CBS and Pepsi video ad to appear in Entertainment Weekly magazine

by Staff, Brand Republic 20-Aug-09, 09:20

NEW YORK - CBS has teamed up with Pepsico to run a wafer-thin video ad within Entertainment Weekly magazine that promotes the network's autumn TV line up and Pepsi Max .

When Entertainment Weekly subscribers within Los Angeles and New York get to the middle of their copy of the September 18 issue they will find a wafer-thin video screen, just over two inches wide, which will turn on and start playing video footage.

The video player, which was developed by a US company called Americhip, is packaged into a fixed magazine insert and the technology is similar to the chips that play music in some greeting cards.

CBS and Pepsi's video ad begins with an introduction to the "video-in-print" technology, starring characters from the show 'The Big Bang Theory', who explain how to use the player.

Following the intro, readers can push a spot on the cardboard insert to view separate clips of 'Two and a Half Men' and 'How I Met Your Mother' and several new CBS shows 'Accidentally on Purpose', 'NCIS: Los Angeles', 'The Good Wife' and 'Three Rivers', as well as an ad promoting Pepsi Max.

Omnicom Group's OMD, media agency for PepsiCo and CBS, helped arrange the deal.

George Schweitzer, CBS marketing president, said: "Its leadership in innovation, which we really stress at CBS in every part of our company.

The video player has a battery charge lasting 65 to 70 minutes and can reportedly handle up to 40 minutes of video. It can be recharged with a mini USB cable as there is a plug-in on the back of the unit.

Entertainment Weekly, which is owned by Time Warner, has a circulation of 1.8m, however, it has reportedly not been decided how many copies will contain the video ad.