CANNES — Across the industry, ad execs are coming to realize that integrating brand messages in to content could lead to better impacts, could even save an ad industry that is fast becoming concerned about a consumer revolt.

Native advertising is becoming big business, and product placement is growing bigger than ever. The only problem? Developing an industry-wide system for commissioning the stuff.

In this panel discussion recorded by Beet.TV, OMD chief investment officer Ben Winkler lauded how OMD uniting multiple teams to work on a project that embedded Pepsi messaging in to Fox’s show Empire.

But Fox Networks Group’s advanced advertising president Joe Marchese poured a little more cold water on big hopes that native could easily replace traditional 15- and 30-second ad spots.

“I was listening to someone talk,” he said. “They were like, ‘Why does this have to be 15 or 30 seconds? Can’t the story be as long as the story needs to be?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, that sounds awesome – but markets don’t trade $60bn without a currency, right?’ The currency is time.

“Product placement has been around for a long time. It makes up in the single-digit billions of dollars; commercials make up $60bn. Markets trade when we have commodity pricing – 15s and 30s are commodity pricing. We need that, ecause it gets really hard to scale otherwise.

“Look at the digital platforms. The difference between native content creation and selling commercials is the difference between riding a bike and running. Riding a bike can build momentum and scale.”

 

This video was produced at the OMD Oasis at Cannes Lions 2016 as part of  the Future of TV Advertising Leadership Forum, a series presented by true[Xand hosted by OMD Worldwide.  Please visit this page for additional segments.