Hoax blog's creators look to placement ads for new shows!

* Owen Gibson, media correspondent
* Saturday February 9 2008

She was the 16-year-old "blogger" whose online video diaries became popular across the world before she and her creators were outed as hoaxers.

Now those behind the fictitious character Lonelygirl15 - played by a 19-year-old actor - are set to provoke more controversy by allowing advertisers to circumvent TV advertising rules and embed their brands in a fleet of new interactive web projects.

The series first appeared as a set of short videos on YouTube in 2006, featuring a girl called Bree, which built up into a story about a mysterious cult. The drama, which became even more popular once it was revealed as a work of fiction, attracted tens of millions of fans and was credited with creating a whole new media genre.

The concept and storyline were created by two aspiring US scriptwriters, Miles Beckett and Ramesh Flinders, and a young lawyer, Greg Goodfried.

They were then commissioned last year by social networking site Bebo to make a UK spinoff. The result was Katemodern, also made up of three- to four-minute episodes but allowing Bebo users to interact even further with the characters. Bebo's core audience is between 16 and 24 but it has many members who are younger.

Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Orange were among the brands that paid up to £250,000 each to embed their products into the story. It too has proved a hit and the second series recently began with the main character killed off in mysterious circumstances. The first series received 35.6m views and two weeks in, the new one had clocked up more than 4m.

Beckett and Goodfried told the Guardian they planned to launch between three and five new international versions of the drama around the world this year and were working on four or five new concepts including a game show and a comedy.

Strict rules on product placement do not apply online, making these new formats attractive to advertisers trying to reach elusive young audiences and having to cope with new restrictions. Among the advertisers signed up for the new series are Cadbury's Creme Egg and Toyota.

"It doesn't have to be subtle. It just has to be creative and cool and not cheesy," said Goodfried.

But Richard Watts, coordinator of the Children's Food Campaign, said there was a danger brands would turn to the web to avoid recent rules aimed at banning the advertising of junk food during TV programmes aimed at young people.

"If they are opening this thing up for pretty blatant product placement, not only should the rules about product placement on TV apply, but if it's a product like Creme Egg that is obviously aimed at children, it should be stopped," he said.

Ziv Navoth, vice-president of marketing at Bebo, said it would not work with contentious brands. "We try and take the high road in expectation that one day it will be regulated and because of the fact we have so many millions of young people, it's our responsibility to take care of them."

You Can also visit the weblog of TJ Marsh that also posted a copy of this on his blog!
http://tjmarsh.wordpress.com/

The original article was posted here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/feb/09/blogging.digitalmedia