AT&T Gets Its Message Across in a “Flash”

Take its latest promotion The ATampampT sponsored amp8220In a Flashamp8221 contest that appears at CWTVcom and receives heavy onscreen promotion during telecasts of its highest rated series amp8220The Flashamp8221Commercials for the contest appear in commercial pods But they also appear during the show itself in the increasingly cluttered environment known as the primary primetime telecast I remember back in the Nineties when the first network logos then known as bugs began appearing on screen during primetime If memory serves Fox started it all Most of the television audience at the time amp8211 millions of people who had come of age blissfully enjoying distractionfree TV amp8211 grumbled in protest But in the two decades that have followed as TV screens have filled up with all manner of extra content from bugs to hashtags regardless of the programming being telecast and computer screens have conditioned us all to the minutebyminute bombardment of multiple images whether they be of interest to the user or not the complainers have been replaced by the complacentBut I digress To put it bluntly on screen amp8220stuffamp8221 is now ubiquitous and nobody seems to care So why not find new and different ways of exploiting it amp8211 something beyond network identifiers which have become quite useful to those who enjoy channel surfing or ever changing hashtagsIf those inshow graphics happen to be utilized in such a way as to make an advertiseramp8217s inclusion in that show DVRproof all the better Thatamp8217s what The CW is doing during amp8220The Flashamp8221Twelve minutes into this weekamp8217s episode after the first commercial pod of the hour had played out and mere moments after all of the credits for the showamp8217s many writers and producers had been clearly displayed a rectangle appeared in the bottom left corner Changing graphics in said rectangle put forth the following information 1 Take the amp8220In a Flashamp8221 Weekly Challenge 2 Using the hashtag inaflashcontest 3 Wednesdays at CWTVcomInaFlash 4 Featuring a New Fan Each WeekThe final image stated Presented by ATampampT The image included the ATampampT blue and white striped globe or whatever one chooses to call itIt was a win for everyone involved amp8211 except for that handful of beaten down viewers who still quietly object to such things The CW promoted a contest that promotes its show and strengthens its community of fans while also driving viewers to CWTVcom Viewers were enticed to actively engage the very next day with the network and the show The contest starts over every Wednesday I would think it smarter to start each round of the contest during the Tuesday night premiere of each episode because the audience for amp8220The Flashamp8221 skews to the young side and youthful attention spans arenamp8217t what they used to be By the way itamp8217s an ongoing contest and prizes include a Tshirt and the distinction of being the featured Fan of the WeekAlso ATampampT got some premium screen time that wonamp8217t be lost on the millions of people who record the show watch it at a later time and treat commercials as an annoyance scanning through them as quickly as possibleThe showamp8217s first commercial pod which ran before the onscreen messaging about the ATampampTsponsored amp8220In a Flashamp8221 contest included an elaborate commercial for the contest that was obviously much more effective than a few small onscreen inshow graphics If this continues over time the title amp8220The Flashamp8221 will be merged in the minds of millions with ATampampT just as amp8220American Idolamp8221 during its peak years was almost synonymous with CocaColaI hadnamp8217t seen the inshow messaging in previous episodes Forgive me if it has appeared before this weekamp8217s show But I had seen the commercial before Interestingly I never thought much about it until I saw the inshow messaging this weekFor what itamp8217s worth I think the commercial might prompt DVR scanners to reverse course for a few moments simply because it includes footage of the title hero racing about and that brilliant title treatment for the show Once people become familiar with it they will almost certainly zip by it but they will still see that message box on the screen a few minutes laterWith DVR penetration on the rise I have to believe that full inshow commercials arenamp8217t that far off I expect the graphics to be plain and impactful Iamp8217d like to say that I expect them also to be silent but with visual clutter now effectively if not hungrily consumed by the masses audio clutter will likely begin to infiltrate our entertainment and information gathering as wellThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggersamp160amp160

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AT&T Gets Its Message Across in a “Flash”

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