Mark Cuban fancies himself as a "jack of all trades; master of all" To be fair, he's earned a ton of respect from various successful ventures in his past and present.
One of his said fancies is to prognosticate on the future of media, marketing and advertising.
Take his current post which seems to be playing to rave reviews across the blogosphere. His suggestion? Make TV commercials live. Live productions in fact. Or as he calls it, "Reality Commercials"
Give me a shampoo commercial that shows some good looking models talking about how Mandisa just got booted from American Idol, because of her hair. â If she had hair like thisâ (model does obligatory shampoo commercial hair flip) full, shiny, beautiful hair like only Pantene offer, she would have gotten picked.â Models all pull out their Pantene shampoo, hold it to the camera and smile. Except for the blonde, who pulls out her fake tanning tube.
Give me a break. This is quite possibly one of the worst ideas I've heard in a very long time. Worse than the networks who deny the fact there's even a problem.
OK. Let's take a step back. I'm all for learning from the past, but going back 50 years and calling it "classic" has severe flaws. This is part of the justification being used for the explosion of production placement....hey it worked 50 year's ago on Texaco Theatre, so why shouldn't it work now?
BECAUSE THE CONSUMER HAS CHANGED! THAT'S WHY...THEY'RE NOT AS GULLIBLE, NAIVE AND WAITING FOR US TO INTRUDE ON THEIR LIVES WITH MEANINGLESS, IRRELEVANT AND INSULTING SELL-SPEAK.
The answer is to make advertising relevant again, through the combination of relevant targeting (or self targeting), utilitarian value, and of course a stronger entertainment factor (creative quality)
It is only on the entertainment front that Cuban's idea holds any water (the question is...how much water?)
I also don't believe his suggestion is original at all. Take the Super Bowl. Isn't that the quintessential live commercial and production? Or P&G with the People's Choice Awards. Also Cable has done a fairly good job of these human interludes....take TBS' Dinner and a Movie, which cuts to commentary (not live though) through the ad breaks.
The biggest problem with Cuban's idea is not in the idea itself, but in its execution; the very rot that threatens us all...laziness, simplicity aka scaleability. Unless you are American Idol, which itself is already bursting at the seams with product placement/branded integration, how the hell are you going to put on 20-odd reality commercials NIGHTLY?
I applaud the fact Mark is trying to figure out a solution, but I'm just not convinced that the solution involves turning back time. That said, perhaps there is some kind of middle ground, but in order for that to work....we'd have to experiment with a fairly healthy audience-sized show and make the following changes:
1) Eliminate ALL the "terrestrial" commercials. If this is going to work, the new vignettes are going to have to stand alone and not add to the existing clutter
2) I might start off with a live production, but for the most part this is a red herring. Being relevant is much more important than being live. Never mind the pangs of repeats and syndication....think scaleability once again. Live might work for top 10 shows, but that's probably it.
3) Especially if the vignettes are going to be live - but in general - make it worthwhile for the viewers. Use time-sensitive calls-to-actions/offers; consider the introduction of Easter Eggs (TiVo would be a huge boon here)
4) Focus the vignettes on CONTENT i.e. resist the urge to blatantly sell stuff to people who don't want to be sold to at 8.30pm.
5) Consider cross-marketing of these vignettes with same-networks. For example, a mini-interview with American Idol's Katharine McPhee during the O.C. sponsored by Pantene (all obviously on FOX) Not only would this help drive collective network tune-in, there'd also be less white noise (we're waiting to hear who got voted off, so why are we sitting through Axe telling us how much sexier Ace would be if he wore the Deodorant)
I'm sure there's more here...and again, kudos to Cuban for getting the ball rolling. I would say, focus on the Mavericks' NBA title hopes and let the experts take it from here, but the so-called experts have done such a lousy job thus far, that suggestions should be taken from all anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Back to you Mark...
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