itvt

–Campaign Features Tcommerce

Sportswear manufacturer, Reebok, has partnered with satellite TV provider, EchoStar, interactive TV advertising firm, BrightLine Partners, ITV authoring solutions provider, Ensequence, and ITV advertising and channels company, The Media Group (note: the latter, which is generally known by the acronym, "TMG," was formerly called Turner Media Group–the name change was presumably made to avoid confusion with Turner Broadcasting System, with which it has no affiliation; it has created ITV advertising campaigns on EchoStar’s DISH Network platform for such companies as Ford, Mercedes, Chrysler, Land Rover, HP and the US Navy; it also offers a number of transactional interactive TV channels on DISH Network), to create a tcommerce-enabled interactive TV advertising campaign on EchoStar’s DISH Network. The interactive campaign, which is part of Reebok’s "When Did I know?" ad campaign and which is designed to highlight the company’s status as the official outfitter of the NFL, debuted on September 18th and will run for eight weeks (i.e. for the duration of the NFL’s regular season).

The campaign’s linear commercials air before and during ESPN’s Monday night NFL programming: an interactive overlay or trigger allows viewers to click through to a branded, interactive area (similar to what is referred to in the UK as a "Dedicated Advertiser Location" or "DAL"), consisting of a Web-like screen where viewers can access long-form interviews with a Reebok NFL star of the week that are housed on one of TMG’s TV channels (note: in the latter part of the campaign, these long-form videos will be available for viewing on DISH Network DVR’s). The area, which was developed by BrightLine Partners in collaboration with Reebok’s roster agencies, McGarry Bowen and Zugara, offers exclusive weekly video profiles of such famous football players as Peyton Manning, Steve Smith, DeAngelo Hall and Torry Holt. It also allows viewers to participate in a trivia contest, where they can register to win an authentic jersey of that week’s featured NFL star, and, later in the campaign, will allow them to purchase replica NFL jerseys by entering their credit card information via the remote control. According to the companies behind the campaign, the i-ad was designed to drive extended opt-in engagement from Reebok’s target customers. "Reebok is going beyond the traditional 30-second commercial to deliver a real-time interactive experience to consumers nationwide who never have to leave the comfort of their couches to make a purchase," Chris Kager, president of TMG’s The Ad Group, said in a prepared statement. "Reebok is embracing the power of traditional cable networks while adding the flexibility of TMG’s nationally distributed TV channels to deliver on-screen triggers, i-ads, long-form video, an interactive contest, and set-top box audience analysis."

Originally Published: September 27, 2006 in [itvt] Issue 6.96 Part 3

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