At a time when Madison Avenue is striving to understand the relationship between advertising and the rest of the communications mix, the public relations industry is finding there may be some profound effects of advertising on an area that traditionally comes under the PR banner - corporate reputation - and vice versa. While advertising and PR strategies have become much more integrated in recent years, as marketing teams move towards communications channel planning that consider all forms of marketing simultaneously, the new evidence of advertising and PR synergy comes from a tracking study on the corporate reputations of America's biggest companies. The study, the Delahaye Index, produced by public relations industry researcher Delahaye, typically finds big Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft, General Motors, and Wal-Mart near the top as measured by an analysis of their coverage in major print and electronic media outlets. But over the past several quarters, the PR researchers have detected a pronounced turnaround in Wal-Mart's media reputation, which analysts attributed largely to the role of the company's advertising campaigns. "In the third quarter of 2004, when Wal-Mart was coming under the microscope for a variety off issues, they fell to 14th place among U.S. corporations," noted Mark Weiner, president of Norwalk, CT-based Delahaye. "They moved to No. 4 in the fourth quarter, and to No. 2 in the first quarter of 2005." Weiner said improvements in Wal-Mart's reputation correlate directly to the appointment of a new CEO in the third quarter of 2004, as well as a new thrust in the retailer's marketing and communications program that emphasized a positive and uplifting advertising campaign focusing on the quality of life of Wal-Mart employees. The company also became more open and accessible the press. "The advertising gave them a totally controllable platform to deliver reputation-changing communication in a way that nobody could contest," said Weiner. "The ads featured many long-time Wal-Mart employees talking about what a great life they've had because of Wal-Mart, which made it hard for the unions to counter." Those ads, coupled with the fact that Wal-Mart executives and corporate communications staff became more accessible to print and electronic media reporters meant a more positive tone in its news coverage. Instead of hiding from the press, Weiner says Wal-Mart took a proactive stance, which gave the company more opportunities to balance negative stories with its own positive spin. Weiner said the Wal-Mart story is interesting, because of the newsworthiness of its ad campaign, and how it influenced the company's media coverage, which is something he says a number of companies have begun emphasizing more in recent years, especially Pepsi-Cola Co., Frito-Lay and Taco Bell. Companies Ranked By Q1 Media Coverage Reach Microsoft 13,491,630,958 Wal-Mart 10,651,178,254 Walt Disney Co. 7,490,370,116 Verizon 8,508,650,407 Intel 5,272,072,397 Boeing 8,206,455,396 SBC Communications 5,240,048,248 IBM 5,403,751,782 General Motors 9,160,930,651 Pfizer 4,983,339,034 Source: First Quarter 2005 Delahaye Index. Reach = media impressions.
As the latest installment of "Star Wars" opened in the theaters across the country, Fox cast itself as the leader of the "rebel alliance" fighting "evil network empires" at its upfront presentation, but to listen to numerous media buyers and marketers Thursday, Viacom's UPN stole the show on the final day of the broadcast networks' 2005-06 prime-time schedule announcements with a new comedy produced by Chris Rock, "Everybody Hates Chris." And with its comedy block on Thursdays beginning next fall, UPN plans to own that day on a weekly basis. Based on the comedian's childhood experiences, a clip of the new series shown at UPN's upfront presentation Thursday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, drew exuberant laughter from attendees and raves later on in the day. The show details Rock's days growing up in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant and being bused to a mostly white junior high by his strict parents. In addition to his production duties, Rock will also narrate each episode. "'Everybody Hates Chris' is possibly the funniest comedy of the fall schedule for anyone," said Shari Ann Brill, vice president-director of programming services at Carat USA. "It goes back to my theory that many of the best comedies come from the world of stand-up: 'Seinfeld,' Ray Romano, Kevin James, 'Roseanne.'" Another veteran media buyer said, "To call this 'Wonder Years'-esque is insulting to 'Everybody Hates Chris.' This show is more akin to 'Seinfeld.' It's the strongest show that's been presented all week." Aside from "Chris," UPN is also adding another comedy, "Love Inc.," starring Shannen Doherty as a dating service counselor, and one drama, "Sex, Lies & Secrets," with Denise Richards, about the romantic entanglements among a group of Hollywood hipsters, to its fall lineup. The Jennifer Lopez-produced drama "South Beach" is planned for midseason. Later, at the New York City Center in midtown Manhattan, with only six weeks on the job, Peter Liguori, Fox's new entertainment president, introduced the five new dramas and two new comedies, with proceedings that emphasized the laughs. "We have more comedies than any other network," Liguori said. "Maybe the other networks have given up on the genre and are waiting until the cycle comes around again. At Fox, we're not waiting." The new comedies scheduled for fall debuts are: "The War At Home," starring Michael Rapaport as the paterfamilias in the Archie Bunker mode; and "Kitchen Confidential," which is based on the bizarre experiences of master chef Anthony Bourdain. Another new comedy, "The Loop," about a responsible college grad and his slacker friends, will launch in January. Also coming back are the critically acclaimed "Arrested Development" on Mondays and the animated "The Family Guy" on Sundays, both of which elicited approval from the audience. Speaking about the latter's second revival, Liguori said, "We canceled 'The Family Guy' not once, but twice. Luckily, our audience is smarter than we are," a line which also drew a smattering of applause. New dramas premiering this fall include: "Prison Break" (in order to free his innocent brother from death row, an engineer commits a crime, getting himself sentenced to the same prison where his brother is, as he plans to break them both out); "Bones (a forensic anthropologist helps solve crimes); "Head Cases" (Chris O'Donnell and Adam Goldberg star as attorneys dealing with mental illness while teaming to help underdog clients); "Reunion" (focusing on a group of friends over 20 years after one of them has been murdered, each episode is a year in the life of one friend); and "The Gate" (twisted crimes committed in San Francisco). Aside from touting what the network hopes will be the new hits, Liguori also sought to impress the ad crowd by noting that his network is No. 1 among adults 18-49. "But our goal to deliver more than audience, but loyal, attentive viewers," Liguori said. "The top 15 cable hours command 13.9 percent of high-duration, high frequency viewers. And we're the only network with two shows in the top five hours in terms of attention and loyalty - '24' at 61 percent and 'American Idol' at 49.2 percent," according to Nielsen Television Index's analysis of viewer engagement, Liguori said. As media buyers noted afterward, and documented in Fox's upfront materials, Fox has a 4.2 rating and 11 household share from January to May in regular primetime, compared to CBS' 3.9/10. "CBS is No. 1 in total viewers, and they're number one if you base it on regularly scheduled series," one media buyer said. "They all come out with their various numbers and it's sliced and diced all sorts of ways. It's the media buyers who decide who's really No. 1 at the end of the day." And at the end of four days of major network upfront presentations, media buyers, for the most part, liked what they saw, more so than in the recent past, many said. In particular, buyers praised what they considered a very well-rounded schedule of new and returning shows on Fox, which have been arrayed to take advantage of holes in the competition's scheduling. For one thing, Fox's schedule is set to change dramatically in January, with the return of "Idol," and the rejiggering of the much of the time slots as most networks will be relatively static. And as for the shows themselves, many cited the returning medical drama "House" (which will move to Mondays in January), "Reunion" (Thursdays after "The O.C.") and the "War at Home" (8:30 on Sundays, in between the animation block). "I think Fox had a really good schedule and I really love what they're doing with Monday nights, with 'House' and '24'starting in January," said Billie Gold, associate director, programming services at Carat. "Monday seems pretty weak across the board for the networks and this could create a solid block for Fox. 'The War at Home' and 'Prison Break' both have good potential, especially with 'War at Home' being on Sunday, helping lead in 'Family Guy' opposite ABC's 'Desperate Housewives.' It's a good counter-programming move because it'll attract a lot of young men." Gold's Carat colleague, Brill, added, "The changes that they're making is really sharp. They have that continuity through the fall, and then they make the changes in January. One of the best things they ever did was run '24' continuously. And 'Arrested Development' should do better on Monday, because the show's humor is subtle and sophisticated, whereas Sunday's comedy lineup is broader and real in-your-face. From a scheduling perspective and a fan's, there is a lot of really good programming in competitive time periods." Buyers also said this week's showcase, along with the current broadcast season's growth, finds free TV in its best position in years.
Every once in a while, a story surfaces that shakes up the blogosphere. This week, it was a story involving an apology from Newsweek magazine for publishing a piece in its May 9 issue that alleged U.S. soldiers at Guantanamo Bay flushed a Koran down the toilet as a means of interrogation. The story triggered riots in Afghanistan that resulted in the death of 16 people. The blogosphere's reaction has been immense. According to a study released today by blog researcher Cymfony, more than 2,000 posts have been logged about this story since it broke on May 15, and the numbers keep climbing. The Cymfony study states that the reactions of bloggers are mostly "derivative works of opinion pieces from journalists," but most are "original and thoughtful." Some thought that Newsweek would say and do anything to cause damage to the administration, while some felt that Newsweek's story was accurate, but the publication caved to pressures from the White House. Still others felt that it didn't matter if the details of the incident were true or not--the barrage of alleged abuse at Guantanamo makes the story believable. The looming question left hanging over everyone's head is what effect, if any, will this story have on Newsweek's journalistic credibility, and its power to attract advertisers? Many, both on Madison Avenue and in the media world, will continue to monitor this story closely.
The importance of retaining cultural identity for even third-generation Hispanics and Asian-Americans will compel media buyers to place greater emphasis on local television, radio, and geographic marketing as national cable and magazines reach a point of saturation, a study from Magna Global USA says. Marketers have already begun to notice that different ethnic groups use media with a great deal of variation, said Brian Wieser, Magna's director of industry analysis and author of the report "The Pollo or the Dan (Spanish for "The Chicken or The Egg"). One major problem has been the absence of many ethnic-media combinations, making reliable measurements of media usage by various ethnic groups exceedingly complicated, Wieser said. The reason for the lack of ratings information of most of the channels catering to multicultural populations is their relative newness in the marketplace. For instance, upstart cable networks in general are often unable to attract significant advertiser support because ratings are not available. And most of these networks do not seek to be rated in their early years because, among other things, the costs of ratings are high and programmers typically need to prove the long-term viability of their projects before they can justify the expense of paying for ratings services. "Despite this limitation, we believe magazines and radio for Asian-Americans, as well as local and cable TV targeting African-Americans, are promising sectors in multicultural media," Wieser said. "But those obstacles are slowly but surely being overcome. These media benefit from large populations in specific markets, supportive economics, and manageable distribution issues. From a marketer's perspective, it mirrors and enables the shift away from selling to the masses, and toward narrower groups instead." Through this shift, marketers are better able to target on important dimensions of self-definition, such as gender, age, and lifestyle. This trend will continue in the future as the U.S. population of Hispanics, Asian-Americans, and African-Americans is expected to exceed 100 million by 2010, growing 3 percent per year (compared with a rate of 0.3 percent for all other Americans combined). However, the development of media vehicles that are focused on the equally important dimensions of cultural self-identity and national heritage has been relatively uneven so far, Wieser said. For example, African-Americans are targeted by only one widely available cable network and 10 others with limited distribution. This compares with four broadcast networks, more than 60 cable networks, and more than 160 local television stations for Hispanics in the 10 largest communities alone. Even Asian-Americans have access to more than 70 different cable networks--although almost all are in-language, and most are sold at prices ranging between $5 and $20 per month. In magazines, the statistics are similar, Wieser said. Among titles published on a monthly or more frequent basis, we identified more than 80 Hispanic-targeted titles--but only 21 for African-Americans, and only 5 for Asian-Americans. But it's the way these media are being used that's essential for marketers to understand, Wieser said. According to a recent Knowledge Networks/SRI study that compared men aged 25 to 54 of specific groups with the general male population in the same age range, Asian-Americans spend 55 percent less time listening to radio and 50 percent more time on the Internet; in contrast, African-Americans spend 32 percent less time online, but 25 percent more time watching television. "In terms of figuring out the drivers for media usage among different groups, income levels are likely a dominant driver of Internet users, given the monthly fees required to gain access," Wieser said. "Sample size limitations often preclude the isolation of these variables. In other cases a 'chicken-and-egg' situation skews the results: do Asian-Americans under-index in radio because they don't like radio or does this occur because there are so few radio stations which are programmed for them?" One of the issues Wieser said Magna wanted to understand was why media does not fully reflect the ethic composition of the country. In other words, if 13 percent of the population is African-American, why doesn't this mean that 13 percent of marketing budgets and content will target that group? Is it because advertisers believe they are targeting that marketplace through the so-called general market? Or is it because the economics of developing media for a smaller market doesn't always make sense?" The answer is yes, to some extent, for those questions, Wieser said. And therefore, local media is more likely to develop as a more certain venue for targeting ethic audiences. Focusing on his own background as a "Canadian-American," Wieser said, "I'm Canadian, and there's certain things that will appeal to me but won't interest the general American population. As an example, I will watch NewsWorld International, because the news is from a Canadian perspective. If Air Canada or Molson wants to reach someone like me, that's a perfect venue to advertise in. Now if the differences between Canadians and Americans are so small, yet that sort of ad positioning would work very effectively, why wouldn't it work in cases where the cultural differences are broader?"
This number represents the collective career batting average of all non-pitchers inducted into the Major League Baseball hall of fame. Do you know what that means? Seven out of ten times, these celebrated athletes made an out. If you sold media at the rate of 0.303, you would be in the media sales hall of fame (if there were one). If one calendar year was a "season" and you landed three out of every 10 accounts you called on, and you actively called on 33 accounts in a year, you would have 10 pieces of running business. Ten running accounts may not sound like a lot, but if those "hits" averaged $300,000 per account, you would have $3 million a year. This should put you well north of your quota, a big smile on your manager's face, and a nice-sized check in your pocket at the end of the "season." Revenue per running account is impacted by how well you have positioned your property for a piece of business and the size of the budget you chose to allocate your selling efforts against. However, before you can focus on increasing the revenue per running account, it is essential that you focus on hitting 0.303 so you have 10 pieces of running business in which to develop. So what is the key to batting 0.303? Ironically, it is not your hits, but your misses. The challenge is not getting three hits, as much as it is making sure you get your 10 at bats. We in sales always tend to make the same mistake of counting on (or praying) we bat a thousand on all the proposals we have submitted. However, that kind of wishful thinking is what will always get you in trouble. Having 10 active account opportunities on your plate at all times is a skill you need to develop in order to bat 0.303. Developing 10 accounts simultaneously takes a lot of effort, creativity, and diligence, but most of all it takes a white board. If you do not have a white board in your office area currently, I suggest you run out to Staples after reading this column and purchase one. Your white board should have your top 10 accounts listed so that when you show up to work on a Monday morning, you are quickly reminded of where your focus belongs. Detailed next to these 10 accounts should be a communication plan for each piece of business. Written out should be sales calls you have scheduled and calls you need to secure along with dates you have promised to follow up. Planned drop dates for mailings should complement your communication strategy along with a schedule of entertainment events. All of this may sound a bit anal, but I assure you, writing out your communication goals for your top opportunities ensures they will occur and helps you prioritize your efforts (it also looks very good to any of your bosses who may peek into your office). The mistake sales people often make is not refreshing these 10 accounts each month. If an account has been won, celebrate and move it to another list of "running business." If an account has been lost, and you determine it is not as winnable this "season," take it off your list and replace it with a new opportunity. If you are having trouble finding a replacement opportunity, then this exercise in itself has alerted you to the fact that you need to spend more time cultivating new prospects. The goal of this white board workout is to make sure you are going after enough accounts that you can experience the losses. Losing business never feels good, but by giving yourself the chance to lose out on a piece of business, you benefit both consciously and subconsciously from the experience, much in the way a hitter learns every time they make an out. The lessons of losing business helps you anticipate future objections so you can adjust your swing and make better contact the next time around on that account or a future account. So in essence, you win for losing but that only happens when you work hard enough and smart enough to ensure you get enough appearances at the plate.