CBS announced the first-ever use of video in a print ad. The VIP (Video-in-Print) technology, will be packaged in a print ad spread in the Fall TV preview issue of Entertainment Weekly, is the centerpiece of an exclusive partnership between CBS and PepsiCo’s Pepsi Max designed to launch the Network’s Monday night comedy lineup and new dramas — and to promote Pepsi Max, the first diet cola for men.
Readers can watch video content straight from the printed page via a paper-thin interactive video player — featuring five channels of CBS and Pepsi Max content — to be inserted into CBS/Pepsi Max ads in select copies of Entertainment Weekly’s Fall TV preview issue (Sept. 18 issue, on stands Friday, Sept. 11).
This VIP promotion provides an opportunity to sample CBS’s new series in a remarkably unique and involving way. OMD, the media agency for CBS and PepsiCo, helped orchestrate the deal.
The VIP player, developed and manufactured by Americhip, Inc., produces high quality video and audio — and is thin and durable enough to withstand the rigors of magazine binding and U.S. mail delivery.
In addition to the VIP promotion, the CBS/Pepsi Max “Monday to the Max” campaign also encompasses client-integrated on-air, online and outdoor promotions and several events. Elements include:
● An array of Network “Monday to the Max” promotional spots, some of which will include a “Thirsty for Comedy?!” tag
● A Los Angeles-based premiere party event with celebrities from CBS’s Monday comedies joined by a mix of stars from the Network’s additional primetime series
● A cbs.com Pepsi Max-branded microsite featuring interviews and red carpet excitement from the premiere party, a “Monday to the Max” comedy trivia game and a social viewing room for CBS’s primetime series
● Screenings of the ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE pilot at select college campuses.
RBR/TVBR observation: Video in print magazines? The world sure isn’t the way The Jetsons told us it was going to be, but it’s getting plenty weird anyway.
