big companies lumber along. They can be unwieldy and slow to make changes. Although, Nielsen is looking pretty nimble these days (the company has snapped up Telephia, Audience Analytics and Buzz Metrics, too) they can’t buy the whole lot of ‘em including Rentrak, TNS and the pugilistic Group M’s Irwin Gottlieb and his mafia.

Alan Wurtzel, NBC Universal’s president-research, said:

“The digital world has taught us that there can be a couple of guys in a garage somewhere that can topple mighty corporate entities, because some of it is just new ways of thinking and just figuring out a better mousetrap.”

Nielsen is going to fight to the death and our bet is that they hang in their better than anyone is predicting. The entire piece is worth a read, outlining various threats, dilemmas and offering an interview with Susan Whiting (pictured left), Nielsen exec VP who oversees development and sales. Grab your lunch and get to it.

“Tomorrow this agency will launch a giant floating turd held together with duct tape. we will call it ‘WEB SITE.’” - anonymous Avenue A/Razorfish employee

This wryly expressed sentiment is in regards to Avenue A/ Razorfish’s new work for the Sheraton Hotels titled the SheratonWave, which runs alongside the upcoming Final Four men’s college basketball tournament. The site, brings together college sports fans and iconic images of sporting events. Know you get the Wave part right? I thought that for a second, every Sheraton was going to be offering one of the wave pools at their hotels, but alas… it’s actually about the first-ever online version of the wave and features hundreds of linked video clips of college basketball fans across the U.S. doing it. Users are encouraged to upload their own video or use a unique webcam tool to film a wave directly onto the site.

Poop! Poop! I smell it! Here’s the thing, the wave is like 500 clips of people standing at different distances and angles from the camera, so it’s not like some weird Michael Jackson Black and White thing. It’s just people in their living rooms edited together at random. It’s strange, but no, no - not exciting at all. Poop! You can also sort by college, say Texas or Winthrop. Fart!

Okay and what does this have to do with Sheraton? The hotel chain is an official partner of the NCAA, but so what and what else? Are they trying to say they are offering discounted rates for basketball fans who are going to see the final NCAA games? Hmm…. don’t see that in the copy. Oh wait! Duh. If I start booking a room using the box on the right, THEN they tell me there are special offers. Right. That makes no sense considering consumer behavior. Tell me BEFORE. Poop!

Are they trying to align themselves with the excitement of the tournament? Possibly, but this is pretty half assed. Are the trying to grab onto this unruly beast called social media? Dingdingdingdingding! We have a winner ladies and gentlemen. The social media aspects are what - user-generated (done and done and done to death) and embedding? Poop! If you want it to spread across colleges (those in and out of the Final Four), you gotta do make it easier to unfurl and take a chance on pairing it with other social media technologies. Gotta wonder how many billable hours Avenue A spent at these campus getting people to do the wave so there would be content on the site when it launched. Dying to know.

Avenue A makes good websites. They do. However, this campaign is missing something for me and yes, I like basketball.

If you missed it, a Leopold and Loeb-eque pair of alleged delinquents posted a fake “moving, everything must go, just come and take it” ad on Craigslist. The victim came home to find most of his furniture and gear being hauled out of his house. The duo, Brandon and Amber Herbert, posted the ad in an attempt to cover up the fact that they had stolen other items from the victim’s home at an earlier time. However, these two geniuses used a traceable IP address to post the ad. Seriously? Come on… Tech crime 101, kids. Tech crime 101.

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Google really is trying to get in your good graces. YouTube will not give posters more details about who is watching their video clips. The program called YouTube Insight, is free, but is still an attempt by Google to make money of its $1.76B purchase. Marketers who buy ads on YouTube already get statistics about the performance of their ads, but this new program will break down viewership by day and shows the states or countries where most viewers are. Kind of like a Nieseln thing, but no, not at all.

Tracy Chan, a YouTube program manager said that the new tools, “give a lot of context around the performance of video over time, where are your audience coming from and how your message is connecting to your audience.”

Who doesn’t love that? Good for them for trying to make some cash. Google actually saw slower growth in the number of clicks on text advertisements last month, adding to folks concerns that the economy is going to touch every last bit of business. Well, just chill okay? Seriously. Google is gonna be fine. I think. I think.

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What if?

In an effort to to reduce the number of cyclists that are hurt on London’s roads Transport for London has launched a site called
Do The Test, which contains a video that makes their point by 200 billion percent. Skip the intro if you like, but it’s pretty entertaining, as well.

Via Scamp who is predicating a D&AD Silver. We concur. The video was up on YouTube, but has since been taken down. Odd.

When Hulu shook its way into beta, we said that:

“They’ve got very deep pockets. We give them an ‘A’ for effort. If broadcasters don’t attempt to get a handle on this whole internet thing, they’re going to be very, very sorry indeed.”

Despite the ridiculous name, we’ve been using Hulu since it was created in October (after NBC bailed on Apple’s iTunes) and have to say, “bravo” to the whole team. We’ve watched new programs (Lipstick Jungle - skip it), vintage shows (Charlie’s Angels - love it) and some canceled favorites (Arrested Development - fabulous), too. Christ. We cued up The Breakfast Club last night when we couldn’t sleep.

Now, Hulu is making its way to the general public. The NBC Universal/News Corp. joint online video venture, will launch with new partnerships with Warner Bros. Television Group, Lionsgate and a larger film slate. They’ve also hooked up with Michael Eisner’s production studio Vuguru; the Onion News Network; the NBA; and the NHL and the NCAA. Still missing from the list of providers are Sumner Redstone-controlled companies Viacom Inc and CBS Corp.

Meanwhile, Hulu’s content has been seen by more than 5 million viewers and the site’s player has been embedded over 50,000 times across 5,000 sites. Almost eighty-percent of its entire video library is viewed every seven days. Not bad for being a content, beta site that offers engagement, not participation. Like we said before, YouTube killer? Puhleeze. Hulu is a different animal.

While we love Hulu and applaud CEO Jason Kilar (pictured above) for getting the big bad networks off their asses and into the game, we still have some issues. As Ars Technica pointed out this morning:

- Videos are only available for streaming over the Web, no downloading available and yes, we think you should be able to own it with advertising attached, only. The problem with this is that users would more than likely cut out the ads and pass it around. Technology needs to figure out how to lock these ads in place.

- The site is US only with IPs from outside the country denied access. Silly.

- You can’t take the videos with you to other devices (mobile, video game player, etc.) for on the go watching. How can you watch these programs on your flight from LA to NY?

- “NBC’s bold attempt to get into the distribution game itself eliminates truly useful downloads for consumers who want to pay. By pulling its online content from iTunes Store and restricting it to NBC’s own site, consumers lose an important choice in the way they enjoy their favorite shows.”

- And the way ads are often played, repeatedly in the same program, needs to get tackled, as well.

Nonetheless, we would call Hulu a successful first push to handle consumer needs for on-demand content. Worth checking out if you haven’t yet.

No. Seriously. It’s not April’s Fools, yet.

“Kentucky Representative Tim Couch filed a bill this week to make anonymous posting online illegal. The bill would require anyone who contributes to a website to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that site. Their full name would be used anytime a comment is posted.”

Okay, this won’t only affect us or say, Wonkette, but it will also be an issue for sites such as Wikileaks. Representative Couch says he filed the bill in hopes of cutting down on online bullying. He says that has especially been a problem in his Eastern Kentucky district.

You know, but here’s the thing… How does anyone know if a commentator makes up an email and snail mail address? All they need to do is create a dummy Gmail account and that’s that. What? Is Gawker going to check that every postal address is a real one for every comment? It’s impossible.

Anyway, we’ll be keeping an eye on it, but of course.

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