Advertainment

Advertainment has been defined on the web as, “A form of communication that combines the elements of advertising and entertainment and is designed to overcome the tendency, especially among television viewers, to change channels or mute the audio during standard advertising commercials.”

This is by no means a new phenomena.   However, my colleague, Byron Funk, is determined to take it to a new level.   Per his recent  “Advertainment Paper”, he contends that:   “Stripped of the romance, making advertainment is, in effect, a business: a product is being created for public consumption. Of course there is much more involved in the making of brand shows than realizing a profit. But adopting a businesslike approach to making advertainment has important psychological and practical benefits. Treating creativity as a commercial venture helps in developing a professional attitude, which in turn leads to stability and security in day-to-day life. Setting goals and evaluating needs in a practical manner can make the difference between work of talent and work of genius. There is nothing wrong with thinking of advertainers as artrepreneurs: many of the most respected creators of all time were also successful business people – Shakespeare, Bruce Lee, and Andy Warhol have become brands themselves, and are used to market entire nations.”

Given that we are dealing with audiences of  sophisticated buyers, when it comes to embracing advertainment, Byron and others committed to this type of business must keep three things in mind – they must engage, entertain and not offend.   If they do, they  stand to  be well rewarded.