Companies Aim for TiVo-Proof Ads

March 14, 2007 — -- What do you do if you're a television advertiser faced with more than 22 million consumers who can simply skip your ads with the press of a button? If you're TrimSpa, the answer is to make them watch the ads anyway.

Facing a post-Anna Nicole Smith drop in sales, TrimSpa's parent company, Goen Technologies, is looking for a way to expand its bottom line. So in a few weeks, the New Jersey-based company will offer up before-and-after photos of everyday people that will stay on your television screen no matter how many times you might hit the fast-forward button on your DVR remote.

DVRs -- digital video recorders -- are popular with consumers who are able to record their favorite television shows and skip their not-so-favorite television commercials. Not surprisingly, they're less popular with television ad execs.

"The dirty little secret is that they all have DVRs, and they enjoying skipping commercials themselves," said James McQuivey, a principal media analyst at Forrester Research. "But they do fret constantly. And they need to use that fear to help them innovate and adapt."

Some companies, like TrimSpa and Kentucky Fried Chicken, think they've figured out how to adapt. They're trying to market their products with TiVo-proof ads, named after the popular brand of DVR.

KFC used an embedded message in one of its recent campaigns. Consumers had to watch the ad in slow motion to get a coupon for a free sandwich.

TrimSpa wouldn't release too many details of its new campaign but suggested images used in the television ads would remain on the screen no matter what a consumer tried to do with the remote.

That's a risky strategy, according to McQuivey.

"Do we try to frustrate our consumers, punish them in a way for skipping the commercials?" he asked.

And experts warn it's probably only a matter of time before TiVo-proof ads aren't really TiVo proof at all.

"People have been avoiding commercials ever since there have been commercials," said Ilya Vedrashko, an emerging media strategist at Hill Holiday and a frequent blogger on advertising issues. "Every time you try to shove new technology at people, they find a way around it. Remember pop-up ads? They were huge, but now everyone has a pop-up blocker."