Making programs adds up for advertisers
Virgin, others cut out the middleman
New Singapore telco Virgin Mobile has created lifestyle magazine program "Upwardly Mobile." Media buyer MindShare has set up a syndication division in Thailand, and advertising agency Bates IndoChina has actively pursued programming opportunities in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos on clients' behalf for the past few years.
"No matter how you look at it, advertisers fund programming," says Bates IndoChina managing director Clint Easthorpe. "We're just getting involved much earlier in the process."
Clients eager to advertise on TV have been thwarted by the immaturity of the industry in developing markets like Vietnam and Cambodia. Easthorpe and his team get around this by buying programming on clients' behalf, then bartering airtime with terrestrial TV networks in the region.
Sports programming dominates, with soccer leading past successes sponsored by beer companies including Heineken and Tiger.
Less candid about plans is ex-Star TV ad sales veep Dominique Ullmann, now MindShare director of programming and syndication for Asia Pacific, based in Thailand. "It's still (the) early days," he says of the division's birth last July, "and we're looking at another six months before projects come to fruition."
But if December's Asian Television Forum is anything to go by, Ullmann will be popular with programmers and networks. "Advertisers are looking for opportunities, production houses are looking for funding, networks are looking for programming, and there's airtime to be bartered for -- it's going to be busy," Ullman says.
Virgin Mobile has taken matters into its own hands in Singapore. The 13-episode "Upwardly Mobile" airs weekly on MediaCorp.'s English-lingo Channel 5, targeting the telco's 25-year-old demo.
Disguised as a lifestyle magazine featuring movies, nightclubs, bars and restaurants, all titles and color schemes match Virgin ad campaigns with contests leading back to the Virgin brand.
Asked whether this is the first of Virgin forays into Asian media, a spokesperson says, "Absolutely! We're a lifestyle and entertainment brand, and we will bring all these to the consumers."
