Milo Manara and branded entertainment

Imagine your beloved girlfriend leaves you suddenly. In the depths of your despair, you accidentally encounter a 70-year old playboy, member of an ancient secret sect dedicated to the art of seducing women. The handsome guru sees something special in you, decides you've got the sacred fire and proceeds to mentor you in the fine art of infallible seduction. Sounds like fun? Well, this is the actual premise of City Hunters (not the Japanese manga), an animated show from Argentina inspired by character designs created by Italian erotic artist Milo Manara. The show is produced by Unilever, the makers of Axe Body Spray, and is a fine example of branded entertainment. The web site is loaded with sexy features and slick navigation, but, for some reason, I couldn't get the videos to play in Canada (it may be a regional restriction or my Commodore 64). The clips are available on YouTube under City Hunters Axe. While the web site is in Spanish, the show was produced in English to satisfy the international aspirations of partner Fox and sub-titled for the Hispanic market. Online branded entertainment is in its infancy and it almost feels like the early days of cinema, where anything that moved was a movie subject. But, while concepts are still a little rough around the edges, expect to see some great shows emerge as strong creators and cutting-edge companies gang up to produce original content (remember those BMW short films?)