DENTSU TAKES A CD-ROM SPIN `MULTIMEDIA MEN'S MAGAZINE' MAKES A CASE FOR INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING

The CD-ROM magazine business is burgeoning in Japan, and Dentsu is out to make sure advertising is a part of it. The Tokyo-based agency has developed its own CD-ROM magazine prototype, designed to show a variety of multimedia advertising techniques. The prototype, called M's-short for Multimedia Men's Magazine-shows several ways ads might be incorporated into CD-ROM magazines. Dentsu is taking the magazine to clients and publishers, trying to drum up interest in multimedia advertising. By clicking on parts of the contents page, readers can go directly to different sections of the magazine, such as News, Business, Love, Culture or Sports. Each section contains information presented using combinations of text, graphics, pictures and video, together with screen buttons that allow readers to page forward, backward, return to the table of contents or head for other parts of the magazine. In the prototype, Dentsu shows three approaches to advertising. In the simplest example, turning the contents page leads to a full-screen ad for a fictitious cigarette, Virtual Time, which is accompanied by background music. Other examples use real products. An animated commercial for Kao Corp.'s Success pre-shave lotion is triggered when certain menu choices are made. Or an advertiser can make its ad a mini-multimedia magazine within the magazine. In one feature in the Love section, readers are asked to guess which of several pretty women would change into a bikini on request. Choosing one of the women who does not doff her clothes launches a game to promote a range of Kao products. In the game, the woman is a Kao saleswoman who travels back through time to help her grandmother find her grandfather so that she can be born. Questions and answers during the adventure lead to a better understanding of Kao's products, including a men's hair mousse, shaving foam and shampoo. The Sports section includes a feature about camping. Readers of this section can opt to go on a "test drive" in a Toyota Hiace (a vehicle suitable for camping expeditions). The test drive simulates the experience of being in the vehicle under different driving conditions and allows people to sample the vehicle's audio system. Using a palette, viewers can see the different color schemes available. The Culture section allows viewers to sample tracks from new releases and could also include film clips from music videos and feature films. Dentsu said it is developing multimedia ads on an experimental basis for several, unnamed clients and is working on a second version of the prototype. So far, Dentsu said, none of the CD-ROM magazines now on the market contain ads. The introduction of new CD-ROM game playing machines this year is expected to spur the development of CD-ROM magazines, said Hidenori Tanaka, manager of Dentsu's multimedia department. "Although there are only about one million CD-ROM readers in Japan at the moment, that number will increase dramatically ... with the introduction of new videogame machines that will be able to read CD-ROMs and display their contents on ordinary television screens," Mr. Tanaka said. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. launched its 3DO game player in Japan last month, and entries are due from Nintendo Co., Sega Enterprises and Sony Corp. A number of CD-ROM magazines have already been launched in Japan. The CDs are generally included inside regular magazines to allow distribution through bookstores and other magazine outlets. In addition, most major magazine publishers, which are also book publishers, have brought out reference works on CD-ROM to gain experience in the new medium. Intro, published monthly by Shikita & Associates at about $24, started last October. The first issue was devoted to ideas about freedom and mushrooms, with articles and games about the edible, poisonous and psychedelic fungi and a telephone/fax list to help readers make their views known to political parties. A second issue was about the love revolution. Media Direct, a quarterly from Rittor Music, provides samples and previews of recently published CD-ROMs, including games, music and adult images, for a variety of computer platforms. Some 30,000 copies were reportedly sold within three days of the first issue's publication in November. The monthly computer magazine MacUser, published by Softbank Inc., has also started to include a CD-ROM with every issue. The disc contains news and information about the Macintosh and software demonstrations and is included in the magazine's cover price of about $9. Also out are Options, a monthly CD-ROM motoring magazine from Sanei Publishing Co., and Schola, a monthly men's magazine from Schola Publishing Co. "There's strong interest from consumers," said Mutsumu Imaizumi, an executive in Dentsu's magazine division. "For instance, at the end of November, when Magazine House Ltd. published a special issue of Popeye magazine about the Macintosh computer and how to use a CD-ROM player with it, they sold all 200,000 copies within two weeks. People have heard a lot about multimedia, and they are keen to experience what it can offer." Despite the potential, there are several problems in the young CD-ROM industry. The most serious of these, Mr. Tanaka said, is a severe shortage of people with the skills to create multimedia software. In addition, the cost of publishing software on CD-ROM discs is high, and there are few guidelines for intellectual property rights on multimedia software. "Japan does not yet have a proper copyright system for multimedia software," Mr. Tanaka said. And for potential advertisers, there's a further problem. "CD-ROMs are a long-term storage medium, and many are designed to be read many times over a long period of time," Mr. Tanaka said. "They are not as ephemeral as printed magazines. This means they may be more suitable for very long rather than short-term campaigns." Despite the interest, the future of multimedia magazines may not lie with CD-ROM publishing. "It's quite likely that multimedia magazines will eventually develop more as a network medium and be distributed over telephone lines directly to people's homes," Mr. Tanaka said. "CD-ROMs are just an initial step in developing multimedia magazines."

DENTSU TAKES A CD-ROM SPIN `MULTIMEDIA MEN'S MAGAZINE' MAKES A CASE FOR INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING

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