Demetri Martin and Windows Vista Take Over Comedy Central (For an Hour)

The result was one of the single most interesting and well executed interactions between the web and traditional media. The interplay between the two mediums was as interesting as the interaction between Demetri in his special and Demetri playing himself in a fictional series of shorts. The concept was very strong, the execution was brilliant and for once the commercial message enhanced the viewing experience.

Earlier this week, I checked out www.clearification.com. I found a series of videos starring Demetri Martin as himself. The videos chronicle Demetri, a "winner in life," as he faces a breakdown and subsequent rebirth at the Institute for Advanced Personhood or the I.A.P (Episode 1 of 6 is below). The site, hosted by Windows Vista, promoted his comedy special and tour. The videos were hilarious, I laughed, and waited for the special. By itself, the website was awesome, and had me feeling like Vista was a cool product.



At the first commercial break of the special, I was shocked to see one of the characters from the videos (Dr. Lovett from the I.A.P) show up and announce that the broadcast would be clutter free. In other words, no ads. Throughout the show, Dr. Lovett guided the audience through outtakes from the show's taping, instructional videos and more information about the I.A.P., who's mission is to remove the clutter of modern life from people's lives. Although some local ads were broadcast, most of the ads were removed from the program and replaced by Dr. Lovett's entertaining commentary.

The strategy, Windows Vista removes clutter from the computing/new media experience, was executed brilliantly through the two mediums. the creative was original (although obviously drew inspiration from the likes of Wes Anderson and Jared Hess) and the message was extremely relevant to a younger audience who's undoubtedly captivated by all of the exciting things happening with Apple.

Better yet, the ads enhanced the viewing experience. In and of themselves, the special and the interactive components were great. But they were made all the more interesting and entertaining by their interplay. I can't ever remember a commercial message hijacking a show and actually making it better. Aside from the crappy local commercials, I didn't once reach for the Tivo remote.

It should be said that I'm a huge Apple fan. The PC disenchanted me long ago and I switched last December. But had I seen all of this, I definitely would have thought twice about it. The whole experience made stuffy and boring Microsoft seem cool. It added a depth to the brand that I haven't ever seen. It was like the nerd from school showing up after summer break and being incredibly cool. The incongruence made me take notice and from the message I received visiting www.clearification.com a couple of hours after the special, I wasn't the only one.



In the meantime, I'm going to try to find out what agency did the work. I'll also be anxiously awaiting the next installment at www.clearification.com.

UPDATE:
- Apparently, I'm way late on finding clearification.com. Looks like it launched in October. I can't remember seeing any promotion of the site at Demetri's comedy show in last September.
- According to the New York Post, the agency is McCann-Erickson. Nice work.