Renee Hill of eyeReturn started by saying that if you bought advertising executives a PVR or TiVo for their home they would never buy a thirty-second spot again, instead taking that money, and spending it online, and that really made sense to me.
David Carson, Co-CEO of Heavy.com talked about branded entertainment, an area of advertising that doesn’t shill the brand endlessly, rather trying to find ways to get the word out there while still making it fun for its users.
His presentation was amazing, funny, and had some of the best slides from the whole event. They were well designed, and weren’t as text heavy as some other companies. One of the more interesting things David did was to remind us that the Internet is nothing, and if you weighed the data in the internet as a single bubble of electricity, it would only weight two ounces. Saying that someone has actually gone ahead at one point and time to measure it.
David also said that innovations come from big ideas that are put into action. The ideas don’t have to be amazing, as even the most mundaine product or idea can allow room for innovation.
He then brought up the videos featuring the Blentec blender. Most people would think that a blender is a blender, and choose one with the feature they want, or a brand they trust, but Blentec decided to do something different, and showcase their brand by creating online videos that were funny, interesting, and crazy.
David also brought up the Eepybird video with Diet Coke and Mentos. While not being created by either Coke or Mentos, it instantly made both brands “fun” and interesting.
It is all about finding new, and powerful ways to get your brand noticed, and sometimes the best way is to use a form of branded entertainment. I really enjoyed this session, and while not answering the “how” of creating a campaign that would work, it did remind me that if others can do it, I should be able to as well.
