Milan, 17 January 2002 - The advertising of the future has arrived. Rai Click, the TV-on-demand channel created by RAI, the Italian broadcasting authority, and e.BisMedia, the content provider of the e.Biscom Group, has launched the first interactive commercial to appear on Italian television. The announcement was made jointly with Sipra, the RAI group's advertising agent, and the Ata De Martini & C., the agency that provided the creativity for the project designed for Honda Automobile Italy. The commercial will be broadcast on Rai Click starting mid-February 2002.
The Rai Click service began just a few months ago and already offers more than one thousand titles on demand from the RAI's current program schedules and archives. Now, it is going beyond its traditional advertising formats - TV commercials and banners - with an interactive commercial. Interactive advertising provides all the benefits of broadband and TV-on-demand, by delivering multimedia content that combines a variety of formats and programming technologies.
"This project is an impressive step forward for Rai Click, after its successful commercial service launch," said Rai Click Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stefano Gigotti. "TV-on-demand is establishing a new form of interaction with the public, which positions the RAI at the leading edge of new technology."
"Interactive advertising and this project, a first in the history of advertising communication, are based on technology developed by e.Biscom," explained e.BisMedia Video-on-Demand Vice President Ugo Rietmann. "With a two-way signal and our fibre optic network, viewers take on an active role, choosing the content they want to see when they want to see it, and also interacting with commercials to ask for further information and to enter into direct contact with the advertiser."
Italian television's first interactive commercial has been designed by Ata De Martini & C., an agency that has always been a leader in innovative projects. The first Italian agency to open an Internet division (1995), now Ata De Martini & C. has scored another first -- meeting the challenge launched by Rai Click and interactive digital TV. It is not a coincidence either that the first advertiser is Honda Automobile Italy. Honda has, in fact, always been at the forefront in developing new technological solutions and new communication tools. The interactive commercial continues this tradition by offering the benefits of state-of-the-art communication, just as Honda products offer the benefits of state-of-the-art automobiles.
The creativity content of the commercial, which advertises the new Honda H-RV, focuses on bungee-jumping. The viewer uses the remote control to watch the entertainment part of the commercial, and can then access the interactive area illustrating the new Honda H-RV. From the TV-home page, the viewer can enter sections with photos and videos on the interior, exterior and engine of the new automobile and can also contact the manufacturer.
"Interactive advertising allows us to target specific sections of the public and assess feedback from potential clients," said Ata De Martini & C. Chief Executive Officer Alberto De Martini.
"In this way, we set up a two-way communication channel which could lead to a sale."Interactive advertising combines the features of traditional brand communication with the specific characteristics of direct marketing, to create a one-to-one relationship with the consumer.
Rai Click, TV on demand Launched on 18 July 2001 and now regularly watched in several thousand households, Rai Click offers the TV viewer a wealth of RAI programs, from the daily broadcasting schedules of the RaiUno, RaiDue and RaiTre channels and from the RAI's well-stocked archives. The innovation of this channel is that all programs can be seen at any time, without having to wait. The viewer scrolls the menu on the screen,
selects the program to watch, and transmission begins immediately.
The RAI programs are broadcast in broadband via the IP (Internet Protocol) fibre optic network which FastWeb - the e.Biscom Group subsidiary that provides innovative telecommunication services on its own network infrastructure - is rapidly developing throughout Italy. The network has already been rolled out in Milan, Genoa, Turin and Rome and will shortly be operating in Naples, Bologna and Reggio Emilia.
To watch Rai Click programs, viewers use a simple remote control to select a feature from the menu and press "play" to begin viewing. Other functions are fast forward, stop, pause, together with complete interaction with the channel content to access info sheets and, in the future, to communicate with staff or with other viewers.
Rai Click offers a rich library of programs, which is being continually expanded to reach a total of 10,000 hours. It currently comprises more than 1,000 titles covering current affairs, drama, sport, films, music and documentaries.
Content is subdivided by themes into 8 channels:
- Prima pagina, with news broadcasts and current affairs programs
- Sport, with top teams and champions
- Prima fila, with films, drama, comedy, classical and light music
- Prima fila, with films, drama, comedy, classical and light music
- Peter Pan, with educational programs and entertainment for children, cartoons
- Energy, with concerts, music videos and events for young people
- Storia, with major documentaries from the RAI archives, surveys and special reports
- Piacere, covering entertainment, fashion and vacation spots
- Società, with programs on medicine and healthcare, training and business
The Honda H-RV interactive commercial will be presented to the press and industry specialists at the beginning of February at the Sipra offices in Milan.