Media ad models are changing ... or are they?

If you haven't heard, ConAgra (makers of Healthy Choice meals) has launched a new television ad campaign. You may have already seen the commercials; they tie into a new lunchtime web series. (You can view the series at their Fresh Mixers website here.)

The series, called Working Lunch, features the Second City improv group and will consist of four short episodes each workday between noon and 4:00. According to Mediaweek, this noon to 4 block is "the new prime time" since studies show many office workers eat at their desk and watch video during their lunch hour.

So what? Well, it got me thinking about product placement and how so many media articles I read involve "finding new ways" to advertise to consumers. With people TiVo'ing through broadcast and cable commercials, and the media outlook for '09 looking ... challenging? ... for traditional media, will advertisers go back to the sponsorship models of the Golden Age of television? (See also: Company Voice at The Museum of Broadcast Communications.)

Maybe this whole "new media" thing is just a reversion to "really old" media? We'll see.

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