Nielsen is considering changes in the dissemination of local TV ratings in its 200+ DMAs nationwide. Under the plan that hasn’t yet been approved, Nielsen would combine cable and broadcast reporting and separate wired cable ratings from other systems like satellite. These changes would take effect in the fall of 2003. Under the current system, local market reports are created after the diaries are compiled. After the local sweeps are completed and results tabulated, then Nielsen clients are sent a printed ratings book, then a CD. A few weeks later, the same reports are delivered via CD with more sources, including cable. Nielsen spokeswoman Karen Kratz Gyimesi wants to combine all the CDs released to clients into one jumbo product called the Total Viewing Sources CD. The new CD would speed up the delivery of all those services, Kratz Gyimesi said. Nielsen hopes to put on the CD two different forms of estimates, one that is based on the total market and the second for wired cable only. Currently what’s released is cable estimates that don’t distinguish between sources. This will help broadcast outlets because they’ll be able to see the wired cable viewing estimates. Cable outlets and MSOs will be able to see more of their data quicker and it will be compared to the broadcasters. “It’s going to have a benefit for everyone,” she said. Thousands of clients across the country are served by Nielsen: TV stations, cable systems, cable networks, broadcast networks and ad agencies. This will also be of interest to spot TV and cable purchasers, as they will the ratings faster. “It will really enable the agencies to put all that data, cable and broadcast, on one computer screen at the same time,” she said. The Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau voiced support for the plan. CAB President and CEO Joe Ostrow said more cable ratings will be available to advertisers on a market-by-market basis, “providing media decision-makers with a wider array of options for maximizing the value of their local TV budgets.” The Television Advertising Bureau couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.
In a move that could signal deeper sharing of reach and resources for magazines, the James G. Elliott Company announced a new magazine network called The Pro 5 Media Network. The Pro 5 Network packages rates, circulation and insertion orders for five of the country’s biggest professional journals: The American Bar Association Journal, American Medical News, (AMA); Journal of the American Dental Association, the Electrical and Electronic Engineers Spectrum and Realtor magazine. Taken separately, the publications have circulations ranging from 100,000 to 800,000. Together they represent a rate base of 1.8 million. Elliott believes his network of doctors, lawyers, dentists and other professionals will be a compelling and efficient buy for media planners. “It’s simpler, it's more economically efficient, and I believe the demographic profile represented by this network is unparalleled,” said Elliott. Whether or not his claims are true, the concept of networking has been used effectively within magazine companies for years. TimeWarner, Primedia, and Hachette have all been successful in presenting top-tier slices of their readership. Elliott believes his concept of tying professional books together from different companies is just the beginning of a new wave of networking. He expects that even consumer magazines from different owners will find advantages to networking in today’s environment. “Some consumer books have trouble navigating their internal networks,” says Elliott. “But that could be because they’re not taking the best advantage of their potential audience. We think you need to go outside the corporate framework to find the best network audience.” Opportunities? Women’s professional journals, university magazines and maybe the tech sector. After one week, Elliott says the Pro 5 network has received a good reception from agencies, but so far, no orders.
Colgate-Palmolive is in the midst of its biggest product introduction since 1998. Results are starting to pour in from the September 16 online campaign launch for the consumer products company’s new tooth whitening product, Simply White. The $60 million campaign represents the ramp up of a category that could hit $400 million in 2003. What’s more, it signifies a major shift in the role played by the Internet in Colgate’s marketing strategies from afterthought to out-of-the-gate necessity. According to Carrie Soriano, partner, group director at Y&R’s The Digital Edge, the digital media firm involved with the launch, the reason is “the Web’s ability to create relevance by employing mindset as a targeting vehicle for a new brand.” The importance placed on the Web is a bold move by the typically traditional advertiser, and so is Colgate’s choice for buzz-building: email. The success of that email campaign proves the much-maligned medium deserves a second look, despite its anti-spam driven reputation. More than targeting certain demographics, Colgate aimed to attract particular types of people while in certain modes of thought. With that in mind, The Digital Edge and Y&R 2.1, Y&R’s digital branding unit, approached Daily Candy, a website and daily opt-in email newsletter that provides trend obsessed consumers with a heads up on designer apparel sample sales, innovative beauty products, new restaurant openings and the like. Daily Candy subscribers are more than just 25-34 year olds who earn over 75K per year; they’re what the site’s senior sales executive, Marcy Swingle, refers to as “avid consumers.” “What really sets them apart,” she says, “is that they do care about trends and they do care about fashion. They want to know first.” And how did they do it? About a month before the actual Simply White product launch, when Daily Candy distributed Colgate’s sponsored email notice to its subscriber list of 140,000, offering free Simply White product samples to the first 500 people to submit requests, they couldn’t have predicted a better outcome. Within a matter of a few hours, each and every sample was taken. Plus, the niche group of influential recipients naturally want to pass along the new product gossip to their friends, creating the viral aspect that Colgate and the agencies had hoped for. A second email sent to Daily Candy’s list prompted fashionistas to print out coupons for Simply White purchases offline. The agencies also looked to target three “demographic buckets” through rich media ads placed on sites the consumers would most likely visit while in particular mindsets: Occasion Mindset (online dating sites including Match.com, party planning sites, etc.), Self-improvement Mindset (dieting sites, fitness sites, etc.), and Vanity Mindset (fashion and beauty properties including Style.com). According to Y&R 2.1’s interactive strategist, Attila Kelemen, whiter teeth are automatically associated with vanity. “The emotional draw dictated the message,” he says. That message seems to be getting across. During the first two weeks of the campaign, the overall click-through rate for all online components including email was 3.25%. Results like that just might convince Colgate that the Web and email are required weapons in its branding arsenal.
Dasani water did it. Calvin Klein and Minute Maid are doing it. Discovery Channel did it for their TV show Monster Garage. Target used to do it, and is going to again for the month of December. They are OOH advertising campaigns like you’ve never seen before. Unless of course, you ride the subway. Submedia, a 5-year-old New York based company, began selling these subterranean ads last year. The concept is similar to a flipbook. Flip the pages fast enough and the ballerina twirls around. With this ad format, flattened ads are strategically spaced out far enough on subway walls so when the subway is in motion, an animated image is seen. The ads last about 15 seconds, and can be seen from as slow as 3 mph. Each ad card is unique and encased in theft proof, vandal proof, and fireproof boxes. The first ads appeared in September 2001 in Atlanta’s Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) system. Philadelphia debuted the ads in October 2001, and New York’s PATH systems followed suit in June 2002. Saul Federman, EVP, director of sales and marketing at Submedia, says this approach to advertising is appealing to brands because it is reaching consumers when they are not expecting to be reached. “You are capturing people in an environment they are not used to seeing entertainment in. It is an uncluttered environment that reaches out to consumers in a unique way,” he says. Dasani, (a bottled water owned by Coca-Cola), was the first company to use this form of advertising in a branding campaign nationwide. Deemed a form of “Alternative Outdoor Media”, Stephen Freitas, chief marketing officer of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, says that companies are more receptive to using these new forms of advertising to reach consumers. “Submedia provides a new and unusual outdoor media format that reaches targeted consumers in a very unique way. They are part of an emerging category called alternative outdoor media. A basic characteristic of this outdoor segment is communication that reach defined demographic audiences at very specific times in their life cycle; in this case they reach people while commuting on an urban rail system.” That demographic audience is an estimated 1.1 million subway riders in NYC, 550,000 in Philadelphia, and 450,000 in Atlanta. Pricing for a one month stint runs anywhere from $60,000-135,000, depending on location. Watch out for Submedia ads in Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Washington D.C., and MTA lines in New York in the future. Target, who already ran a campaign with Submedia, returns in December with a month long campaign in all available areas - New York, Atlanta and Philadelphia. Freitas adds: “Alternative Outdoor Media is growing in prominence among advertisers since many brands are looking for more efficient ways to target specific consumer groups.”