Uses in Marketing
Webisodes are part of a trend called branded entertainment, which is growing due to the increased demand for marketers to find new methods to reach consumers in an era where the traditional media is losing viewers to the social web. Companies create a social buzz online using digitalmedia marketing to generate branded community-based destinations. Webisodes are regularly used by marketers to form these destinations.
In 2006, for example, hip-hop entrepreneur Sean Combs, aka P. Diddy, startd his own YouTube channel called "DiddyTV," which he used to post webisodes and blog about his life on tour. Combs built hype aroud the web series by directing his using social media sites, such as, Myspace to direct users to the YouTube channel. Combs' webisodes were sponsored by Burger King, which used the web series to generate a brand community.
In 2007, Mini Cooper initiated an online marketing campaign to promote their new line of vehicles. The campaign consisted of six webisodes that were each four minutes in duration. Each week a new webisode went up on sites like YouTube. The series was a spoof on the retro television show, Starsky and Hutch and was titled "Hammer & Coop." The series told the story of a 1970's based characher named Hammer and his car named Coop, while highlighting the improvement of new Mini Cooper's interior.
In 2011, Jeff Schroeder, known for his role in the reality series The Amazing Race, assisted AT&T with a digital marketing scheme based around webisodes. The campaign followed Schroeder around the world in 100 days using only his AT&T phone and netbook.
Read more about this topic: Webisode