'Transformers Brand' up for a 'One Show' award

'One Show' awards have honored excellence in advertising for over 30 years.

The number of pieces geared toward branded entertainment have really shifted the business model. I'm talking about the shift in power from those who make and distribute entertainment products to those who consume them," Warlick told me. "Essentially, it's a 'pull generation' that we're looking to reach. The task at hand has been to reach an audience that has essentially tuned out or that has been empowered to tune out and may or may not be receptive to the message your brand has."

Once you've managed to reach them, she continued, "your job is to entertain them long enough so they will listen to a message about your product or brand. When I speak of a 'pull generation,' they're pulling messages to them. Our entertainment system is set up now so you can really tune out if you want to. It used to be that if you wanted to watch the 6:30 news you had to be home on the couch at 6:30 in front of your TV. But now you have a wide array of options. You have the web news bytes (and) headlines on your Blackberry or your iPhone. You can record the evening news and (watch) it any time you want to or you can simply tune in to a 24-hour cable (news) network.

As a good example of branded entertainment involving mainstream movies, Warlick pointed to "'Transformers' (the 2007 blockbuster from DreamWorks and Paramount directed by Michael Bay and starring Shia LaBeouf), which sold a lot of toys for Hasbro. Hasbro knew what they were doing, but I think the (tremendous) success of that film both as an action movie and as a launch vehicle for these toys probably surprised everybody."

"Transformers" grossed $319.2 million domestically and $389 million internationally for a worldwide cume of $708.2 million. A sequel, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," is scheduled to open next June 26, reteaming Bay and LaBeouf.

Asked about product placement, in which companies pay money to get their products shown in scenes in movies and television shows, Warlick explained, "It is still going on, but it's not part of branded entertainment. One Show Entertainment is specifically drawing the distinction between entertainment either in film, gaming or theatrical releases that furthers the position of a brand rather than simply a visual or gratuitous product placement because, let's face it, the consumer is too sophisticated. They (can) zap it (with a TiVo-type device or) they could tune it out. There are successful product placements, but branded entertainment is about entertainment that the brand essentially serves as a vehicle for (itself)."

Branded entertainment, she added, "is weaving a brand into the content. It's not interrupting the programming. It is the programming. And when it's done well, it's done very, very well. Some of the most creative people in the advertising industry and in the entertainment industry are joining forces (to create branded entertainment) and the teamwork and the partnering is turning out a really terrific strong product."

"The One Show is really proud to be the first to do this," Warlick observed. "I'm sure other awards shows will follow, but we recognize creative excellence in advertising and we recognize creative excellence in design and interactive and we're excited to be recognizing creative excellence in branded entertainment.