General Motors. Well known for being “too big to fail,” or at least making cars that fit the M.O. After a year of bail-out, they are on a turn for the profitable. They readjust their lineups and media dollars. And next up, they create the basic cable show, Vault.
The connection between brands and TV is as old as the medium itself. When there were four channels, all four of them had their key sponsors. We all sat captivated when we watched Welcome to Marlboro Country, 1984, and Just Do It get their start on the television. As long as it has existed, it has been a prime place for marketers to live.
Still, there was a segregation in TV Land. The shows were the creative property of the networks, and the ads the mark of the agencies of Mad Ave. Brands have been key tie-ins on programs as well. Think of The Price is Right. Who do you think paid for that Ford Fiesta? As we have evolved, media buys have become more creative- ranging from ultra-short interrupts to podbusters and everything in between. Still, a brand-created TV show is a new business.
Brands creating content is the calling card of this generation of agencies. We all shout loudly about “doing things” not just one-way conversation. The relationship between a brand and a person should be multi-directional and multi-faceted. The content that brands have created is mostly ignored, but sometimes amusing. But no brand has gone as far to step out and literally create a television program. It may fail worse than the facebook apps, but it is certainly an interesting reinvention of the category.
There’s no saying how well or badly this new show will do; my guess is that amidst all of the clutter on people’s unlimited cable register, this show is likely to be largely ignored. Still, a brand creating content on this scale is a remarkable notion and a large nod to the way of the future.
If brands made all the content that we consumed, or even some of it, would it change the way things happened? End of the day, creative people create content and restriction from brands may inhibit their ability to tell the stories we know and love. Still, it may just sell more Yukons.
IKEA parties in kitchen after kitchen. Bitchin’.
Television shows are ads for ads.Victor Vazquez of Das Racist
