The fine art of making your own TV

Big brands are devising strategies to reach this click and watch generation. Siobhan O'Connellreports on the ways and the means

As young people increasingly expect You Tube to provide them with filmed entertainment on their computer, big brands are devising strategies to reach this click and watch generation. However, ordinary commercials won't do: the content has to find and engage with teenage consumers and deliver them a soft sell.

The creation of branded channels on the web was pioneered by German car-maker, BMW, when it created BMW Films in the late 1990s. BMW wanted to target young people who would hopefully be the BMW buyers of the future when they grew up.

To do this BMW commissioned directors such as Guy Ritchie and John Gray to produce short, seven-minute films. The directors could film any plot they liked, but the film had to feature a BMW car. A different film was launched every few months and was only available online. To download the film, the consumer had to provide BMW with specific contact details, allowing the BMW marketers to pester them later on with buying propositions.

The Audi Channel ( http://channel.audi.co.uk/tvchannel) is a television channel launched in the UK in 2005 by car company Audi. It features information about Audi's vehicles and coverage of events sponsored by Audi. But it also features celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson spilling the beans on his life, work and passions. Escapism is provided by clips of Audi Q7 drivers buzzing around the Arctic.

According to Chris Hawken of Audi UK: "We are trying to reach new viewers in new places and let them view the content in new ways, particularly on demand. Additionally it backs up and demonstrates 'Vorsprung durch Technik' ('progress through technology'), which is the brand tagline. There is also a beneficial side effect of all of this, which is that often the users of this sort of new technology are exactly the cutting edge consumers who we want to talk to."

Dr Damien McLoughlin, director of the marketing development programme at UCD School of Business, believes that consumers may be more open to this sort of advertising because they have sought it out.

He said: "We have no choice about when and where to watch traditional advertising or what is in it. This new advertising development places the control of the commercial with the consumer. These commercials are still intended to sell product but the balance of power is with the customer. The customer decides if and when they want to watch them. Thus we are inclined to have far more positive feelings towards brands which change the direction of the relationship in our favour. This is highly significant."

It's not just car makers who are using internet TV for advertising purposes. Following the launch of Elle magazine's internet video channel, publisher Hachette Filipacchi has unveiled broadband platforms for its Car & Driver, Women's Day and Road & Track titles in the United States. Brewer Anheuser-Busch has created a seven-channel online TV network called Bud TV. It features reality shows, comedy skits, sports programs and user-generated content.

However, since Bud.TV launched three months ago, it has failed to deliver on expectations. To save the entertainment network, Bud.TV has signed up New Media Strategies, an online intelligence monitoring company, to tap into the tastes and behaviours of digital content consumers.

If TV viewers are using digital video recorders like Sky Plus to avoid the ads completely, what are the chances they will stir themselves to watched branded TV on the web?

Dr McLaughlin is optimistic. "Many TV programmes such as Tarrant On TVshow funny ads and we take no offence from that. Ads are useful sources of information and can be viewed as entertainment and art. These web-based TV channels are quite simply good fun. We also watch videos of ordinary people on You Tube and other social networking sites for no obvious reason. We live in a voyeuristic world.

"The second point is that everybody needs to be part of a community. In the past this community need was met through social gatherings. Many people today commune around brands or products. On the internet you can find many sites that allow consumers to commune around chocolate, rollerskating, B-horror movies, sports teams etc. If a brand can get a true understanding of the needs of customers in this media they can participate in the dialogue and the brand can benefit."

Recent research by Motorola, the mobile phone company, revealed that 45 per cent of broadband users in Europe are already watching some TV on the internet, with the French being the most enthusiastic. However while brand TV is likely to grow, the benefits gained by every additional entrant will reduce as the uniqueness of the genre diminishes, according to Dr McLouglin.

But is branded internet TV, the ultimate product placement or a blank screen? "Not really," says Dr McLoughlin. "There are always better ideas. Some companies now allow customers to develop their own ads for brands."

Examples of this are Jet Blue with Travel Stories, L'Oreal's You Make The Commercial, McDonald's Global Casting and Mastercard's Write A Priceless Ad - www.priceless.com/film/ nowshowing.html.

Some companies such as Electrolux - www.electrolux.com/designlab - are even allowing customers to design products for them. Other examples of this are Proctor & Gamble - www.pg.t2h.yet2.com/t2h/page/homepage and Nokia - www.designawards.be/eng