TiVo Showcases Sprite

Digital video recorder service TiVo is providing interactive advertising for Sprite, a first for the Coca-Cola soft drink brand. Starting yesterday (July 24), Sprite is running an interactive ad on a TiVo Showcast, part of the soft drink's new "subLYMONal" campaign.

The TiVo-specific "subLYMONal" advertisements will air on Soul Train Weekly, G4, and MTV. Sprite's "subLYMONal" ads will have a "Gold Star Sponsorship" on TiVo Central, allowing viewers to follow a link to a Showcase where they can view Sprite ads and then, using TiVo's Trick Play features, find out how to use Sprite "subLYMONal Codes." TiVo also displays "interactive tags" in Sprite's advertising, allowing viewers to pause and click-through to Sprite's TiVo Showcase to view more Sprite content, without missing any portion of the TV show they were previously watching.

The "SubLYMONal" advertisements, which Sprite bills as being 'DVR Ready," feature special codes embedded in the content that are only revealed if viewed in slow motion and that can be entered at the brand's new website, www.subLYMONal.com.

"Our new 'subLYMONal' campaign overtly parodies the concept of subliminal advertising and acknowledges up front that the commercials contain embedded content, so highlighting it for TiVo's 4.4 million subscribers makes perfect sense," said Don King, Group Director, Sprite, Coca-Cola North America, in a statement. "Sprite drinkers are interacting with this advertising in unprecedented numbers and through our partnership with TiVo, even more people will enjoy the 'subLYMONal' ads."