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Beginning on Sunday, Wendy’s will run a unique ad campaign during Fox’s NFL games: the content in the ads will vary depending on what is happening during the game, and just before the commercial breaks.
Three sections of the commercial can be inserted “on the fly,” which means viewers could see up to 11 versions of the ad, writes The New York Times.
The ads feature three animated raccoons who will make remarks about the game. If the score is 0-0, for example, one of the raccoons may say, “I may be nocturnal, but this game is putting me to sleep.” A touchdown in the game, and a raccoon may say, “Touchdown. These fans are as rabid as we are,” according to the article.
Incorporating the show into the commercial in this way is called a “reverse product placement.” That is, rather than placing the product into the show, the show is placed into the ad.
It’s the latest example of new TV technology that allows advertisers to target their messages to consumers, similar to what they are able to do online. Advertisers can target their spots based on last minute variables, such as changes in the weather, happenings in the show, or the campaigns of competitors. (Wendy’s, for example, ran ads in a target area based on the outdoor temperature: if it was less than 60 degress, an ad for Wendy’s chili was show. If it was more than 60 degrees, an ad for a Frosty was shown.)
But the technology companies behind these targeted television ads, Visible World and OpenTV, both offer the ability to target by individual households, or “addressable advertising.”
Once commercials have been distributed to the television networks, they are difficult to change - at least traditionally - and it is expensive to create variations on an ad. But according to Bill Katz, Visible World’s executive chairman, the company’s technology reduces the cost to create multiple ad versions.
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