Digital Hive

Summer TV Lull Saved by Internet?

NBC recently announced plans to air 10 new webisodes of The Office this coming summer. Similar to my earlier posting related to Amazon's Fishbowl hosted by Bill Maher, which also launches in June, I'm excited to see a trend toward offering fresh new content ONLINE during the otherwise languorous summer months. For the sake of millions of school children who suffer through reruns all summer long...I hope these experiments bear fruit!

I'm not sure this signals the end of the summer rerun doldrums, but it's a great indication that content providers and networks are....

1) Following HBOs lead (Sex and the City- case in point) to branch out from their regular model of airing new episodes during 'the season', hitting us with a finale, then lapsing in to reruns for the summer months

2) Supplying us with cool new material in the online channel

Yes, you could say it's simply an effort to find new ways to generate ad dollars beyond the standard time slots, but I like to think it taps into our desire to be entertained even during non-prime time, non-'in-season' hours.

Err - entertainment with a loose tie-in to product

When i saw the mention of some truly entertaining new webisodes in a recent Adrants newsletter, i had to check 'em out. There are two separate site experiences (and corresponding web series'), including www.lovelybysurprise.com and www.theneverything.com , sponsored by Lincoln and Mercury respectively. The first tells the tale of an author fully (frightenly) absorbed in the story she's weaving, while the second simultaneously immerses us in the world of her fictional characters. (Think Adaptation)

What I Like:

1) The sites are meant to complement one another by telling two sides of this fictional (and entirely virtal) story. nice postmodern twist that gives it an intellectual appeal. And i just like that both experiences seem to have distinct personalities, like the films they showcase. 

2) oh, i'm sorry - this is sponsored by Ford? The cars have been subtly integrated and there's a sweeps aspect, but it feels an awful like i'm being entertained, not sold.

3) They're legitimately entertaining. Lovely By Surprise has some kind of a Woody Allen feel to it that keeps it fun, quirky and offbeat. And the sites display an engaging attention to detail (e.g. you can see the author's face reflected in the coffee cup.)

So where's the beef? They feel like a disconnect with my image of the brand(s)... While i'm sure that's largely intentional to try to attract folks like me who would otherwise think of Mercurys and Lincolns of as my parent's kind of cars...i'm not sure i'm sold. Reinforcing this feeling is the fact that the auto sites themselves (available via links) appear to live in some parallel universe where creativity ain't worth a damn. They look like...every other car site out there.

Hmmm, perhaps a case of a talented agency creating something really cool over HERE....while their client maintained the status quo over HERE....? you be the judge!

Who do you trust?

Remember the good old days when doctors and professors were treated like gods-on-earth? For better or worse, their days under the sun may be numbered. For the first time ever, “a person like me” trumped both doctors and academic experts as the most credible spokesperson for a company, according to the seventh Edelman’s seventh annual Trust Barometer. And it’s not a low figure. Trust in peers has increased significantly – from 20% in 2003 to 68% today. Wow, that was fast. Yet more evidence that word of mouth goes along way nowadays, both off and online, and that consumers are pretty much fed up with push marketing. Speaking of online, the survey also measured trustworthiness of the internet, TV, and newspapers. While the TV still wins, its popularity as the #1 trustworthy media source has fallen from 39% (three years ago) to 29% today, while the internet is up from 10% to 19%. Will 2006 be the year that the internet beats TV and newspapers to become the #1 trusted media source? Stay tuned, or rather, stick online to see where this year takes us…