Hotspotting will change the world of Entertainment.

 

 

                So what is it? Let’s put it like this: You watch your James Bond movie and as the credits roll, you’re thinking a couple things. 1. Damn that guy’s is cool. 2. Where does Bond shop for his suits/watch/sunglasses and can I buy them? 3. What is this awesome song that’s playing right now as the credits roll? Hotspotting or click-to-buy technology lets viewers click the items onscreen with their mouse or remote and then takes them to a “buy now” or “more information” page for the clicked item. This works with product placement items, show Easter eggs, cast members and even musical tracks. Basically, if you want to know more about something that’s on the show, you just have to click it.

                Want to try it out? Great! Keep reading.

Sporty & Sexy, The Breaks is a series focused on a group of athletes rising through the ranks of the professional surfing world. They struggle with personal injuries, rival competition as well as the competitive nature of the world of Sponsored Surf.

To the show’s creators and hotspotting ground-breakers, Zach and Machi Block, The Breaks is the perfect vehicle to showcase what this technology can do. “Visually, there are so many brands and products that belong in a sponsored surfing series. This show delivers a narrative commercial in every scene without sacrificing the integrity of the story… in fact, it enhances it.”

Ask most advertising professionals and they’ll tell you that the industry is in great shape. Companies are spending 5 times more on commercials and advertising today versus 5 years ago. Zach Block counters that with, “Yeah… because nobody is watching traditional advertisement so they have to air five times as much content to get the same results. Most audiences watch their shows online or on dvr. In both cases, you can skip or fast-forward through the ads and guess what? Everyone does! When the radio was the media of the day, it consisted of a talking head in front of a microphone. When the television first came out, it was a talking head in front of a microphone before evolving into the medium it is today and fulfilling its potential. Additionally, as shows have started airing online, they haven’t taken advantage of the interactive capabilities that the technology allows for. We’re taking a big step towards closing that gap.” Internet piracy has destroyed the entertainment industry. Everything is free online so without those purchase dollars, how do content creators fund their productions? It happened to music first because the file sizes were smaller. As the internet became faster, people started to download film and television. They also stopped watching commercials.

Here are some facts.

1. Most TV’s and associated hardware will soon allow for content hotspotting. In fact, I bet most of you AND your parents already own a smart TV.
2. The multi-billion dollar advertising industry will have to diminish mid-program commercialization.
3. With all content available for free through the internet, production budgets will continue to plummet unless they are supplemented with ADVERTISING DOLLARS.

The advertising method of the future will go beyond product placement, beyond product integration and will soar all the way to product recognition which is simply allowing these brands and companies that have built a culture or lifestyle to exist in the worlds they helped create. For instance, populating a surfing show like The Breaks with action sports brands JEEP, RED BULL, Von Zipper, Rockwell Time and using those companies advertising dollars to fund high production value and great content not only makes sense, it solves a lot of problems without sacrificing or alienating this industry’s holy grail… it’s audience.

“There’s a handful of problems we have to overcome,” says Block, “Just because we can put products in the written show, doesn’t mean it’s a smart choice to do so. There is a huge responsibility here to the entertainment factor of what we’re doing. I’m enjoying the challenge of utilizing the technology while staying true to the story of the show. One of the biggest product placement films in recent years was the US version of Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Epson Printers and Macintosh were all over that film, but nobody cared about what printer the actors were using… do you know what people were curious about? Half the audience wanted to dress like Daniel Craig and went to their local shops and internet forums seeking that brand of leather jacket. Nobody knew who made it or where to get it because there weren’t any logos visible in the movie. Good thing too. Nobody wants to see that and it doesn’t further the story. The other half of the audience wanted to dress like Lisbeth. Same story there. Now, imagine if all you had to do when you saw something on-screen that you liked, was click your mouse… welcome to the future.”

The problem and solution- The future of commercialized marketing: Selling hotspotting and hotspotting services to entertainment content and its creators/production companies/networks by displacing the ineffective advertising budgets that go to unresponsive and non-attentive audiences.

To see the most advanced hotspotted show in existence today, check out The Breaks online at www.thebreaksshow.com. If you need any more reassurance, mega-corporation H&M is premiering a hotspotted-esqe commercial during the 2014 Super Bowl. A hotspotted commercial?… isn’t that a bit hypocritical?