This weekend saw the start of the live X Factor shows in which contestants who survived boot camp got the chance to prove themselves in front of a live audience. The same can be said for a few advertisers too as they took advantage of large audiences to launch brand new TV campaigns. Whether you are a fan of the show or not, the commercial breaks proved to be a hot bed of entertainment in themselves.
The first advert break saw the launch of Yeo Valley’s 120” advert. Following on from their popular ‘rapping’ farmers from 2010 which also premiered in the X Factor, the ad became Twitter’s top trending topic worldwide, received 1.8 million YouTube views and inspired many spoofs and remixes. This year’s advert introduced a new farming boy band called ‘Churned’, something that had been highly anticipated across social media with extensive PR coverage, forming part of a much larger integrated marketing campaign. Muller also used X Factor as an opportunity to launch a brand new creative and strap line ‘Wünderful Stuff.’ This 90” advert was arguably not as entertaining as Yeo Valley’s but will have most certainly stood out from other advertisers.
The popularity and extensive coverage of the X Factor is most certainly a premium environment for advertisers to launch campaigns to the masses, ensuring an initial large reach that will quickly build with the use of a cross platform strategy. However, as more advertisers use this platform to launch engaging and long form adverts, advertisers who buy the traditional 30” spots within this programme may find it hard to stand out.
