The agency formerly known as J. Walter Thompson is using TV commercials from its reel not to advertise its clients’ wares, but to make itself appear relevant in the new media sphere.
Here’s the New York Times take on the ploy:
JWT has purchased all the ad space on The Huffington Post home page for one week, starting tomorrow. The Web site will showcase nine of JWT’s best television commercials with links, so that visitors can send the spots via e-mail or instant message.
JWT is hoping that the year-old Huffington Post can deliver that elusive phenomenon: a viral marketing sensation, in which consumers spread marketing messages to each other over the Internet.
In a telephone interview from Paris, Bob Jeffrey, the chairman and chief executive of JWT Worldwide, said that JWT and The Huffington Post had picked commercials that they thought were “the most sticky, the ones that would get the most traction.”
While a typical one-month ad on The Huffington Post home page ranges from $120,000 to $145,000, the one-week deal has cost JWT a sum in the low six figures.
I wonder what happened to JWT’s site domination plan. This morning the Huffington Post featured ads from Ing, Equifax and others, with no JWT in sight. If the NYTimes timeline is correct, the site should still be featuring nothing but JWT. Anyone know the story on this short-lived effort?
Theo, I just recived this notice…
Hello,
I notice that you covered the Huffington Post / JWT roadblock announcement last week, and I just wanted to let you (and your readers) know that the partnership is up and running. For the next week, JWT’s ads can be seen on the Huffington Post front page, and they can all be viewed at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jwt. If you feel like covering this further, that link should give you all you need, but if you need any more information please be sure to let me know.
Thanks,
Danny Shea
HuffingtonPost.com