Advertising is in a crisis mode. People are ignoring commercials. They use their remotes to escape paid advertisements. They DVR everything and skip the commercials. So new techniques need to be developed. The Art of Immersion by Frank Rose shows how advertisers are turning to social media like Facebook and Twitter to get their message out. I enjoyed the way Lost and The Closer created fictional worlds and used their web sites to draw viewers in with additional content. The section on the making of Avatar points to the next step for advertisers: create believable worlds for consumers to get immersed in. Much of this approach goes back to the whole concept of a Star Wars universe with almost infinite detail. The Art of Immersion captures the present state of advertising to an astonishing degree. GRADE: A
In fact, consumers can’t avoid commercials, as they are everywhere; product placement, runners behind speakers, logos in the corner of the screen, on the wall of the ballpark, the side of cars, buses and trains, “this segment brought to you by” wording, sponsorship of everything from gold tournaments to BMX races, commercial ownership of sports and other venues, it goes on and on. As content shrinks and the commercial load increases on television and radio, it’s turning viewers and listeners off, as it should. The advertisers hit us in the face enough times, it’s no surprise that we begin to duck out of the way.
The only time we don’t see commercials are when we’re asleep, Rick. THE ART OF IMMERSION shows how new techniques are being used to capture our attention.
My conscious brain manages to turn off most commercials although now I do DVR almost everything. Probably on a subconscious level, I do hear them but I never remember them.
We DVR everything, too, Patti. An hour program sudden shrinks to 40 or 45 minutes.