TORONTO — Bell Media announced today it is now offering virtual in-content advertising opportunities to Canadian advertisers and agencies, using patented AI technology from U.K.-based ad tech company Mirriad.
The innovative solution “allows advertisers the unique ability to virtually place product and signage into a series during post-production, integrating a brand directly into Bell Media’s premium content,” explains a press release.
Johnson & Johnson Inc. and TD are Bell Media’s first partners to leverage the virtual in-content advertising solution to employ seamless brand integrations in CTV Original series Transplant and Children Ruin Everything, respectively.
For the first use of the technology, Bell Media and TD worked together to smoothly integrate TD’s brand into the premiere of Children Ruin Everything, which aired immediately following Super Bowl LVI on CTV.
“TD reached key investor audiences in a non-disruptive and effective way by amplifying the campaign through its already existing Super Bowl LVI broadcast spot,” the release explains. “The campaign drove significant results, showing a 21 percentage point increase in ad awareness, an eight percentage point increase in top-of-mind awareness, and gained a positive experience among viewers, as 74 per cent did not find the in-content format distracting and 72 per cent found it to be a natural fit for the program.”
More recently, in a partnership with global media agency UM, Johnson & Johnson integrated its Tylenol brand through out-of-home advertising and product placement in Transplant (shown above).
“New linear TV offerings don’t come around often, so this is exciting to see,” Dan Zangrando, executive vice-president of integrated investments at UM Canada, said in the release. “The product provides brands with a unique opportunity to go to market. For clients like Johnson & Johnson Inc., makers of Tylenol, who partner with J3, UM’s custom business unit, this delivers a creative and targeted solution for amplifying their campaigns for products such as Tylenol.”
Bell Media says in-content advertising is now available for its original series SurrealEstate on CTV’s linear broadcasts and CTV AVOD.
“Within the next few months, advertisers can expect to see more opportunities on linear, CTV.ca, and Crave. Opportunities for the French-language market are set to be launched in the coming months,” the release says.
Image supplied by Bell Media.
