Monday, February 05, 2007

Enhancing the "sponsor-driven" experience

2 magazine, the couples magazine which launched a few years ago with a $75,000 boost from the Ontario Media Development Corporation, has created an online video series based on its "Couple Makeovers" feature in the print magazine, according to a story in Media in Canada. (The magazine has become known for its unabashed selling of product placement in the pictorial spreads.)
The new fly-on-the-wall documentary style series gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the process and personalities involved in the sponsorship-driven experience. Eight four to seven minute episodes (one per week) will be made available for free download from 2Magazine.com, sponsors' sites, iTunes, YouTube.com and Yahoo! Canada. The first episode launches with the release of the spring issue on March 25. A trailer will be released in mid-February for marketers and agencies to preview the concept.

Current sponsors of the "Couple Makeovers" include Club Med, Tommy Hilfiger and Crest Whitestrips. Other sponsorship opportunities are available for lifestyle brands, including cars, personal care, electronics/communications, luggage, fashion, cosmetics, and fragrances. Integration for marketers involved with "Couple Makeovers" will be bundled across platforms. Print ads will get online video and banner ad counterparts tied to other promos such as sampling and event marketing (during auditions).

2 Magazine, which has a quarterly circulation of 100,000 copies, has also executed brand integration programs for its "Home Entertaining Series" and "Cover Flap" programs. Previous partners have included P&G brands Pantene, Olay, Boss Skin, and Hugo Boss Fragrances. For more info on the mag's past brand integration programs, see MiC's June 28, 2005 issue (or click here).

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The magazine has become known for its unabashed selling of product placement in the pictorial spreads."

The comment is a tad misleading without also pointing out that these "pictorial spreads" are clearly lablelled as a "2 Magazine promotion".

One can raise the issue of how a continuing series of editorial promotions fits into the new ad/edit guidelines, but for a magazine whose readers have been indundated with product placement in every other media that they view, and who have been making their own independent judgement about the credibility of such content, since their early teen years, it just may be that the readers aren't quite so concerned about such unabashed selling as they are with getting relevant and engaging content.

2:51 pm  
Blogger D. B. Scott said...

I had no intention to mislead; you are right to point out that they do label it as "promotional". You are also right when you point out that the practice is at variance with the ad:edit guidlines recently published.

3:06 pm  

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