Boots' decision to create a TV ad specifically to run during ITV's The X Factor is part of a wider trend toward brands becoming more closely entwined with editorial content - a phenomenon known as ‘contextual advertising'.
While formal product placement is, for the time being, still a twinkle in UK broadcasters' eyes - they expect a surge of interest from advertisers keen to get their products seen in programmes when it is finally given approval - contextual advertising is the closest that many brands can currently get.
The Boots ad, created by Mother, forms part of a campaign that shows an office worker using cosmetics from the retailer to change her image. In The X Factor execution, which features the strapline ‘I'm ready for my audition', the woman is greeted by enthusiastic work colleagues sporting T-shirts with a ‘Vote for...' slogan, in a direct reference to the talent show.
Rewriting the plot
In a more dramatic example of brands directly integrating with content, O2 is running a series of ads for its Load & Go cash card that run first in the centre breaks of Channel 4 youth soap Hollyoaks. Their content is designed to tie in, and follow on from, the show's plot just before it cuts to the ad break.
The ads feature two teenagers, Matt - a self-confessed Hollyoaks fan - and Sam, who work together in a shop called ‘Load & Go'. The series focuses on how Matt's love of the programme gets in the way of his relationship with Sam. Over the four weeks of the campaign, a story develops that ties in with Hollyoaks characters and events in the soap.
The ads, created by The Outfit in consultation with ad agency VCCP, stand separate to O2's brand campaign.
According to Mike Parker, head of strategic sales at Channel 4, the idea for the initiative came from the broadcaster rather than the brand itself. It arose not through a change in legislation, but because Channel 4 had investigated using its ad breaks in a different way that would add something for advertisers while keeping viewers tuned in.
From O2's point of view, the deal provided the mobile operator with a ‘unique and innovative campaign' that enabled it to reach its target audience, according to its marketing director, Alistair Johnson.
Creating the concept is one thing, but in practice, the processes involved in directly associating a brand with the editorial content of a show are complicated. This is partly because contextual advertising - on TV, at least - is still in its infancy. It took O2, for example, eight months to get the Matt and Sam ads from inception to air. Once the soap's scripts had been finalised, they were shared with The Outfit, which developed the series of 30-second ads based on the show's plotlines.
However, there are also one-off examples of contextual advertising where the process has been simpler and carried out more quickly. In 2003, ITV offered a service where it could embed written content into an existing ad that was appropriate to the programme. This was memorably used by Fuller's London Pride bitter during the Rugby World Cup, where the brand flashed up the half-time score during the centre ad break of the live game, along with a supportive message.
More recently, search engine Ask Jeeves has run 10-second ads that posed questions on what was happening in the programme during which they appeared. For example, when US talkshow host Jerry Springer appeared on The Paul O'Grady Show, the Ask Jeeves ad asked viewers: ‘Of which city was Jerry Springer mayor?'
The rules on contextual advertising are clear - anything goes, as long as the ad does not create any confusion between advertising and editorial. For broadcasters, the possibility of protecting their spot revenue stream is imperative, while brands can potentially engage in a deeper conversation with viewers.