One wii step for a sales rep, one giant leap for Editor-kind

There’s a lot of talk about print and digital ad bundling these days. It all sounds good in theory but the reality can be quite different to what the traditional newspaper people think, writes Mark Hollands.

Take a look at this ad on YouTube (apologies to those who might have seen it before) and notice the creative powers of this online ad. It’s brilliant: a great example of how to combine the power of the product (a wii game called Wario Land) with the environment in which it is being sold. It demonstrates what can be done with awesome imagination, commercially-minded co-operation from management and a sense of humour.

Once you have seen the ad, ask yourself what would happen if you walked into the Editor’s office and said this: “Hi, you don’t know me I’m from the ad department… umm, I’ve got this great idea. I sell an ad to Nintendo for a game in which crazy characters crash through things and bash each other. When the ad plays, our home page starts to fall apart. First, only small bits of the page fall off, then the photo of the prime minister tumbles off the page and then splash headline crashes out of the browser… you’re gonna love it!”

This would be an extreme and ridiculous conversation if a similar pitch had not happened at YouTube. I am sure that if anything remotely similar happened on a newspaper website, there’d be screams about the quality and sanctity of journalism. And rightly so, but it is fun to see what is possible and begin to entertain the idea that online advertising is more than banner ads, click-throughs and UBs.

Tags: advertising, editors, online, wii, youtube