Loved her...loved him too, sorta

Thereʼs nothing better than poking the odd giant in the eye. And when it comes to venerable topic of branded entertainment and recent campaigns launched, we feel no compunction at sharpening up the old stick and making like we never heard our motherʼs warnings about sharp sticks and vulnerable eyes.

So here goes...

The most recent of the recent is ConAgra Foodsʼ Healthy Choice campaign, spokespersonwanted.com, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the underrated but absolutely brilliant Don Lake. Directed by Christopher Guest of Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show mockumentary fame, the campaign follows the exploits of Louis-Dreyfus as super agent Doug tries to convince her to be the new spokesperson for Healthy Choice.

Hereʼs what we like. Superb writing (so far). Even better performances (so far). The story-line works the brand into the story in a believable manner. We like them promoting the next episode coming out today. We like the sharing functionality built into the website. We like the sidebar interview with super agent Doug that extends the brand experience. We like the coupon offer.

What we donʼt like.

Well, either the client – who we generally applaud – or the agency got cold feet and put a little too much “look at me holding the package lovingly” action in the blocking. It was like they all of a sudden thought they were working on a television ad again. And to be fair, there is every indication that this will be released as an ad. Not only that, and to be transparent with the inside workings of Fresh Baked Entertainment, our Creative Director, the contrarian Brett Heard, feels that when Louise-Dreyfus holds up the package ʻlovinglyʼ, there is so much disdain in her expression, that if counters any T.V. ad pack shot sensibility.

Finally, thereʼs no social media angle included offering customers and prospects an opportunity to get involved. Weʼre not going to take off full marks on that one though because we know from our experience that corporate lawyers have absolutely no sense of humor when it comes to social media. They can be real kill joys in this regard demanding monitoring regimes that put the cost of social media into the stratosphere.

What is still in doubt is how strong the story lines will actually be. Will there be character development and will the story move out of super agent Donʼs office? What would be most disappointing is after such strong launch, the subsequent episodes are treated more like a campaign of T.V. ads. Stay tuned.

Contrast the Healthy Choice effort to the another recent and well-funded foray into branded entertainment, bewarethedoghouse.com for J.C. Penney. Launched with great fanfare and soaring YouTube hits before Christmas, this effort had oh so much promise.

We were positively giddy at first watching. Then like a bad Tim Allen movie in which Santa Claus does not save Christmas, we were profoundly disappointed with where it went, rather, did not go. The initial hit had a great branded entertainment piece based on a males-only purgatory (the doghouse), where the only way out – hint, hint– was a purchase of diamonds from J.C. Penney. The website had all sorts of participatory opportunities allowing women to place their current squeeze in the doghouse. Emails were then sent to the offending lovers with a suggested reprieve, one that included a trip to the Penney.

The branded entertainment film itself was funny and well shot. What led though to our great disappointment was the one-off thinking. Not that we like to generalize but it really felt like the typical old fashioned ad agency M.O. After setting up a situation that just screamed for episode two and three and four... one for each of the diamond giving holidays like Valentineʼs Day and Motherʼs Day, they went silent. Only to reintroduce us to the same episode in the spring.

Sorry guys, been there, done that. We want something new. So says the consumer, so should the marketer deliver. To us it seems like the blew their wad on the production of the first film. With such a great story premise, they shouldʼve found a way to shoot five episodes for the same money and strung the resulting engagement out over the year, jumping back into the market with the latest installment with every holiday.

So what can we learn from all this? Well, first, one story is not enough. The marketing lynchpin to branded entertainment is a story that brings the consumer back on their own—again and again. Thatcreates hand-raisers. The second learning is that once youʼve started the conversation, giving the viewer and chance to participate is a good thing.

And finally, we of sharp stick in hand fame, respectfully submit that those marketers who are turning a blind eye (sharp stick, blind eye, get it?) to branded entertainment as a powerful tool to build emotional engagement and hence brand loyalty, are going to be the ones that find themselves sent down to the doghouse.