Digital Design Blog

Here We Are Now, Entertain Us

The cynical spirit behind Kurt Cobain’s lyrics from the biggest pop song of the nineties foretold an attitude among America’s youth culture that is being played out in the world of digital advertising. Audiences are saying “okay, we’ll show up to your party, but if it’s not entertaining, we’ll leave.”

And where will they go? They’ll go where they can find content that is both entertaining and relevant to their lives. Why? Because they can - because technology has empowered them to watch what they want, whenever they want.

Consequently, advertising has more pressure than ever to be relevant to its audience and, above all, entertaining. At Avenue A | Avenue A | Razorfish, we understand those dynamics and, through a tight relationship with a smart client, we’re connecting to this audience in entirely new and interesting ways.

Prime Time Is Now All The Time
The ever-elusive (but oh-so-influential) 18-24-year old demographic is increasingly mobile and digests its media in smaller bites.

They’re not sitting down at 8 o’clock and flicking on The Cosby Show (if you did that, you’re almost irrelevant in this conversation—you’re too old—you’re probably still watching prime time four nights a week). Cultural trends, including how we consume media, are set by our cultural influencers and early adopters. And those people, generally, are younger professionals with active lifestyles and plenty of disposable income.

They’re fickle, too, with technology empowering (again, that word) them to select what they want and easily avoid ads altogether. You’ll note the popularity of TiVo for its ability to block out commercials.

Generations of flaccid, transparent creative, driven by desperate, literal marketers to increase ROI have finally caught up with us. Viewers are fed up with advertising and they’re expressing this online by refusing to click on ads and by viewing and sharing only what they deem interesting. And more often than not, they are watching…how do we say this?…that which is cool (and relevant to them). They’re watching what entertains them.

Funny, Relevant, Truthful. I’ll Drink To That.
This summer, in an effort to boost sales with our 21-27-year old target, Avenue A | Razorfish launched a campaign aimed at getting our audience where he and she lives—surfing the Web at work in the afternoon. We bought space on sites where they go during downtime—Comedy Central, Heavy, and Yahoo! sports.

Our creative approach empathizes with the working class by showing funny moments of work pain, then urges those people to “Call it a day,” by catching the 4:53 Coors Light train to happy hour. We give them clickable maps, so they can locate bars near the office. We give them a happy hour countdown to 4:53 (admit it, we all watch the clock around 3 P.M.). And we give them tools to e-vite their friends. But, above all, we’re giving them a laugh and an invitation for a cold beer when they need it most—during that often tedious, if not eternal stretch of time between lunch and quitting time.

A live ticker in a banner ad counts down the painful, remaining minutes to happy hour-4:53.

A geo-targeted map shows where our viewer can go after work for a Coors Light.

The results? Quite simply, we’ve made Coors Light part of the conversation. We’re seeing our audience post our ads on YouTube as they celebrate the spots. “This is the funniest ad I’ve ever seen from Coors Light.” The next phase is to stimulate the conversation by encouraging our audience to connect with each other, via social networking.

Your Audience Is Also Your Ad Agency
Yes, YouTube is a revolution—in the way it empowers viewers not only to watch exactly what they want, but also to self-publish. Consequently, our next evolution is to create ads that encourage viewers to do the work with us, to create ads with us.

So, our challenge is to create branded entertainment, not ads. And instead of weighty, pricey media buys aimed at distracting our viewer into a position of interest or clicks (we all know that click through rates are dropping and smart marketers know that clicks aren’t the way to measure the influence of a brand), we allow the viewer to pass the ad along, so that, in essence, our audience is our media department.

If we create a video that’s compelling enough, a 25-year old will send it to a friend across town. And then, if that person finds it interesting, they will pass it along to another. Before you know it, you’ve got a million views. Go further. Give them tools to re-edit the spots. Let them play with your brand a little and they’ll care a little more about you.

Beyond being a viewer, your audience has become an ambassador for your brand. They’ve become an active participant. They’re publishing your ads for you. An interesting thought when you consider the cost (the broad, wasteful reach) of a 30-second buy on Survivor or CSI.

Coors Light videos depict painful work moments, then urges viewers to reward themselves with happy hour refreshment. Here, a paper shredder mishap cues the notion to “Call it a day.”

Swing Big
So, creatively, digital advertising must be entertaining to even be considered worth watching. This is both liberating and daunting. For a creative in 2008, the fences have been moved in, the ball is juiced and you’re swinging a big piece of lumber. But you only get one trip to the plate. And if you miss, they will mock you, they will call you out to their friends.

Finally, the smartest work will be the spot that surprises and entertains and begs to be shared, but, also, is connected to a truth about the brand. Otherwise, they’ll say, “yeah, that was cool, but I have no idea who did it.” And therein lies the challenge—not just to entertain to garner the most eyeballs, but to do it in a way that endears brands to those
captive eyeballs.

That’s where Avenue A | Razorfish is headed creatively in 2008. And getting there should be an interesting, entertaining ride. If not, those smart, jaded folks will shrug their shoulders, leave the party and hang out with someone else.

Taking branded entertainment to where our audience lives, the spots auto-played between 2-5 o’clock on weekdays. This guy gets a rather rude awakening that would drive any erstwhile fishmonger to drink.

by Tim Sproul and Jim Gibson