“People tolerate advertising to get to the content. Well, I don’t see why advertising can’t become the destination and the content.” -David Droga
David Droga, a well respected man in ad circles, took a big bet with Honeyshed–the content meets online shopping space he created with help from Smuggler and funding from Publicis. Unfortunately, it’s a bet he lost.
According to Ad Age, Droga sticks by his concept.
“It’s a shame because it was moving in the right way, but there’s no question that it was a model that probably wouldn’t have been in the black for a couple of years,” said Mr. Droga, who doesn’t count out the possibility of revisiting — albeit re-tweaking — the Honeyshed concept in the future, once the economic tides turn. “I still stand by the idea,” he said.
In a more sobering moment, Droga spoke about the reality of business.
“It’s fine to be optimistic and bold about something that’s new in this space, but given the economic climate, the promise of certainty is more responsible than the allure of massive potential,” said Mr. Droga.
I think Droga did have the right idea, but the project collapsed in execution. I called the programming “QVC on Viagra” in 2007. Creatively speaking, that about says it all. The people behind the project can point to the economy, but the economy wasn’t their undoing. The fact is, lots of TV shows, radio shows and made for the Web shows fail. They fail to hit a nerve and that’s the cost of doing business.
Wether or not Droga reinvents Honeyshed remains to be seen, but I know more media entrepreneurs will go for the gold at the end of this rainbow–marrying transactions to content is a strong concept. Whoever gets the execution right will do extremely well.
