Fledgling, niche-interest tv networks that reside in the triple digits on the cable box tend to look at the realm of possibilities unlike their established counterparts. Take Current TV, whose co-founders included Al Gore.
Dubbed “the TV network created by you,” Current is the only 24/7 cable and satellite television network and Internet site (www.current.com) produced and programmed in collaboration with its viewers.
Besides letting its 18-to-34 audience create news and information video content for broadcast alongside professionally produced stories, the channel is taking the same approach to ad spots, putting them out as assignments for aspiring directors to take a whack at.
“We’re the first ones to invite the public in and ask them to create ads for our clients,” says Joshua Katz, Current TV president of marketing.
The list of brands that have taken part in Current’s VCAM program over the last two years includes L’Oreal, Sony, Mountain Dew, Toyota and EA Games. T-Mobile is currently in its second round of VCAM assignments and searching for ads promoting the new Sidekick LX cellphone or the whole Sidekick line.
As with an earlier VCAM campaign for its Fave 5 calling plan, the best spots from T-Mobile’s Sidekick assignment will have the chance to air on Current and their creators to each earn $1,000. T-Mobile will have the option to choose a video from the project to show in other places, either in broadcast or online, and depending on the venue, will pay the creator $5,000 to $50,000 for the use.
Under the VCAM program, Current works with a client brand to craft an ad assignment brief that gets posted online. It’s also teased with a 30-second video spot on the air. For the T-Mobile Sidekick assignment, would-be videographers were told to “create a VCAM that illustrates how this brand keeps its users connected all the time,” given some suggested plotlines (the benefits and drawbacks of always-on, the perils of losing a Sidekick) and provided with the taglines T Mobile wanted, such as “How the super connected stay connected.” Current also supplied downloads of product photos, end tag movie files and pre-approved music choices.
Forums on the Web site advise viewers about issues such as the importance of getting appearance and location releases and eligibility restrictions. Ads are uploaded and moderated by Current producers; those that are approved for submission are then put out on the Web site.
Melinda McCrocklin, marketing manager for T-Mobile, says her company pays attention both to the creative VCAM content and to the viewer comments being posted during the seven-week assignment, due to close on Feb. 25. “Current’s audience is the same demographic as our Sidekick users,” she says. “Their comments reveal which ones they like, and that has an influence when we come to review the overall submissions.”
McCrocklin says T-Mobile came back to Current for a second VCAM campaign because the carrier was so pleased with the crop of entries submitted for last year’s Fave 5 assignment. “We reached out to Current as an innovative partner when we were launching that campaign, to see what insights their audience could bring out,” she says. “When you’ve got a complicated service such as unlimited calling to your five favorite people, you need to bring that forward in a clear, concise, memorable way. The Current audience came up with a lot of types of humor that we hadn’t considered.”
A VCAM sponsor like T-Mobile gets more than just deeper insight into the Current viewership’s tastes during the assignment phase, Katz says. The brand also get a TV spot that speaks more effectively to the channel’s highly desirable demographic. He points to research from consultancy Byron Media that found that 90% of Current TV’s viewers prefer the VCAM spots as “more authentic” than professionally produced ads.
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