• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, April 3, 2009

As executives at the History Channel -- "Channel" is now gone, it's just "History" -- looked for an upfront marketing angle, the concept of a three-legged stool came to mind.

The network skews heavily male (perhaps 70%), so many of its viewers are major sports and news consumers. But there is a segment devoted to the History series "Ax Men" and "Ice Road Truckers" that doesn't watch those other genres heavily. And that's a group, the network believes, that advertisers searching for an elusive male target would find critical to round out a media plan.

After considerable research, the network developed a label for that psychographic: "Type H." Melinda McLaughlin, senior vice president in charge of sales strategy and trade marketing, describes the group as viewers eager for entertainment that possesses an information component.

Fluff is not on their radar. "Entertainment to me is I walk away with something," McLaughlin said of the audience. "It's not empty calories."

This month, History is rolling out a trade campaign looking to elevate "Type H" to topic A among media planners preparing upfront strategies. Included are cover wraps and pages in trade magazines, and banners on Web sites frequented by media executives.

The network is also trying a new tack with paid search ads on Google. The goal: from mid-April to mid-May, when a media executive conducts a search for an industry-specific keyword such as "CPM," a result will persuade them to click-through to a "Type H" Web site.

The effort will be geotargeted, so it will only be live in four cities with large concentrations of media buyers: New York, Los Angeles, Detroit and Chicago. McLaughlin says she is unsure how many hits will result, but it's a cost-efficient gamble.

Cable networks adopting new themes to try and stand out have become a rite of spring. Some use tags focused strictly at the trade, such as Bravo referring to its audience as "Affluencers." Others turn to messaging that can be used both in PowerPoint presentations and on air, such as AMC's new "Story matters here."

McLaughlin called "Type H" "our unique differentiator in a sea of sameness." While the moniker is only being employed in trade materials, she said it was developed in consultation with History's consumer-marketing arm. Plus, it has potential to be used in on-air spots and off-network promotions.

"We wanted something that would have support across the company," McLaughlin said. The tag was developed in conjunction with the network's agency Barker/DZP. The "H" in "Type H" is the same font as the network's logo.

History, part of A&E Television Networks, has posted solid ratings gains this season, with a 5% increase in the adult 18-to-49 genre. Emphasizing its non-sports, non-news audience, the network's data shows there were 27 million unique 18-to-49 male viewers in the fourth quarter of 2008.

In fact, 11 million did not watch ESPN at all in prime time, while some 8.5 million avoided a cable news channel. (8 million also failed to watch History competitor the Discovery Channel.)

"It's a unique, valuable type of consumer you're missing," said Mel Berning, executive vice president of sales at A&E networks, referring to a non-History media plan.

The creative for the trade campaign uses four separate profiles to represent the cross-section of "Type H" viewers. "Andrew" represents the network's core viewer. Shown in an execution holding a briefcase and on a cell phone, he's a 55-year-old father who drinks wine, plays golf and prefers art over sports.

"Steve," shown with a backpack and riding a bike, is 27 and single. He's a software developer and lover of all things tech, a "gadget guy." There's also 33-year-old "Rick," a fashion-forward new homeowner, and "Tony," a 48-year-old contractor who mans the grill at family events.

Despite the varying reasons they may watch History, all are branded as "Hardwired for History."

Advertisers are told that the four archetypes are "hard to find, but not if you know where to look."