A New Breed of Branded Entertainment

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In its favor, viewers within this demographic have responded favorably to branded programming in the past. Axe Deodorant continues to produce branded TV shows through agency BBH (see BusinessWeek.com, 4/24/06, "Bet You Can't TiVo Past This"). And just as transparency is a key factor in the new world of Web 2.0, so too is the idea of an ongoing, evolving relationship between brand and consumer (see BusinessWeek.com, 4/9/07, "It's the Conversation Economy, Stupid,"). To tap the trend, Honeyshed will have live chat facilities and (as yet undefined) social-networking capabilities. It's all, as Essex puts it, "relationship marketing."

The juxtaposition of various brands within this virtual mall (Essex refused to give details of which brands will be in place by this summer's official launch, saying simply that it will be an "impressive" roster) is certainly an interesting twist that might just give Honeyshed an edge over the ambitious yet underperforming bud.tv. It's also recognition that consumers aren't monomaniacal, and that brands need to live in the real world, even in the virtual space.

A Forward-Looking Model

Brand mash-ups aren't always easy for control freak brand managers to contemplate, but they can be successful. Think of the acclaimed Nike + program, a collaboration between Apple (AAPL) and Nike (NKE) that allows runners to use products from both companies and tap into a whole new world of sport and culture. The unexpected brand adjacencies that will occur within this curated space might just bestow a glow across them all.

While the site has been in development for the past 10 months, details of how the content will be organized still remain scarce. Crucially, the question of how other agencies will be enticed into taking part in an arrangement that might put their clients in direct contact with rivals remains unanswered. And with promotion of the site apparently set to rely on word of mouth and the ability for users to e-mail fragments of programming, the pressure is on to create top-notch content that can genuinely break through.

But at the very least, Honeyshed is looking forward—unlike another deal announced May 8 between cable operator Cox Communications and Walt Disney's (DIS) two big TV networks, ABC and ESPN. In this plan, those networks' programs will be available on demand to Cox subscribers, but the viewers' fast-forward button will essentially have been disabled so they can't skip through the paid-for advertising.

Rather than face up to the reality of the contemporary media landscape (any programming available, any time, in pretty much any format), this comes straight from the fingers-in-the-ear, "I'm not listening" school of thought that chooses to ignore reality in a stubborn attempt to retain a status quo that left the building some time ago. Not only does this approach seem disrespectful to viewers, it almost encourages them to reach for the off button. And this, of course, will only aid the likes of Honeyshed as well as other spaces that are at least attempting to engage and entertain.

Helen Walters is the editor for BusinessWeek.com's Innovation and Design Channel.