Intro to Advertainment

According to my marketing textbook (the authority on pretty much everything on marketing, since it's the only book on marketing that I've read so far), Madison and Vine is the new catchy name for the fusion of business and entertainment.  Madison, as in Madison Avenue in New York, and Vine as in, Vine Street in Hollywood.  The theoretical intersection of business acumen and star-powered entertainment would be Madison and Vine, where advertising is less lock-step, jingle-laden propaganda, and more ridiculously hilarious and wonderful TV magic for 30 to 60 seconds during my regularly scheduled program already in progress.

So I'm starting my own blog to capture a little of this phenomena.  My personal interest is in TV ads, but I have seen some really great and funny print ads too, because I don't discriminate.  I love all ads.  I am typing this while watching TV right now, and I just got COMPLETELY distracted watching a really great ad for a kid's tablet device (available at Target, apparently).  Watch it here. (Or below.) And view the product here.  The Nabi tablet seems pretty cool, and has several commercials, so maybe I'll come back to those on another day.  $179 for a tablet for my toddler seems a little crazy, but, what do I know.

Make sure you watch the video first, so I don't spoil the cuteness.  I don't know what character is on that tablet, it kind of looks like Winnie the Pooh, but I don't know.  Whoever it is, it's freaking adorable, and has the cutest voice.  He's talking to all the other tablets with their alleged "features for kids", and admonishes them with the classic mom line, "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed."  He talks kind of haltingly, like he's talking to children, which is simultaneously adorable and infuriating.  Since technically this ad is targeted at adults (presumably to buy it for their children), I would think we could talk at, perhaps, normal speed.  But maybe the mothers of children who should get their own custom tablet device (Joey, apparently) are so addled in the mind from hours spent alone with toddlers, that that is all the faster they can comprehend language.  (Don't misunderstand me, I watched this commercial with rapt attention, and my mouth actually open.)

Children are pretty rough on their toys, so maybe a custom device for them is appropriate, but for almost two hundred dollars, I think my kids will be playing with sticks.  The little tablet guy goes on to say that "we were made to be awesome" -- which is true -- and that "it's what's inside that counts.  Never stop trying."  -- that's always good messaging for little tykes, before school and the world jump out and make them cynical like the rest of us -- but right at the end, the voice over guy (this part is for grown ups only, we're talking at regular speed now) says that it's more than just a tablet, it's a friend.

Now hold up.  Tablets as friends?  I restate my stick alternative.  Sticks encourage going outside, and that's where all my friends were growing up.  Sticks are for sharing.  And you can bet that fancy device is never coming out from under my roof, for fear it gets treated like a stick.

Ok, non-ad related rant aside, there is not much in the ad to use to judge the product, other than its condescending attitude toward inferior tablets. But that is sort of the point of advertainment, not to state facts about the product so much as to introduce the "personality" of the product.  I would have liked to see a little more branding, although you know it's an Android device by the symbols on the face of the tablet when it talks, the home icon and return icon and other elements of its display. They pan back to it's customizable stand a lot, which is not included, and therefore is a massive tease.

Oh, and I guess it's available at Walmart also, in case you don't feel like putting make up on or taking your sweats off before you head out to buy the kiddos a tablet.  So that's good news!