When advertising and entertainment collide, as it so often does, “advertainment” is born.
Remember Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking space jump? That’s advertainment fromRed Bull. And the 18-minute Follow Phoenix documentary about rock band Phoenix? That’s advertainment from Spotify for its (relatively new) Follow button.
It’s everywhere. Advertainment can be a simple paid product placement in a TV show, video game, music video or movie — think about the blatant red Coca-Cola cups on American Idol‘s judges’ table. But brands’ advertainment efforts can be much more elaborate. Again onAmerican Idol, we routinely watch branded segments disguised as music videos in which the show’s contestants sing near or in Ford vehicles.
“Creating advertising people welcome alongside their favorite content is a huge challenge but an incredible opportunity,” Chet Gulland, head of digital strategy at Droga5, told Mashable.
Here are a few examples of brands courting time-crunched consumers through various methods of advertainment, even massive and expensive stand-alone ad campaigns.
