I’ve been scratching my head over this one since seeing mention of it on AdAge.com yesterday. CBS and Pepsi have teamed up to create a video ad in select issues of the upcoming Sept. 18 issue of Entertainment Weekly. Yes, an embedded video ad in print! This takes those annoying greeting cards with the sound chips to another level entirely. While I get the novelty factor – and the hoped for accompanying buzz – I can’t help but wonder why we (people and businesses) insist on forcing square pegs into round holes.
You’ve got to find some humor in watching the media industry stumble its way into the digital future like a drunken Frankenstein: First, creating web-based digital editions that lamely mimic print magazines with print-page design and virtual turning pages, etc. – (Do media execs really think that’s the best way to present content on the web or mobile devices? Do they really misunderstand the medium that much, or do they simply have that low of an opinion of their print readers’ ability to adapt to the digital domain?) – and now, creating ads that pretend to be TV on the printed page.
It’s an interesting experiment, no doubt, but to what end? Does anyone really think there’s a commercially viable future (or purpose beyond the buzz of precedent) in delivering video on a paper page?
In a related note, while I give points to CBS for its creativity in “placing” its marketing messages (as detailed toward the end of the AdAge article), I’m also kind of repulsed. It’s bad enough that we’re now smothered in advertising messages every which way we cast our eyes, do we really need to see ads for the latest TV shows on the shells of our eggs? Where does the madness stop?
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I agree with your post - mabye they are still searching for a way to satisfy the folks who want that tactile feeling. (Even if it is a cost prohibitive business model).
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