Sponsored Video Streaming: Florida Orange Juice- Good Work

While watching an episode of Grey's Anatomy online on abc.com (I've recently discovered I'm a girl) I found one of the first great examples of sponsored videos. The episode was sponsored by Florida Orange Juice, starting off the episode with a 30-second commercial. Having been disappointed and annoyed in past viewing experiences, I quickly looked to see if there was a pause button, which I indeed found. Instead of the commercial, the screen was replaced with a "Fast Fact" about Florida OJ. I read it, and was surprised to find myself slightly interested--it had taught me something and thus had added value, not to mention the filling orange juice glass made a cute loading image while I waited.

At the next commercial "interruption," it had a game with one orange and three bins. You had to follow which bin the orange was in as they moved around the screen, and each time you got it right, it got harder. Before I realized it, two minutes had gone by and my video was more than ready to begin. I played one more round because I actually had fun with it and then continued to watch the show. The next break had statements about orange juice for which you could guess true or false. Again, I learned some interesting tidbits. The last break was a choose your own adventure story type game about starting your day with or without orange juice. 

The weirdest part about all of it though was that I actually wanted to participate with the brand, and despite the fact that a lot of it applied more to category than the brand, I still remembered it was Florida OJ. By entertaining me and teaching me, Florida Orange Juice not only got me thinking about their product but actually stole the show. When I finished the episode, abc.com gave me the choice to look at all the ads again, which I did use to go back to watch the first commercial I initially passed over and play another round of Find the Orange. 

Needless to say, my standards for sponsored videos greatly rose upon discovering this campaign. Unfortunately, the bad just seems worse now. Here's to hoping the ad community picks up on these kinds of successful campaigns.