In recent months, New York taxis have had television screens installed, the better to entertain passengers as they sit fuming in crosstown traffic. The programming is a combination of outright commercials and news-department puff pieces known as “advertorial”. Restaurant reviews, salon visits, a happy story about a golden retriever suckling three tiger cubs (which was, I’ll admit, adorable) … that sort of thing.
The content is supplied by WABC-TV and MSNBC, so there are plenty of opportunities, in the course of the ten-minute loop, to pimp Disney’s Broadway shows (Disney owns ABC) and Universal’s movies (NBC owns Universal, or possibly it’s the other way around).
It’s called cross-platform marketing, and this week, on my way to LaGuardia after a couple of days in Manhattan, I saw it reach its zenith.
Olympic Mummy Fever: Catch it!