A Channel about Commercials – Ironic?
Commercials take place on channels usually. Well, how about a channel solely dedicated to commercials?
MTV was for music as Firebrand is for commercials. Maybe CMN is a better name. Notice I didn’t write CTV (Commercial TV), but CMN stands for Commercial Media Network. If you just existed on television today, you’d die. You need to be everywhere, but that’s another posting and another argument.
Firebrand emerged at the MIXX expo during Advertising Week [this week] to announce their launch. Greg Verdino, a friend and an executive over at Crayon which helped the launch, blogged about this which drummed up my interest. If Seth Godin were reading, he’d say Greg sneezed and I got infected.
Firebrand is interesting. Apparently, it’s on a channel that I’ve never heard of (Ion?) that reaches ninety something million homes. According to Greg’s posting:
It’s a new, opt-in entertainment and marketing destination that gives consumers interactive access to their favorite brands, products and promotions.
Crayon, who is founded by Joseph Jaffe, the author of Life After the :30 Second Spot, takes an interesting position of bringing back the 30 second spot.
I’m curious to see how Firebrand does… do consumers want to watch television commercials? That’s a thesis that Firebrand will play out and ultimately, a lot of television networks are anxious as well.
They go live on October 22 with their mobile, television, and web versions being released at the same time. If you’re interested in seeing their video, check it out here.