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."

Comments

interactivity?

[lonasindi]

if I want interactive, I use the computer.
On the rare occasion I watch TV, I don't want to like, interact with the commercials. that's stupid.

Re:interactivity?

[LordNightwalker]

My thoughts exactly: why the hell would I want to get interactive with a commercial for some 99 cent burger? If I can afford a tivo, I surely can afford better food than that... Offer me a coupon for a free Mercedes, and you might get my attention.

Commercials ruin the whole TV experience for me. I watched Firefly from DVDs I borrowed from a friend, and I enjoyed it tremendously. The DVDs are already on my to-buy list as soon as I can spot them in a store nearby. They recently started airing them in my country though, and they're interrupted twice for commercials. Those commercials ruin the whole pacing of the episode, and leave me in a state of confusion as soon as the show resumes because by then I'll have forgotten some of the subtle stuff that happened because I was distracted by the commercials, and I'll need a couple of minutes to get back into the show. Imagine how much worse it would be if I actually had to interact with the damn commercials in between, completely ruining my concentration. Heck, stuff that burger where the damn sun don't shine; I'll happily skip past commercials whenever I get the chance.

Can someone please post the code?

[SengirV]

So I don't have to actually watch the comercial.

Re:Can someone please post the code?

[eln]

Dude, the prize is a Buffalo Snacker Chicken Sandwich. For your own safety, I can't give you the code.

Re:Can someone please post the code?

[Bob Cat - NYMPHS]

Your name, address, telephone number, and email address should be worth more then 99c.

You agreed to this: (8) in general to promote and market our and our Affiliates' various businesses and products to you. These solicitations may take the form of mailings via U.S. mail or other couriers, telephone calls, e-mail solicitations and other methods of contact.

Phone spam, snail spam, spam spam, Kentucky Fried Spam.

Oblig Profit!

[rob_squared]

Excellent idea

1. Make ads for TV
2. Slowly make them more annoying
3. Discover that people are avoiding your ads like the plague
4. Try to subvert to force said people to watch your ads
5. ???
6. Profit!

Re:Oblig Profit!

[Vellmont]

5. ???

People buy the product? Not everything is a dot com business model you know. I think the plan is pretty smart. It got some free advertising on Slashdot. Maybe other companies will start hiding things (like details for entering a sweepstakes) in commercials.

Re:Oblig Profit!

[neuroticia]

Slowing them down not only makes them more annoying, but it also ensures that your message DOES NOT get across. What is advertising? It's a carefully planned message-in-motion at approximately 15-60fps. Having someone step through it frame-by-frame to look for a coupon does *NOT* make them recepients of your message. If they wanted to capture someone's attention they should just throw up the coupon, and freeze there for the whole 15-30 second spot. Static image. Can you imagine? People would be going nuts trying to figure out if their TV was broken. :p

A few things

[WeatherMatt]

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?

Re:A few things

[eln]

The people who don't have DVRs will just be forced to watch the commercial just like they always have. Sure, they won't get the promotion, but they'll still see a (hopefully effective) commercial. It's not like KFC is just going to show 30 seconds of a blank screen with one or two frames relevant to DVR owners.

This is designed to entice people who ordinarily skip over commercials to actually watch them. TV commercials are all about creating brand awareness. If you don't have a DVR, you become aware of the brand by being forced to sit through their commercials. If you do have a DVR, presumably you need some sort of extra incentive (like a chance at a free sandwich) to watch the commercial.

Re:A few things

[anthony_dipierro]

I'm not completely against KFC and what they are doing, I just think it's done in the wrong way. What's wrong with just putting the word normally? I also know that another point is to create brand recognition, which they seem to be doing quite nicely (despite all the website problems they've been having with age and whatnot).

Eh, whatever. It's a gimmick. It got the company some free publicity in Slashdot. It got some people talking about the company. I wouldn't expect it to become a big thing, but it'll probably be successful at least this once.

Yeah, some people are getting the code off of Slashdot. Does that mean the commercial failed? On the contrary. The gimmick probably got at least one Slashdotter to buy a KFC sandwich when they otherwise wouldn't have, without even watching the commercial.

If they just put in the word normally, they wouldn't have gotten this story in Slashdot or any of the other places the story has run. Good for them.

Let's analyze this headline!

[generic-man]

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

Thumbs up to KFC

[athakur999]

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.

The prize is a 99-cent chicken sandwich.

[Animats]

"The prize is a coupon for KFC's new, sauce-drenched $0.99 Buffalo Snacker chicken sandwich."

Big thrill.

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.

Scratch and sniff

[Dracos]

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:

1. There hasn't been shit on TV in at least 20 years, probably longer
2. 500 channels just means I have to spend more time looking at the program schedule to find the diamond in the rough
3. The same companies own the networks and the movie studios; the hydras have all chosen which of their heads to cannibalize
4. Games, Internet, and other activities (except reading, but that's another topic) take away from TV viewership

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.

Unfortunately for them...

[krunk4ever]

there is this thing called the Internet and on this Internet, there these things called Forums and some of these forums are tailored for bargain hunters. From http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid =40&threadid=1810259&enterthread=y :

KFC is giving away coupons for a free Buffalo stacker standwich.

Go to KFC.com and enter code Buffalo

Hey it's worth a shot for a free sandwich

Not watching adverts? That is stealing

[wetelectric]

Well eventually, especially for you guys in the USA, it will be illegal to watch a program then leave the room / change the channel (circumvent) during the adverts. I mean, not watching the adverts of the program you just watched? That is stealing!