Canoe Ventures has a plan, tie together the big cable operators to gain scale, target meaningful subsets within, advertise on brand name video content, and add a technological, interactive component. "Canoe has a direct pipeline into about 60 million cable-watching households in the U.S. and provides Internet service to a third of the country. It plans to use that reach." And with the cable box and remote, the ability to communicate with the consumer and get them to talk back. "For example, it's going to add voting and polling so consumers can vote for their favorite player during a football game or answer ...... the final question on "Jeopardy." It's also planning a feature that will allow you to click a button on your remote control to get a recipe, a sample or a coupon, and another feature that allows you to click on a movie ad to see the full trailer or on a video game ad to see a demo." Kinda cool.
Advertising on TV can no longer be a one-way experience. It is meant not only to build brand awareness, but advertisers also need to see meaningful results. It may not be to actually purchase a product or service, but to request more information be sent perhaps immediately to the TV, or perhaps the email address, or mobile phone, or even snail mail. It is gaining that interaction which is Canoe's next step.
The set top box provides valuable information to better target the message to the home; the cable box to interact. We rely on that box to allow the advanced features to work; VOD, DVR, and such. The challenge is getting the consumer to accept the set top box on every set. The home needs to be "connected" so that the box rests behind the set, not on top of it.
