ad-fusion ~Transforming the Future of Advertising and Television~

Starting this time, over two installments, we will discuss "ad-fusion," an advertising methodology developed by our Dentsu Inc. Ad-Fusion team.

In Part 1, I, Takanori Nakao, one of the creators of this mechanism, will explain what ad-fusion is. Part 2 will feature a conversation with Isao Kagari (P. Garita), the producer from Fuji TV who collaborated on the drama's planning and production, discussing the world's first ad-fusion drama, "Detective Kojin," which realized this technique in a TV drama.

Advertisements are tenants within the main content

Unfortunately, advertising is not the main content. If we define "main content" as "what the person intends to see," then advertising always exists by renting space and intruding upon that main content.

Signs intrude when you're trying to view scenery, newspaper ads intrude when you're trying to read an article, and TV commercials intrude when you're trying to watch a program. Questioning this fundamental premise – that "advertising is not the main content" – was the first step in developing the adfusion concept.

Why does advertising need to be interesting?

In presentations, we often hear descriptions like "It's interesting and impactful" or "It's unforgettably interesting once you see it." While this is certainly true and a valid point, there's actually a more fundamental reason: advertising absolutely must be interesting.

Ah, writing "interesting" might be misunderstood as meaning "making people laugh," so let's rephrase it as "creative." Not limited to humor, advertising bears the obligation to absolutely demonstrate creativity in various forms—be it beauty, excellence, surprise, or more. Why?

It's to earn permission.

To earn the audience's permission to borrow space from their main content, and to earn their permission to show ads during the precious time they've set aside for that main content. That's why ads are obligated to welcome people with the ultimate hospitality: creativity. At least, that's how I've always approached making ads.

Ads become the main content! That's Adfusion.

Adfusion overturns this fundamental principle that "ads exist by borrowing space from the main content."

The inspiration came from the movie "The Truman Show" starring Jim Carrey. The fictional show within the movie, "The Truman Show," broadcasts the life of one man as a program. The protagonist lives his life completely unaware that viewers worldwide are watching him.

Naturally, this fictional show had sponsors. That's why, while brushing his teeth in the morning, his wife would suddenly turn the toothpaste package toward the camera and deliver a full-blown advertising message. Seeing this mechanism that aimed to make the show and the ads seamless, I was shocked and simultaneously sensed enormous potential for the future of advertising.

The next turning point came when I worked on projects like "AKB48 Eguchi Manami" and "Otona AKB48" for my job. Both of these projects were full-blown advertising campaigns. Yet, the advertising campaigns themselves were meant to be enjoyed by the public – they were the main content. Yes, they weren't just piggybacking on some other main content; the advertising itself was the main content.

Then the decisive moment arrived: the dawn of an era where ads get automatically skipped. To overcome this serious situation—where TVs, PCs, and recorders automatically skip commercials—we needed

・Ads that can't be skipped
・Ads you can't wait to see
・Ads you deliberately want to watch

became absolutely essential.

And the concept that made this possible was turning ads into the main content—Adfusion. Main content = can't be skipped = eagerly awaited = deliberately watched.

It's different from seamless integration, different from product placement, different from tie-ins. Adfusion has only two rules:

So, how does adfusion make advertising the main content? It's remarkably simple. While conventional commercials are structurally separated from the main content, adfusion, as its name "ad" and "fusion" suggests, completely merges advertising with the main content. By achieving this complete fusion, the ad itself becomes the main content.

To understand adfusions, we studied various examples. We discovered that, besides The Truman Show, several other works attempted to seamlessly integrate advertising with programming.

However, all of these were attempts to minimize the sense of advertising being a tenant within the main content. They aimed to make the ads feel as seamless as possible with the main program, encouraging viewers to enjoy the ads naturally alongside the content—essentially trying to eliminate the seams. This differs from the concept of Adfusion, which completely merges advertising and main content, transforming the ad itself into part of the main content.

Product placement is a similar technique, but it involves integrating products or goods without disrupting the main content. This is actually the opposite of fusion, representing a concept of "complete separation and coexistence."

Recently, program tie-in commercials have gained prominence. This mechanism, seen in shows like "We Married as a Job!" and "Nobility Detective," features actors appearing in commercials while maintaining their drama roles. However, despite the shared setting, commercials and dramas are structurally broadcast as completely separate entities.