Thursday, August 20, 2009

Video Ads in Entertainment Weekly

The news is all over the place, so I'll keep this brief: CBS and Pepsi teamed up for an ad in a small number of Entertainment Weekly copies next month that will feature actual video on the page.

Well, there will be an ultra-thin video player on the page, and it will operate much as those musical greeting cards do, with the video activated when the reader turns to that page.

Last year, Esquire had its "e-ink" text on the cover of its 75th anniversary issue. As a stunt, it was fine, but it really wasn't "e-ink"; it was clearly a thick wafer inserted within the cover, and it served no great or useful purpose. As usual, my suggestion to Esquire is that they focus on improving the editorial product; but at the same time, it's good to see people experiment.

As for this video ad, I have no problem with it whatsoever. It's an ad; it doesn't affect the editorial at all, and it will be interesting to see how it develops if we see more of them. It's very expensive, but if more and more advertisers use it, some magazines will start adapting it to their own use on editorial pages (and covers).

No comments: