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Interactive Commercial Utilizes Tivo Features
scrow writes "Marketing officers at Kentucky Fried Chicken's Yum! Brands Inc. have developed a commercial containing a hidden message for the viewers to find using their DVR systems. The aim is to combat the use of DVR devices, like Tivo, to skip advertising by introducing interactivity."
Number one, they forget that not everyone owns a DVR to play back the commercial in slow-motion to even get the code. Number two, people don't watch commercials for gimmicky promotions. Why do so many people watch the Super Bowl for the ads rather than the game? Because the ads are enjoyable/entertaining in some way. Make them funny, and people will watch. While this doesn't guarantee people buying your product (which is what KFC is after) this does get them watching. I personally don't agree with how KFC is going about this. Why not just let the code be plainly visible rather than viewable only to the segment of the populace that has special equipment?
The headline as of this writing is "Interactive Commercial Utilizes Tivo Features."
The commercial is not "Interactive" because you must watch it repeatedly. You don't interact with the commercial; you interact with the company by doing something indicated subliminably* in the commercial.
The commercial does not "utilize Tivo features" -- the summary actually states that it is meant to prevent users from fast-forwarding through it by implying that intellligent users might find something of value if they analyze it diligently enough. There are commercials which "utilize Tivo features" by employing a "PRESS THUMBS UP TO RECEIVE MORE ADS" button; this is not one of them.
Therefore, this article should be retitled "Commercial."
* Real word
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Instead of being lawsuit crazy and trying to get people to watch their commercials by force, they gives incentives for people to watch their commercials voluntarily. Wish more advertisers would take this approach instead of making their ads steadily more annoying and intrusive.
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KFC is scary. The smallest dinner they sell is a reasonably-sized meal. Most of the meals they sell are far, far bigger. And I see "wide loads" in there buying entire buckets for themselves.
This is pretty much the equivalent to scratch and sniff perfume/cologne ads in magazines. The method here doesn't match the product as well, so I can't imagine this would be as effective.
People skip ads because they (maybe only subconsciously) realize that they don't care about the ads, because the ads are not content. TV advertising doesn't work on a conscious level anymore. People have learned to use them as an excuse for other things (make popcorn, check laundry), or to simply automatically tune them out, much like studies have shown that people ignore 468 x 60 images on the web.
A TiVo that can automatically skip ads based on a program's break time schedule is equivalent to AdBlock; the difference is that in one, you know when the ads are coming, and in the other you know where they are coming from.
TV is also in a rough spot because:
In a nutshell, TV is doomed in a similar way to radio. The inevitable disaster of the switch to digital TV may just be the killing blow.
And I say good riddance, until I can get a la carte programming.