TW
Just came acros this on Media Guardian:
If the channel are so sure that this is to be even more of a ruaway success than Desperate Housewives, then why spend so much on its advertising? With the launch of a new channel and the move of one to Freeview, surely Channel 4 should be saving some of their money for the piggy bank?
Quote:
Channel 4 believes its new drama Lost is so good that it is venturing into a virtual reality internet fantasy world to advertise it as part of a £1m-plus marketing campaign.
The channel, which will spend more money promoting the US drama than it spent on Desperate Housewives, says buying advertising space in an internet game is a media first.
Cyberspace posters advertising the drama, about a group marooned on an island after an jumbo jet crashes, will appear on Anarchy Online, a popular role-playing internet game that hosts 10,000 players who move about the science fiction world of Rubi-Ka.
Technology will allow Channel 4 to create huge virtual reality billboards within the Anarchy Online world. Later these billboards will play actual clips from the programme.
"There's a lot of very interesting internet stuff you can do," said Polly Cochrane, the channel's director of network marketing.
"It's not enormously necessary at the moment or very expensive. It's nice to do but not essential.
"It's partly to drive word of mouth - and doing something cool in this space means it's going to be seen by a younger audience.
"It's good for the show, it's good for the department and it's good for the Channel 4 brand."
The broadcaster is keeping tight-lipped on which day the drama will broadcast, but a mockup advert for Anarchy Online suggests it will start on Wednesday, August 10.
Ms Cochrane summarised the programme as "people lost on an island, weird things happen and the background of the characters is revealed".
She estimates the budget for Lost is "marginally bigger" than for Desperate Housewives and admits it might be a harder sell but regards it as the more unmissable programme.
"Desperate Housewives had zeitgeist, Lost doesn't have that but it's possible Lost is more mainstream and a more gripping series than Desperate Housewives."
Acres of press coverage for Desperate Housewives about its sexy female leads saw the series debut as an instant hit for the channel with nearly 5 million viewers, while nearly 4 million watched the finale in June.
Only the launch of the new channel, More4, will have a bigger marketing budget than the launch of Lost.
C4 is also advertising in cinemas to reach its core audience, who are keen filmgoers.
The mysterious and lavishly produced cinema trail shows characters from the drama dancing on a beach framed by the smouldering engine of a crashed airliner.
The trailer, which can been seen at www.channel4/lost, and before War of the Worlds, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Wedding Crashers, hints about relationships on the island and past lives of the characters.
The cinema trail was jointly directed by Brett Foraker, the Channel 4 creative director, and photographer David La Chapelle, who were behind the Desperate Housewives campaign, which it sold overseas.
And while the BBC is cutting back on its advertising, and has recently ended a contract that gave it permanent poster sites around Britain in order to concentrate on advertising on TV, Channel 4 believes using different media creates greater impact.
"A series of media has much more impact than one media selection," Ms Cochrane said. "You create a rich environment around the programme and it feels part of a 360 degree space."
The channel, which will spend more money promoting the US drama than it spent on Desperate Housewives, says buying advertising space in an internet game is a media first.
Cyberspace posters advertising the drama, about a group marooned on an island after an jumbo jet crashes, will appear on Anarchy Online, a popular role-playing internet game that hosts 10,000 players who move about the science fiction world of Rubi-Ka.
Technology will allow Channel 4 to create huge virtual reality billboards within the Anarchy Online world. Later these billboards will play actual clips from the programme.
"There's a lot of very interesting internet stuff you can do," said Polly Cochrane, the channel's director of network marketing.
"It's not enormously necessary at the moment or very expensive. It's nice to do but not essential.
"It's partly to drive word of mouth - and doing something cool in this space means it's going to be seen by a younger audience.
"It's good for the show, it's good for the department and it's good for the Channel 4 brand."
The broadcaster is keeping tight-lipped on which day the drama will broadcast, but a mockup advert for Anarchy Online suggests it will start on Wednesday, August 10.
Ms Cochrane summarised the programme as "people lost on an island, weird things happen and the background of the characters is revealed".
She estimates the budget for Lost is "marginally bigger" than for Desperate Housewives and admits it might be a harder sell but regards it as the more unmissable programme.
"Desperate Housewives had zeitgeist, Lost doesn't have that but it's possible Lost is more mainstream and a more gripping series than Desperate Housewives."
Acres of press coverage for Desperate Housewives about its sexy female leads saw the series debut as an instant hit for the channel with nearly 5 million viewers, while nearly 4 million watched the finale in June.
Only the launch of the new channel, More4, will have a bigger marketing budget than the launch of Lost.
C4 is also advertising in cinemas to reach its core audience, who are keen filmgoers.
The mysterious and lavishly produced cinema trail shows characters from the drama dancing on a beach framed by the smouldering engine of a crashed airliner.
The trailer, which can been seen at www.channel4/lost, and before War of the Worlds, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Wedding Crashers, hints about relationships on the island and past lives of the characters.
The cinema trail was jointly directed by Brett Foraker, the Channel 4 creative director, and photographer David La Chapelle, who were behind the Desperate Housewives campaign, which it sold overseas.
And while the BBC is cutting back on its advertising, and has recently ended a contract that gave it permanent poster sites around Britain in order to concentrate on advertising on TV, Channel 4 believes using different media creates greater impact.
"A series of media has much more impact than one media selection," Ms Cochrane said. "You create a rich environment around the programme and it feels part of a 360 degree space."
If the channel are so sure that this is to be even more of a ruaway success than Desperate Housewives, then why spend so much on its advertising? With the launch of a new channel and the move of one to Freeview, surely Channel 4 should be saving some of their money for the piggy bank?