Hulu and Subway: Fresh Approach to Web TV

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy for Once a Day Marketing™. It’s Digital Friday and my inspiration for today’s blog comes from an article I read recently in Daily Variety magazine.

Most of you have probably heard of hulu.com, which is a website allowing on demand streaming of movies and television programming. Initially hulu only offered content from other providers. With the acceleration of the digital convergence, hulu is now creating their own programming and employing very clever strategies that I think are going to turn the industry on its head.

Recently, hulu produced a comedy series called “the 4 to 9ers” about high school age young people who work in a mall. In particular they work in a Subway sandwich restaurant. This approach is not just product placement like a can of Coke on a table. What is truly interesting is that the series is being underwritten by Subway and the set is a Subway restaurant.

This is an innovative approach by both hulu and Subway. Clearly the advertiser, Subway, sees the value of positioning its product and brand in a program targeted to a younger audience. It is a very smart strategy for both hulu and Subway and I believe we will see more of this type of advertising in the future.

When Apple Computers was founded, Steve Jobs licensed the rights to the name Apple from the Beatles. At that time the Beatles didn’t think the computer was going to be involved in the music  industry. Of course we now know that Apple is a big part of the music industry. Yet another example of digital convergence.

I think there is a parallel to be drawn with what hulu is doing. Originally their content came from a TV industry provider. Now they are producing content that may become so popular they will be able sell it to a television network.

This convergence is real and advertisers like Subway are positioning themselves to take advantage of opportunities as they arise in new, growing trends.

That concludes Digital Friday. Join us next week for Smart Monday. To discuss an online or face to face service engagement and enhance the marketing and branding for your organization, contact James Glover: (505) 501-1330 or onceadaymarketing@gmail.com. I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™ and we’ll see you next time.

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