Indiantelevision.com Team

(26 June 2006 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Spotzer Media Group in Europe has announced plans to launch an online business dedicated to making it fast, easy and affordable for local European businesses to advertise with video on television, websites, narrow casting networks, cell phones and other mobile devices such as MP3 players.

The Amsterdam based company made the announcement at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in Cannes, France. Spotzer intends to pioneer a "ready-to-air" approach to video advertising that will enable clients to rent and run a professionally designed and produced advertisement for as little as Euro 500.

Clients will be able to select "off the shelf" a pre-produced video commercial which they can personalise through the company's state of the art production facilities. Advertisers will also be able to create a complete media plan and purchase air or media time through Spotzer.

Clients will be able to complete the entire process online through the group's website www.spotzer.com in less than 30 minutes. Spotzer is led by Thed Lenssen, one of Europe's acclaimed commercial directors and John Mezzina, former Young & Rubican creative director and co-founder of Mezzina/Brown, a New York based agency.

Lenssen has directed commercials for Heineken, Philips, Volkswagen and many others and is the founder of The D-Films and Snoep Films, both based in Amsterdam.

Lenssen says, "As a result of digital technologies and the rapid proliferation of new media, advertisers across Europe can now buy highly desirable spots on an extremely local basis. "The rates are remarkable: for example, a 30 second prime time spot on MTV, running only in the city of Rotterdam, costs as little as Euro 25.

"However, no matter where you are in Europe, producing a commercial suitable for such a spot today still requires an upfront investment of at least Euro 20,000 and possibly much more. Based on our long experience making commercials on a pan European basis, we believe there is a huge opportunity to break the barriers preventing local businesses from harnessing the power of video advertising.

"The key will be providing a library of modularly designed, pre-produced commercials that advertisers can rent from us and then easily personalize with their specific information or branding materials. Our basic license will cost only a few hundred Euros. It will entitle exclusive use of an advertisement in a limited geographic area and for a limited period of time. Longer or greater exclusivity will be available but will cost more."

The Spotzer commercial library will include category defining advertisements which can be customised for use by any particular business of the category targeted. The library will also include more thematic or universal advertisements which can be customised for use by businesses in a variety of categories.

Mezzina says, "By spreading the cost of production over multiple advertisers, in different geographic markets, different industries, and at different points in time, We can dramatically lower the cost of advertising for local businesses. We will also greatly increase the ability of local advertisers to experiment with video advertising and with specific messages and medium. The quality of the video advertisements available to local businesses will improve as well."

Lenssen adds, "In the same way that companies such as E-Bay and Google have shown that the aggregate spending power of the "little guy" is enormous. We expect to tap into significant new resources for video advertising by empowering local businesses, a segment traditionally ignored by advertising agencies. At the same time by developing a self-service process that clients completely control through our website, we expect to capitalize on growing consumer comfort with accessing services and conducting business transactions online."