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o GENERATE forthis$int€rs BUZZ ! lrunch of th€ hlm "fteedomwflr €rc,' Paramount Picturesdecidedir n€€ded cutting a edge Int€rnet advertis. lng slralegy. Ulilzing Web th€ wjth banner adswasn good t enough. SoAmJtbwell. senior president vice of interactive marketing theViacon{wned at mo!1e sludro, tumedto somerhing sh€ that a.nd olhermajormarketerc asthenext s€e generalDnadvetising theweb:wid. 0t on gets. Easily accessible various lrom Web sites,widgetsafe tiny computer prcgrams thal nlloweveryday peotleto inpfofessional.lookjng corporate content into their personat pages comWeb or desktops. Puter Tlpicdl desliopwidgets. alsoref€red t0 as"gadg€ts," inclrdeselt-updating news teeds, clorfis, calcu]alors veather and inior mation usuallyfr.rned by or positioned nextto a brandname promotional or con sidefation some or kind.Ydhoo coosle and provid€ smhdesktop widgets sto.ktickas eN andaifline schedLdes. Widgols us. that elspublhh lheirW€b on siles Uyspace or profilesirfe g€nerully moreadvanced, in. cluding things sucb chatboxes, as vide} games, andvid&. pols Ms.Powclland manyotber marketerc !
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seesponsoring widg€ts a promising as mute !0 consumers because they inle grale adyedisingonto Webpag€.It the is a more-relevant approach man bannef adverlsing, says, less sh€ and annoying thanvideo thaltake ads overthescreen, Widgets alsooneof th€ only ways are mrrketeN gelinside can pages Myspace becaus€ ppular NewsCorp-sociaf the networking doesn't adlertlsing site sell on individurl pages. members MosttlTes of widgets alsoolier the market€rs chanreto moniloreye. lhe balls,because user'sclickon oneof I Paramount oneof thelirst compais th€se features b€(ounted eas- ni€sto embrace lire can as whatsome caliing are ily as a (lick on a banner ad. the"widgetization Web,butothers ol the 'I don'tbelieve banner in advertis, are not lrr behind.Reebok creatinga is
ing, Ms.tlowell says. It\ lmportant to create conlent thal speaks diflerenl lo audience segments wbere theyar€." FortheJanuary release ol'Fr€edom Wnlers, which saars HilarySwank a as teacher vbo inspires sludents allected by violence. poverty and racism 1o change jour theirlivesthrough keeping nals,Pafamount working is with Free webs, closely a heldcompany Silver in Spring. Md.,thatprovjdes toolsfor free consumerc buildwebsites. lo Yisitors the Freewebs canupto site load programslmm the movie{hemed ''tOolkit self-€xpression' for including a photo album, video injectorandcharbox all of which be used an individucan on al\ profile page. The widgetsincorpo ratereferencesthefilm, suci asa "Be 1o Heard Web ' templateSetlor a December launch, wid. the getswill buildon a YouTube campaign aheady notion. a video in On on losted a Paramount group, a .Fr€edomcreatedYouTube Writers' actor,JasonFinn, talksaboutgrowing in a toubhLos Lrp Angeles neighborhood. way I deal The withmy angeror wayI deal the lvithmy painis I expr€ss Instead bottling it. of it up, I hulTyup lrndwdte down,"he says thevideo, in which been has viewed morethan 275.000 times sinceit was
wldgei that allowsusersto displaycus tomizedpairsof RBK shoes othersto for critique.TlmeInc. is creatinggadgels for magazines such as People,Sporrslltus. trated and Tim€ 1oprovidelive updates. Oncedragged onto Micmsoft s ne\{ opeF atrngsystem,the gadgets wili aLrtomati callyupdate themselves a user'sdeskon top PC with ne\r'sfrom the varioLrs tifles. San Francisco bas€d interactive agencyAKQAlust createda lvealher wid get to promote Microsoft Flight Simulatof X for Xbox- The widget allows Lrsels10 virtualy ny and lind out the weatherar any arrport through a liv€ fe€d from rhe National WeatherSerrice-giling com. puter usersa tasle 0f wbat the videogame oflers.Inthe pasttwo montbs, users hav€ dovrnloaded vridget the morethtin 150,000 times,spending average an of23 minutes with the flight simulator, agenc!says. the