Can AFP finally set the world alight?

company to Robert Dodds, the advertising man behind his new asset, might
mean that evangelists for AFP are starting to get what they really,
really want.

Talked about for so long as an alternative revenue stream for
broadcasters and a way for advertisers to get closer to content, AFP has
so far failed to set the world alight. Long lead times, clashes between
producers and marketing directors, tiptoeing around Ofcom guidelines and
a lack of accessibility to peak-time schedules have all been
obstacles.

But the absorption of Fuller's company 19 Entertainment, whose client
brands include the Beckhams and American Idol, of Freedom, with the
latter's founder Robert Dodds, former media director and deputy managing
director of BBDO, taking the reins as president of the merged company,
is a development that suggests AFP may be about to come of age.

Fantastic opportunity

Dodds, who founded kids' website Popworld with Fuller, has been behind
some of the most notable AFP deals to date, with clients including
Mastercard, Pepsi and Sony Ericsson. "I think it's a fantastic
opportunity and a great move for Robert," says Simon George, founding
partner of PHD's Drum, a leader in brand content.

"The crucial thing for AFP is about getting a bigger platform. 19 has a
fantastic stable of products in the entertainment sector."

But barriers remain to making AFP work. The genre has been largely
limited to music shows. And with 90% of all programming ideas, let alone
AFP, biting the dust, broadcasters haven't exactly handed over their
schedules to advertisers.

Daphne De Souza, head of sponsorship at the COI, whose latest project is
a Home Office-backed programme due to go out in the early evenings on
ITV this autumn, to attract more community police officers, claims the
sector is still very limited. "It's got to be the right issue," she
says. "AFP only works if the programme is right and I don't think that
happens very often."

Yet major broadcasters do seem to be pushing AFP far harder. Former WPP
research boss Nicky Buss, now advertiser development director at ITV,
says: "We're actively exploring branded content in its various forms.
I've come back with an AFP idea from pretty much every one of the top
advertisers I've been in to see in the three months I've been at
ITV.

"Advertisers see that spot advertising is under pressure and the mix is
changing - nobody knows what the effect of PVRs will be. They see
content as the jewel in the crown."

Yet Gary Knight, brand partnerships director at ITV Sales, adds a note
of caution: "We could do the most wonderful piece of branded content in
the next few months and everyone will say we've cracked it. Yet there
might not be another one for five years."

David Charlesworth, head of sponsorship at Channel 4, describes his past
experience of AFP as "a nightmare," yet says C4 has done 68 pieces of
AFP work this year with content on its website a key driver.

Tess Alps, chief executive of Thinkbox, believes broadband opportunities
have seen the tipping point finally come for AFP. "In the past, agencies
had to rely purely on broadcast commissions," she says.

"I think it's a massive opportunity. There are some brands that are
absolutely natural providers of editorial."

Control shift

Claire Heys, controller of commercial partnerships for Flextech and
UKTV, adds: "I think the control over AFP is shifting to broadcasters.
Too many ideas in the past have been developed outside of broadcasters
and some of the ideas are woefully inadequate - it makes you want to say
to the production company, 'shame on you'."

Mark Wood, Freedom's commercial director, who slammed advertisers in the
past for not being bold enough in AFP, claims he has witnessed a change
in their attitude and that of broadcasters. "Within the next 18 months
there will be a huge peak-time hit on a major broadcaster that will be
funded entirely by a major advertiser. Then the floodgates will
open."

AFP IN ACTION

This autumn Sky One is putting an AFP idea in a prime-time slot
previously home to the likes of 24. The Big Idea, in association with
phone giant Vodafone, is an AFP version of Dragon's Den, pitting
contestants against each other with the chance to win £100,000 for
discovering the next great British invention or business idea.

Flextech's Living TV2 is pushing the boundaries of AFP with a series
coming next month called Surgery to Stardom. Not only is it backed by
Transform Medical Group, but the company's surgeons are the ones who
will be carrying out the breast implants and botox jabs.

Flextech claims the show is "100% compliant" with Ofcom regulations,
which specify that a sponsor may "not have any direct or indirect
interest in the editorial content of the sponsored programme".

Yet Ofcom appears more open to AFP than its predecessor the ITC, which
three years ago rapped Five over the knuckles for the infamous Dinner
Doctors cookery series, backed by Heinz, which featured dishes made from
everyday larder items, such as Heinz baked beans, tomato soup and
ketchup.