Gone are the days of the “captive audience” for advertising. Television is a great example – once cable introduced us to hundreds of channels and remote controls made it unnecessary to leave the couch, advertisers had to work much harder to maintain the attention that the television program had attracted. One of the few times people actually tune in to TV with the intent of watching commercials is the Super Bowl – where advertisers are intentionally pushing the limits of creativity and humor. Still, for the first time in 23 years, Pepsi opted to NOT run a television commercial during the Super Bowl this year. With 30-second spots costing around $3 million, many would assume this was a money-saving measure – but it wasn’t. Pepsi actually increased their 2010 ad budget, but opted to shift to digital. Why? Better engagement with consumers, the benefit of a two-way dialog, and also the opportunity to more closely measure the campaign and get a real idea of the effectiveness of their investment.
Today’s captivity is engagement, and music combined with digital advertising has the potential to provide Super Bowl commercial-type engagement – ads consumers seek out. Digital advertising has the ability to do so much more than can a filmed TV spot. Engagement. Dialogue. Measurement. INTERACTIVITY. Online ads can be so much MORE engaging and entertaining than even the most viral of TV commercials. And interactive music is a perfect solution to leverage that power. Viewers become “players” – they take an active role in playing with the application, and that interaction automatically makes them more engaged.
As part of MXP4’s Everywhere strategy, we’re developing branded interactive music applications that are fun and engaging content. And we’re delivering those applications across media portals, mobile applications, music distribution platforms and third-party music formats, giving an immersive experience that is more likely to result in action. Consumers no longer see an ad to click on, they see and hear music to play with…and it just happens to be in a branded environment.
Mots-clefs : Consumer engagement, interactive, Interactive Advertising, Interactive music
