Myers Media Innovation and Creativity Awards: Grand Award Agency Winner

Published: April 10, 2007 at 01:58 PM GMT
Last Updated: September 20, 2007 at 01:58 PM GMT

OMD wins Grand Award

Today, Jack Myers Media Business Report presents the Grand Award winner for the 4th Annual Myers Media Innovation and Creativity Agency Awards. Later this week, the finalists for Myers Media Innovation and Creativity Media Company Awards will be announced.

Congratulations to OMD For Winning the Grand Award!

Company: OMD
Entry Title: General Electric One Second Theater
Other Companies Involved: BBDO, Blitz
Individuals Who Deserve Recognition: Toni Racioppo, Jamie Melecio, Alexis Witt, Jeff Minsky, Kristin Colonna, John Hunt, John Davis, Scott Marsden, Cristina Zahka, Beam Seilaudom and Christine Zahka

Description of goals and strategies of program:
GE once again proved its "Imagination at Work" by launching "One Second Theater," an innovative new media campaign that, according to a New York Times article "explore[s] media beyond conventional commercials and print advertisement." The campaign shows humorous scenes from commercials re-edited for digital video recorders, MP3 players and the Internet. The cornerstone idea included DVR users pausing a GE commercial to enjoy the aforementioned content - a commercial hidden within a commercial!

Description, including what aspects make it worthy of recognition, why it is innovative, how it was developed, presented, approved, and implemented, as well as obstacles confronted during the development, approval and implementation process:

In 2005, GE launched its green marketing strategy, "ecomagination," which among other advertising featured a critically and commercially revered :30 spot, "Singin' in the Rain" that starred a jungle elephant tap dancing to the song.

Coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the "ecomagination" launch, GE showed another side of "Singin' in the Rain" spot through an innovative use of new media, including digital video recording devices.

Harkening back to the days of Ronald Reagan and GE Theater, GE introduced "One Second Theater," which was designed to capture the imagination of viewers in today's technologically driven, television-challenged environment. Here's how it works: Any user of a DVR just simply pauses at the right moment while watching one of the GE's "ecomagination" commercials; from there, a whole new world of commercial content unfolds. For its inaugural show, viewers met Elli the elephant and learned how she landed the "Singin' in the Rain" starring role.

Several spots were re-edited to embed additional material. While this content can only be glimpsed for a second if they are being watched live on TV, for viewers using a DVR the commercials can be paused and the new material becomes accessible to watch frame by frame.

TiVo also ran a GE Showcase explaining the GE's One Second Theater concept. For example, content included the following:

Inside this GE commercial is a secret. An elephant's shocking past. We'll tell you where to look…just before the commercial ends, pause and advance frame-by frame to open the curtain to GE's One Second Theater: a peak into the checkered past and present of the commercial's actors and actresses. Fraud flamingo twins exposed! Elli the Elephant's infamous "peanut" scandal. The rise and fall and rise again of Andy the Macaw…It's all here. Every juicy detail. Stay tuned for more episodes of GE's One Second Theater - hidden inside upcoming GE commercials.

The spots are also available in several other forms: at social networking site MySpace, where a mock profile of Elli was created; in MP3 podcasts, presented as if they were recorded by Elli and the other characters from the spots; and on a microsite, which offers an online version of the campaign.

"One Second Theater" appeared not only on networks that are part of GE's NBC Universal division, but also 11 other networks like A&E, Comedy Central, E!, TBS and TLC.

To help generate additional awareness for the spots and add to the buzz created by the more grassroots tactics, "One Second Theater" was promoted in Announcements during GE-sponsored TV series and in comic "teaser" banner ads on news and gossip websites like Gawker and entertainment print publication sites like The Hollywood Reporter. Additionally, at Hollywood.com, a custom celebrity section was created to showcase the "One Second Theater" cast and at Variety.com a custom tile was integrated into the site.

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