Video/Magazine Ad mashup coming soon - From CNET

Caroline McCarthy of CNET reports that CBS will insert a small chip inside a September 18th issue of Entertainment Weekly which will display an advertisement. This will be available only to subscribers in New York and Los Angeles.

"The technology for the battery-powered ads was manufactured by a Los Angeles-based company called Americhip, and each ad can handle about 40 minutes of video.

"It's leadership in innovation, which we really stress at CBS in every part of our company," (Marketing President George) Schweitzer said of the ads, which were developed with the collaboration of the Ignition Factory, a division of the Omnicom Group's OMD media agency."

From the official CBS release:

"As Entertainment Weekly readers flip to the "Monday to the Max" CBS/Pepsi Max promotional spread they will be greeted with a specially-produced brief video featuring THE BIG BANG THEORY's Kaley Cuoco, Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki, in character as Penny, Sheldon and Leonard. The trio explains how to use the VIP (Video in Print) player - while also chatting about Entertainment Weekly and exchanging some characteristically cutting remarks with each other. "

Brian Steinberg of Ad Age:

"Pepsi agreed to the pact as part of a "one-off deal" with CBS, said Frank Cooper, chief marketing officer-portfolio brands at Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages, and not as part of its recent upfront negotiations with the network...Driving Pepsi's decision, Mr. Cooper said, was the fact that CBS comedies reach consumers between the ages of 25 and 39. The tone the beverage company uses in its Pepsi Max ads also "plays well," he said, with the male-oriented, irreverent humor that is so much a part of CBS's Monday comedies. Pepsi intends to measure the success of the venture by examining "buzz" among consumers, Mr. Cooper said. Rather than looking at sales of soda, he said, the company will look for "cultural feedback that comes from the kind of connection" an eyebrow-raising promotion creates."

Marisa Guthrie of Broadcasting & Cable:

"While the most effective promotional tool for broadcast television is still on-air promotion, marketers are nevertheless increasingly deploying outside-the-box marketing campaigns in an effort to reach consumers in a fragmenting media landscape."

Rory Maher of the Silicon Alley Insider though, is not so thrilled:

"Nice trick, but this kind of stuff is not going to save magazines. Entertainment Weekly will likely receive a higher rate for the ad, but magazines still face the challenge of retaining readers and advertisers, which continue to migrate online. All this while faced with burdensome printing and distribution costs."