A cold evening on Piccadilly

I happened to be wandering down Piccadilly a couple of days ago when I happened upon an Audi car showroom. Now, this area is probably one of the most expensive in London (The Ritz is just across the road), so I was quite surprised to see something that one normally sees out of town. I guess this is because car showrooms tend to take up a lot of space, they leave a lot of space empty, and space is at a premium round here. But you need space to walk slowly around, to view from all angles, to appreciate the lines, reflections, chrome, extravagance. I think advertisers to want us to experience some cars as pieces of cool art or sculpture, to coolly view them from a distance.


But then, in the background I saw some objects I really hadn't ever expected to see. Coats, rucksacks, trousers and a few other items of apparel. So, is it a car showroom? Is Audi a car manufacturer? I think so, but Peugeot designs and sell what are, apparently, very good salt and pepper mills. Porsche just sells cars? You can buy Porsche LCD screens and even kettles and toasters. So, perhaps these are less car manufactuers, and more brands. Brands allow brand owners to extend products beyond what they are typically known for, whilst often, at the same time, those new products reinforce brands in terms of projects for which they are already known. They are a way of categorising objects and attributing to those objects meanings constructed for those brands. Of course, this is open to interpretation - those objects have to credibly reflect the brand. I can imagine an Audi shoulder bag, refrigerator, or juicer. I can't imagine a packet of Audi chewing gum.

Bebo's launch of 'Open Media'

I went to Bebo’s launch of ‘Open Media’ yesterday at BAFTA on Piccadilly (picture and video of Jamie Cullen below). Open Media allows broadcasters and labels – aka ‘Partners’ - to provide short and long form content totally free to Bebo’s 40 million members. Partners include CBS, MTV, BBC, Channel Four, ITN (which is either odd or hopefully unrealistic, given Bebo’s demographics)‘ and BSkyB.

As with YouTube, Partners’ will not be charged, and they can even use their own players. So, although the BBC will use a Bebo player initially, it will be moving over to using BBC’s own iPlayer. And although not applicable to BBC, Partners can advertise freely and even retain 100% of any advertising revenues.

Open Media allows users can store and curate their favourite video content within their own profiles, and virally distribute that content throughout their ‘friends’ network and the wider Bebo ‘community’. So for companies, it’s a no-brainer. Instead of waiting for people to come to their own sites (e.g. BBC iPlayer and 4OD), companies are going to where the hard to reach audiences are.

What’s in it for Bebo? Bebo claims that the addition of thousands of hours of premium content from major global entertainment and emerging new media companies will increase users’ engagement with the site and thus the value of Bebo’s own advertising and brand associations.

Because social networks are built for individuals, corporations need to tread carefully. In her blog, Jemima Kiss says companies need to be fronted by people that can talk with and engage with other users, or they need to present themselves as companies. Hence, instead becoming people becoming ‘friends’ of companies on Bebo, members can become ‘fans’. But I think that the problem with companies presenting themselves as such means that they are open to accusations of not engaging with the community. Bebo, YouTube and MySpace are characterised by interaction – being active members of communities. As with smaller online communities, people who don’t actively participate are considered lurkers and are even flamed. If companies aren’t there to participate and conform to the norms of the group, then other members will wonder why they are there.

Product placement

I really hadn't realised what big business product placement is on TV and in film. There is even a 'Top Ten' product placement list produced each week by Media Post), and there are companies devoted to it - ITVX.com. It seems that a goal of product placement is to make branded products appear integral to or fit seemlessly with a plot or scene. They aren't out of place and so don't jar with the audience. Spiderman 3 went way over budget and so had to use product placement to gain funds. But it can become ridiculous when overdone, and there are some funny 'mock' ups of product placements in films. I've put a couple below.