Healthy Choice Invites You to a Working Lunch—They Hope You’re Buying

We have to give the folks at Healthy Choice (microwaveable meals that are better for you than most of the toxic choices in your grocer’s freezer) credit for taking a risk. While many other companies have done an original web series, few have done it live.  But will large numbers of people actually watch it live?

Healthy Choice seems to think so. They have research that says 60% of workers eat lunch at their desks (a depressing thought, isn’t it?). And that 90% of the time folks aged 24-54 spend surfing the web comes during the hours from 11-2 (while they are eating at their desks, we presume).

Thus was born “Working Lunch” a series which runs from November 13 to the 25, during lunchtime (actually, between noon and four). Borrowing from the popularity of “The Office”, all of the action takes place in a meeting. Acting talent is provided by a team from Second City. And since everything is improv, you can participate by voting on what you think should happen next. Which is a great use of the interactive channel. For even more info, check out this Adweek article. Heatlhy Choice is also working with MSN to distribute the show, which is a good thing in terms of reaching more people.

But is this really what those hard-working folks want to see at lunchtime? Perhaps, but it all comes down to the quality of the content, doesn’t it?  We must admit that when we tuned in today, the five minutes of the show we saw were not particularly funny. Part of the appeal of improve is having the audience there. And in this case, the audience is one person at his desk eating the 2008 version of a TV dinner.

BOO! Live From Hotel 626, Doritos Says Happy Halloween

 All of us at Attention Shoppers! are getting ready for trick or treating, and we are truly in the Halloween spirit. Speaking of spirits, check out this effort from the online savvy folks at Frito-Lay and Goodby Silverstein.

Hotel 626 is a very scary place, and you’ll have to invest a bit of time in it to figure it all out, but one assumes that the Doritos-munching teenagers in the target have the time to invest. We, however, did not get past challenge number three. At that point, there is no Doritos mention at all, and perhaps there never is.

In any case, as we have come to expect fro the people involved it is very well done from a story and execution perspective. Expect to see this scaring up something at Cannes next summer.

PS: Late breaking news: a bit after I visited the site I received an email from Doritos which let me know that, for a limited time, Doritos Taco and Four Cheese Tortilla chips are back from the dead. 

I Know Where Your Momma Is…She’s Online

Depending on whose figures you look at (just don’t look at the figures of the Attention Shoppers! staff, as we haven’t looked good since Adam Ant looked good) women 18-54 are now spending as much time—if not more–online as they are watching television. The numbers I am looking at are from Forester, in case you’re interested.

 

Even though I spend much of my day trying to figure out ways to reach these women online, I still find this fact amazing. Even more amazing, however, is how little many CPG companies spend to reach these women online. It is changing, but not nearly as quickly as one would think.

 

But then there’s Unilever. Believe me, I get tired of pointing them out as an example, but they continue to do notable work. The latest is this Web Series, In the Motherhood, that Suave, a Unilever brand, has created. Actually, Sprint is also a sponsor, which is a little strange, but I’m sure there’s a reason.

 

The series stars Leah Remini from “King of Queens” fame and Jenny McCarthy from, um, Jenny McCarthy fame.

 

I get the feeling that, in addition to the standalone site, there is a distributed content partnership with MSN, but I couldn’t track it down.

 

After they’ve finished watching the pretty decent videos, moms can also upload their favorite stories for a chance to travel to Hollywood and see them come to life as part of the series. A lot of them are doing just that. There are also bulletin boards and games and other things to keep moms on the site.

 

Overall I think it’s a nice effort. A couple of quibbles, however. Unless I missed it, there is little to no Suave integration in the videos, except for a “conceived by” mention up front. I think there could and should be a bit of a better connection to the brand, as Unilever has done before with Degree, for example. And I found it VERY annoying to have the featured video start playing again every time I returned to the home page from another section of the site, even though I had already watched the video.

Degree Launches a Sweaty Second Season

In our last post, we learned that Ad Age had recently named Unilever the Digital Marketer of the Year. In today’s post, we learn more about why that award was very well deserved.  

Earlier this year we looked at a remarkable branded content campaign for Degree deodorant.  Called “The Rookie,” it was based on the popular TV series, “24”, giving fans of that show exclusive, interesting content.  I guess it must have worked pretty well for Degree and Unilever, since they just launched the second season of “The Rookie”.

There are many reasons why I like this campaign. First of all, the production values are top notch, both from a video and interactive perspective. The attention to detail is impressive, and the acting would not be out of place in prime time.  Then there is the subtle yet obvious connection to the product. Plus the additional opportunities to interact with the brand. The only thing I missed (it must be coming up in subsequent episodes) is the participation of Cincinnati football star Chad Johnson. He is also the star of the Degree TV ads, which, frankly, pale in comparison to this effort. If you want to learn more about the work, here is what Ad Age had to say about it.