Interactive Branded Entertainment

Lorsque Publicis tente l'agence Marcel

Le nom « Marcel » fleure bon la France de Gabin et des nappes à carreaux. Mais son concept de « scénarisation » du produit sur tous supports est, lui, novateur.

Arnold Worldwide announces entertainment unit

Agency Hires Hollywood Producer and Creative Director To Strengthen Entertainment Offering

McDonald's music promotion boots sales 3%

Contest Required Internet or Cell Phone Response

The Deal: McDonald’s turns to music to help promote its Big Mac sandwich and brokers a deal with the House of Blues Entertainment.

The Result: The promotion helps boost sales by 3% for the Golden Arches and also helps establish House of Blues as a music brand that has national relevance for advertisers.

About 40% of the contest entries were submitted via cell phone text messages -- nearly twice the figure McDonald's originally expected.

New XBOX rigged for extensive product integration

Microsoft Creates Global Online Game Environment and Marketplace

LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- Microsoft Corp.'s new Xbox 360 console has been engineered to accommodate product integration as never before, and its global audience of gamers will be sold aggressively to marketers when the system hits the stores this fall, according to the company.

Microsoft's goal is to sell 1 billion of its Xbox 360 consoles, creating a massive online global audience that can be sold to marketers.

Build Game Ads Better, and They Will Come

LOS ANGELES Advertising agencies are likely to become more involved in online games as the sophistication of the in-game ad space increases, said the co-founder and evp of Double Fusion today.

Game Ads Up to $875 Mil. By '09

The in-game advertising market will grow from $118 million last year to $875 million by 2009, representing a whopping increase of over 640 percent, according to an analyst from the Yankee Group.

IGA Worldwide Acquires Hive, Launches In-Game Ad Group

"We are now able to offer brands a more cohesive approach to getting inside the game," says IGA Partners North America CCO, Darren Herman, "Hive allows us to not only build out our media network but allows the in-depth static and plot-integration deals that generate buzz for advertisers."

Donnell bows Brand Arc to place Toyota

Rob Donnell, previously executive director of J. Walter Thompson's Amplify division that had represented Ford Motor Co. in Hollywood, announced the opening of his own branded entertainment company Brand Arc, with Toyota signed on as its flagship client. Based in Santa Monica, the company will specialize in strategically focused brand entertainment initiatives from concept through final execution that are designed to complement and enhance a brand's overall communications plans.
"We don't want to reinvent the brand in the name of entertainment -- there is often a lot of great work and thinking that speaks to the essence of a brand," Donnell said.
"It's our job to take all that thinking and translate it into brand entertainment plans and opportunities." Donnell has appointed two staffers with backgrounds in production, entertainment and advertising to service Toyota and future clients.

(Gail Schiller)

Making a game of marketing

Massive Integrates Brands Into Video Games
Massive is doing for games what the original ad-serving networks did for Web pages.

Who: Mitch Davis, CEO of Massive
Why you need to know him: New York-based Massive integrates advertisements into video games -- a venture that could enable marketers to put their brands in front of consumers who have turned games into a $10 billion-a-year business.

Taking phones where they've never been before

Jeff Hallock is in charge of making content deals for Sprint's wireless devices.

What content is working on mobile? "Games are front and center. There are 20 publishers in the game space, some from console games and online, and others made for mobile. In the music space, ring tones and [other technology given the type of mobile phone] the equivalent of satellite radio, 24-hour commercial free, multiple channel content. Screensavers. Text messaging applications, picture mail and video mail. Imaging [printing camera photos] is a high growth area. Video on demand."