Making advertising add up

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In the past, advertisers have been raising questions about how the cost of an ad-space is calculated. Former Showtime CEO, Peter Einstein has repeatedly called for proper auditing from the broadcaster's perspective. It appears that better measurement services are something everybody wants and this month, a sophisticated tool for quantifying a certain form of advertising has been launched in the Middle East.

iTVX develops software that measures the value of product placement on film and television and was snapped up recently by the MENA division of international advertising consultancy, Fuse, who specialise in product placement.

The agency, which forms part of the Omnicom Media Group, signed a deal this month with iTVX founder Frank Zazza. As part of the agreement, Zazza will train Fuse's staff at its Dubai office, on how to use the tool to quantify the real value of its client's deals.

Zazza is regarded as the father of modern product placement. Having engineered the Reese's Pieces sequence in ET, he has gone on to work on the famous Junior Mints episode of Seinfeld as well as The Fantastic Four and Jurassic Park. One of his most successful placements was the BMW Z3 in the James Bond film, Goldeneye. The car's role in the film was used as the catalyst for the new model's launch, which proved hugely successful.

Although the system is already in use in other markets, its introduction into the Middle East marks a new landmark for the software.

"This is a very exciting time globally; Fuse and iTVX are not using Dubai and the Middle East as a test market but as somewhere to get it right for the region from the beginning," Zazza says. "What we're trying to do over here is to implement this across the whole market as the prototype for the rest of the world. To show them how iTVX can benefit a region's industry as a whole, not just a few clients."

The iTVX system measures the level, and so, value of exposure that a product is receiving on screen. This is dependent on the product's prominence in the shot, its involvement with the story, whether the product is also being talked about and the length of each type of coverage that it receives.

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