Publicis And Droga5 Collaborate On Branded Entertainment Website

Billed as “QVC meets MTV,” ad companies Publicis Groupe and Droga5, are set to announce the creation of a website called Honeyshed that will run branded entertainment programming, WSJ reports. The site will have three tiers: one will offer studio-produced shows, some of which will air live; the second will feature webisodes or series created by Droga5; the third section will offer sweepstakes, contests and giveaways.

For Paris-based ad group Publicis, the site is the latest online foray in a series of successive internet moves, which last week said it was realigning its global interactive agencies through a dedicated ad network called Publicis Modem. The entity is largely an outgrowth of Publicis’ $1.3 billion acquisition of interactive ad shop Digitas back in December.

And for Droga5, New York ad boutique run by David Droga, the former worldwide creative director for Publicis Worldwide, Honeyshed represents the further expansion of his idiosyncratic vision of a nontraditional ad agency. Talking to Adweek last year after the opening of the shop, Droga said of his idea for Publicis-backed Droga5: “”It sounds messy, and maybe it is. But it is allowing us to play, which is all we really want.”
BW: Content partners already associated with Honeyshed include video production company Smuggler, as well as executives from Viacom, Conde Nast, and Microsoft. So far, Publicis, Droga5, and Digitas have invested between $5 million and $10 million in developing the project.

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