The Procter & Gamble and NBC joint venture Petside.com is getting a redesign that includes new features like Pet Places, an online and mobile database of pet businesses in cities around the country. The new site will have six new channels that include new community functions and new sections around pet nutrition, budgeting and living green, and blogs from pet experts. The site is also introducing a mobile app for iPhones and Android-enabled devices. Procter & Gamble and NBC Digital Networks have collaborated since 2007 on several Web properties designed to reach underserved communities while giving both P&G brands as well as non-P&G (and non-competitive) brands a "white space" to market products. The first of the NBC Digital and P&G Productions sites were Petside.com, and DinnerTool.com followed by a set of boomer-centric lifestyle-focused Web sites called "Life Goes Strong" on NBC Digital Networks that went live last year and now comprises seven lifestyle channels. P&G brands advertise on the sites, but the company does not have an exclusive relationship with NBC Properties. NBC does the editorial content and runs day-to-day operations of the sites. Rich DelCore, P&G's director of global brand entertainment and VP of its Productions unit, says one impetus that set the company looking for new media platforms was the demise of soap operas that P&G has historically been involved with -- "Guiding Light" and "As The World Turns." "We saw that there were white spaces online where consumers weren't being served and after that we launched PetSide.com with NBC Digital. And we started looking at other places where we felt there wasn't a lot of great content or communities." DelCore says both NBC and P&G promote the sites: NBC with its sales force and P&G through its communications planning agencies, such as Carat and Starcom MediaVest, under the aegis of each relevant P&G brand. "Once a year we brief our planning agencies under the brands on what we can do and what they might want to do with these sites. But we don't mandate participating at all. We really try to keep this agnostic. We are pitching to our own brands just as NBC might be pitching the sites to other advertisers." DelCore says the network of sites get 1 to 1.5 million uniques and 4 to 5 million page views per month. "We are on the glide path to where we want to be," he says. "The company is constantly looking for ways to touch consumers who are undeserved or not being served at all: Hispanics, Boomers, moms, both with information and entertainment." Devin Johnson, general manager of Digital Works at NBC Universal, says the company is promoting the sites through a three-pronged approach: cross-promotional efforts across NBC properties and assets, search engine marketing, and communications through P&G's own assets such as Eukanuba's Puppy Kits. Brand integration on the sites is mostly focused on driving interest in P&G's ancillary brands -- those that aren't directly related to pets. "So the original plan was focused on (P&G's) Iams and Eukanuba, but we found lots of other brands had potential within that context, like Swiffer, Bounty, and Bounce." He says P&G gets first right of refusal in terms of going outside of its own brands. "Then we can extend to other pet brands." The broader idea, he says, is to turn the traditional media model on its head by creating a private-label, sustainable digital business for a brand. "So we are basically enabling P&G to be in the media business. Where they have a very distinct target they want to reach, we assist them in creating those platforms. Instead of us going to a company and saying we have created a platform, and 'would you like to advertise on it,' we are saying let's create content together -- a platform that walks a fine line between the consumer's interests and brand need; that's our secret sauce: a property for the brand and also a distinct value for consumers." Johnson says NBCU is talking with other major companies, and that "The idea of sustainable digital businesses is resonating with others. This is the future: allowing brands and media companies to partner to build assets."
Advertising revenue for TV stations slowed down considerably in the first quarter of this year. But much of this was expected. Fifteen publicly owned U.S. media companies reported revenue growth of 1.2% in the first quarter of 2011 to $1.15 billion compared with Q1 in 2010, according to New York City-based media investment company M.C. Alcamo. Much of this softness comes as predicted, given this is an "off-year" -- no Olympic programming and less political advertising money fueling station coffers. Years ago, revenue growth zoomed throughout 2010 -- up 20%, and more for many TV station groups. For the first quarter, "the industry had a respectable revenue growth rate," says Michael Alcamo, president of M.C. Alcamo. By way of comparison, revenue growth grew 15.3% for broadcasters in the first quarter of 2010 over the same period in 2009. The fourth quarter of 2010 rocketed up 27.1% over the fourth quarter of 2009. Good news for stations and other media companies is that their cash flow has remained fairly robust. Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) slipped just a bit to 31.2% from 33.9%. Sinclair Broadcast Group continued to have the biggest margins among all media companies: 42.2% in the first quarter. "People expect more profit weakness in the first quarter after a strong political year," says Alcamo. "Also, the first quarter is weakest for retail." Alcamo says the seven pure-play broadcasters (Belo Corp., Lin Television, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Fisher Communications Group, Nexstar Broadcasting Co, Entravision Communications, and Gray Television) showed first-quarter revenue growth of 2.2% to $645 million. Eight other "integrated" media groups -- those with magazine, newspaper, radio and other media platforms -- were virtually flat (a 0.1% decline) to $508 million. Those eight include: McGraw-Hill Cos., Media General, Gannett Co., Journal Communications, Saga Communications, E.W. Scripps, and the Washington Post. Some of the biggest individual revenue gainers included: McGraw-Hill's broadcast group, a revenue improvement of 10.2%; Fisher Communications, up 7.3%; and Sinclair added 7.2%. More good news for TV stations: TV advertising categories remained steady for the first quarter of this year, says Alcamo. Also benefiting media companies is the growth of "issue political advertising," which is evolving into a year-long ad category. "Issue advertising is going to be part landscape," he says. "It won't be as cyclical."
TiVo continues to amass digital video services -- this time Hulu Plus -- to keep its time-shifting service top of mind. TiVo Premiere has added Hulu Plus to its 3 million TiVo subscribers, who also have access to Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon Instant Video and YouTube services. TiVo subscribers can get Hulu Plus for the same price point as broadband users -- a $7.99 subscription fee per month. However, the new offering will not be available to those TiVo services via cable system operators' set-top boxes. The Alviso, Calif.-based TiVo continues to tout viewers who increasingly are streaming video. TiVo says numbers increased to 41% in the fourth quarter of 2010, with TV programs per user going to nearly nine episodes in the last three months of 2010. That's up from 37% -- 6.41 programs --- streamed in 2009. Tara Maitra, senior vice president and general manager of content services and media sales for TiVo, stated: "I've watched with great admiration as Hulu has built an impressive business by offering up some of the world's greatest entertainment content on demand." The TiVo-Hulu Plus connection has been a long time in coming. Last September, TiVo announced it would be offering Hulu Plus. In addition, the marketing of TiVo-Hulu Plus has been activated, running in Best Buy stores.
Semantic technology start-up Bluefin Labs has begun testing tools for marketers to monitor and measure TV's influence via social media. "Marketers and TV networks are looking to us to understand how their audiences are responding to ads and shows on TV, and we are able to provide them with data in near real-time," said Deb Roy, MIT professor and CEO of Bluefin Labs. Initial partners from the worlds of marketing and media include Best Buy Co., Inc., Mars, Humana, Razorfish, SS+K, Hill Holliday, Dentsu and Fox Sports. Bluefin plans to debut the general availability of its first product this summer, and offer advertisers and agencies an automated platform for deriving insights from the interplay between TV and social media. The company says its technology can interpret audience responses and pinpoint what people are reacting to down to specific scenes, characters and single words. "We are solving a problem that has eluded TV for more than 60 years: how to measure actual audience engagement and not just simple media consumption," Roy said. Indeed, Bluefin Labs believes it can demonstrate exactly how TV shows and commercials affect audience response, sentiment and intent. If accurate, marketers can therefore use Bluefin's data to understand audience engagement with TV ads. The data could also provide them with a view into which TV networks -- even which specific TV shows -- garner the highest levels of audience engagement via social media response. Officially launched in February, Bluefin says its technology platform has a view into over 3 billion public-facing social media comments each month, tied to a continuously growing video fingerprint archive of over 200,000 TV show and commercial airings. The platform ingests and takes video "fingerprints" of 43 U.S. TV broadcast and cable networks currently, with plans to achieve full coverage of all shows and commercials in the national market by early 2012. Building its staff, Tom Thai recently joined Bluefin as vice president of marketing and business development. Previously, Thai led marketing teams at Google and CBS Interactive. Most recently, he was vice president of strategic development at AOL. Also, Anjali Midha recently joined the team as director of customer insights. Prior to Bluefin, Midha served as vice president of strategy and analysis at Digitas. Backed by Redpoint Ventures, Lerer Ventures and a grant from the National Science Foundation, Bluefin Labs has raised over $8 million since mid-2009.
At least in the near long-term, CBS appears confident it can continue to grow ad dollars even as ratings decline. CBS CFO Joseph Ianniello said Tuesday the network delivers largely unmatched reach, along with an environment that advertisers covet, and they will pay a premium for both. "Advertisers pay for what they're associating their brands with, so they know what they're getting when they buy the CBS schedule," he said at an investor event. For the season wrapping now, CBS leads ABC and NBC -- the two other networks that must program 22 hours a week in prime time -- in the 18-to-49 demo, although its ratings are down year-over-year. But Ianniello, from an investor standpoint, was much more bullish on CBS' ability to grow with non-advertising streams, notably collecting carriage fees for its local stations and its affiliate body. He laid out a current framework: CBS-owned stations are receiving about 50 cents a subscriber per month from cable, satellite and telcoTV operators for about $250 million. It will only grow, as should the payments from affiliates. Ianniello said the runway ahead is akin to what cable networks had when they launched and affiliate fees were minimal. CBS also has opportunities with emerging platforms, globally and with its local assets, he noted -- which include TV stations and radio outlets, where it is creating local hub Web sites. Capabilities there include Groupon-like functions.
Viewers pay more attention to online video ads than to traditional TV commercials and also recall them better, according to new research that utilized Affectiva's facial tracking algorithms and second-by-second biometric modeling of cognition, excitement and stress levels. The research measured the reactions of 48 viewers watching one hour of programming in Interpublic Group's West Coast IPG Media Lab. Conducted by the Media Lab during March in conjunction with video ad network YuMe, the study determined that on average, online viewers pay more attention to the screen than do traditional TV viewers -- and the greater attention levels carry over to advertising. Online video ads received 18.3% more viewer attention in the study than TV commercials -- a much higher disparity than the 8.5% greater viewer attention garnered by online video content over TV content. This was largely due to the finding that when transitioning from program content to ads, the attention of TV viewers dropped off three times faster than that of online viewers. While fast-forwarded ads, such as those recorded on a DVR, were partly to blame, IPG and YuMe found a much larger cause to be "the familiar cadence of TV content." Conversely, the study found that "systemic disruption" caused by online video's "unpredictable ad cadence and forced, short bursts of video ads (rather than predictable ad pods) appears to help decrease ad avoidance behaviors without causing consumer backlash..." In fact, DVR users were found to pay higher-than-normal attention to commercials because they were concentrating on skipping them -- but their later recall was actually lower. "DVR users were 38% less likely to correctly recall the brand for any TV ad they saw, aided or unaided, compared to non-DVR users," the study found. For TV viewers overall, paying attention during commercials had no effect on whether they could or could not remember them or recall them unaided. And those who recalled ads when aided actually had below-average attention scores. But online viewers who paid attention to ads later recalled them, with online video ad recall twice as high as TV ad recall -- "offering proof that recall and attention correlate," according to IPG and YuMe. Both TV and online video content had plenty of competition from other media during the study, most notably smartphones. The 48 viewers studied had been surveyed a week earlier to determine how they normally watch TV, then told to bring with them what they needed to recreate their "normal" TV viewing experience. They showed up at the Media Lab not only with phones, but with laptops, games, magazines, food, makeup and even a guitar, IPG and YuMe said. Other predetermined distractions were also available -- from DVRs stocked with participants' favorite shows to their own email and IM programs. All these off-screen distractions hurt attention levels more during advertising than during program content. As the study summary put it: "If given the chance to avoid ads, most people will." Yet while distractions affected both online and regular TV viewing, with over half of video viewers said to have had a second screen active during commercials, the distractions hurt TV to a larger extent -- with 62% of TV ads avoided while they played, compared with 45% of online video ads. Also, 17.5% of TV ads were fast-forwarded. "DVRs hurt TV advertising in a way that has not yet come to online video," according to the research summary. "Compared to TV, online video is measurably better at delivering ads that are impossible to skip technologically and impractical to skip behaviorally." A final conclusion: "normal ratings data is not nearly complex enough to measure how chaotic and highly individualized media consumption is."
Choice Hotels International is uniting its portfolio of hotel brands in a campaign that focuses on the hotel chain's booking site. The effort, which demonstrates the brand's dedication to value, is the first work from Southfield, Mich.-based new agency Doner, which won the $40 million consolidated account in December, beating out Chicago-based Leo Burnett. The company's Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Suites, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn brands serve guests worldwide. Choice Hotels is a true "brand of the people," said Bruce Dincin, senior director of marketing and advertising for Choice Hotels. "This campaign is a reflection of our commitment to listening to our guest's needs and desires and giving voice to the average value seeking the American traveler," Dincin tells Marketing Daily. The campaign, which broke May 19, includes nine total broadcast spots. Two spots will air on national TV networks including NBC, CBS, ESPN, CNN and HGTV. The remaining spots will air online on various sites. In addition to TV and digital, the campaign includes in-hotel advertising. Creative showcases travelers from all walks of life standing on top of their suitcases as if they were standing on a soapbox declaring what they want from their travel experience. The new logo and theme line: "Your Voice. Your ChoiceHotels.com" is used throughout the campaign to demonstrate that by booking on the Choice Hotels Web site, travelers are guaranteed to receive the greatest value, easiest booking experience and lowest Internet booking rate. Silver Spring, Md.-based Choice Hotels conducts an extensive amount of research to ensure that they stay in touch with what their customers value most, says David DeMuth, co-CEO, president, Doner. "This campaign demonstrates how the brand responds to the requests of consumers and positions Choice Hotels as the leading hotel brand for the value-seeking traveler," DeMuth says. The creative executions for this campaign use the voice of the traveler to position Choice Hotels as the "brand with ears," according to Rob Strasberg, co-CEO, chief creative officer, Doner. A 30-second spot titled "Anthem" begins by showing various suitcases on the ground as people march up on each one with the voiceover: "People everywhere are taking a stand and booking on ChoiceHotels. com." A husband and wife duo stand on their suitcases in front of a lighthouse as the wife says: "Booking a room online should be easy as pie." The scene changes to a husband, wife and their daughter standing in front of a Ferris wheel at an amusement park. The husband says: "As long as I save 20%." The scene shifts to a man standing alone on top of his suitcase in the parking lot of a Comfort Suites saying: "When I save 20% on my hotel, I do my happy dance." The digital portion of the campaign includes banner ads and several landing pages to inform consumers about Your Voice. Your ChoiceHotels. com campaign, as well as Choice Hotels' summer promotion. One digital ad features a man with a button that says "Keep Him Groovin" which allows consumers to interact with the ad. Every time the button is pushed, the man does another dance and text appears to describe his dance, the "Lowest Internet Rate Rhumba," "Free Hot Breakfast Hustle," "The Up to 20% Off Tango," and "6000+ Locations Boogie."
Visa is launching a travel-themed integrated marketing campaign promoting itself as the preferred way for consumers to pay for travel. Social media engagement continues to play a significant role in San Francisco-based Visa's ongoing U.S. marketing efforts. The campaign gives travelers a new tool to share their experiences through a Facebook application, Memory Mapper, which uses Google Maps satellite technology and a person's own photos, videos and captions to chronicle a visual story of their travels for a unique keepsake to share with friends and family. With the app, consumers are able to upload photos and videos, input the locations in which each image originated, write captions, and add music to create a virtual keepsake of their adventures to share with family and friends via Facebook, email and Twitter. Additional features include exclusive travel-related merchant offers and a public gallery of recently uploaded Memory Maps. The campaign was developed to connect with travel enthusiasts and drive preference for and usage of Visa products during the peak travel season, says Alex Craddock, Visa's North American chief marketing officer. "Understanding that travel is an inherently social experience, and that consumers turn to friends and others for ideas and recommendations, and later want to share their travel experiences online with others, we've created a unique promotion and compelling social media tool that enhances a consumer's travel experience from planning to sharing," Craddock tells Marketing Daily. Additional campaign elements include national TV spot that follows the real-life Igloi family of four as they surf first on the shores of their home state of California and later in Teahupoo, Tahiti. The commercial brings the Memory Mapper to life using satellite map views of each location they visit in combination with photos and video of their dream vacation. The commercial also highlights the "Trip of a Lifetime" sweepstakes (the top prize is a $100,000 dream vacation) and encourages viewers to visit www.facebook.com/visa to engage further with the campaign. Travelers will also meet the Igloi family in a series of digital videos and banners across social networking channels such as Facebook, Flickr and Photobucket, online travel merchants and services including Orbitz.com, and popular online media channels DailyCandy and Yahoo.com. At each point of engagement, viewers will be encouraged to use their Visa card for an entry to win the sweepstakes and to use the Memory Mapper to share their experiences with their social networks.
Social engagement adds incredible value to TV shows, according to TV executives -- and by that definition Fox's "Glee" continues to take top status, especially against its socially active core viewers. In terms of page views per person, new pages/blogs created and total time spent, social community company Wikia says "Glee" is clearly a dominant TV player among young users when looking at its community area, Glee Wikia. From all this data -- in addition to comments, unique visitors -- Wikia gives "Glee" a recent 4.8 total "engagement" score. But not far behind is TeenNick's "Degrassi" at a 4.4 number; and Nickelodeon's "iCarly" at a 4.3 score. A Wikia community is a digital platform where community members write, edit and upload content. Wikia says it has some 200,000 different community areas. Wikia co-founder and chairman Jimmy Wales also started up Wikipedia and the Wikipedia Foundation. Currently, Glee Wikia pulls in around 436,000 unique visitors -- not the most unique visitors among similarly skewed shows: CW's "Smallville" (558,000) and Nickelodeon's "iCarly (477,000) have more. But looking at the activity of "Glee" visitors, the site pulls in a collective 4.1 million monthly page views a month -- easily tops among similar young-viewing shows. "Smallville" is at 2.1 million; iCarly, 1.7 million; and "Degrassi", 1.1 million. The "Glee" page view activity works out to a big 9.4 page views per person, and what Wikia says is a "collective time at peak" of 9.9 years. Wikia's calculation of its "Glee" community site has its demographic as 55% female and 61% who are between 13 and 17 years old. Other young-skewing scores: "iCarly" users average six hours, 29 minutes per month on its Wikia area; "Degrassi" is at 6:07; "Glee" at 5:58; and HBO's "True Blood," 4:52. In terms of average monthly comments, "iCarly" is at 10,545; "Glee" at 7,657; and "Degrassi" at 1,874. Wikia says compared to other "Glee" destinations, such as Fox's own official site, which pulls in some 235,000 unique visitors, it believes the Glee Wiki is bigger and more dynamic in terms of social interaction. The "Glee" season finale is airing this week.
A new Bacardi campaign is bringing it all together, in more ways than one. The "Bacardi Together" campaign features creative stressing that the rum brand is one of the great "inventions" that has served to bring people together over the course of history. In addition, the campaign brings together -- that is, integrates -- a variety of media and channels. An anchor of the new campaign is a 30-second TV spot, "Inventions," from Young and Rubicam. The spot reviews human inventions over the centuries designed to help them get together -- including fire, the wheel and light -- leading up to: "... and over a century ago, we invented Bacardi, to bring it all together." The commercial, which features Bacardi Superior Rum, the lead product in the brand's portfolio, was filmed by director Johnny Green in a variety of locations across Argentina, and features Funeral Party's "NYC Moves to the Sound of LA" as its theme track. The spot will run in prime time on national cable networks throughout the summer on leading sports and entertainment networks, including ESPN, Spike, Comedy Central, FX, TBS and TNT. Earlier this month, the brand launched outdoor and digital media executions of the "Bacardi Together" campaign in markets including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas, Dallas, Minneapolis and Chicago. These feature "Mixes well with others" messaging, reinforcing the theme of people socializing over a Bacardi cocktail. In addition, the "together" theme extends to a new Facebook and social media platform, "Like It Live, Like It Together." Consumers who visit Bacardi's Facebook page and "like" the brand can cast their votes for their top "likes" and win tickets to attend two "amazing events" shaped by their "likes" input. The events will be held in New York City and Las Vegas on June 13 and 15, respectively. The Facebook initiative, launched May 2, has already generated 160,000 new Bacardi Facebook fans, and the events are nearly at capacity, reports Billy Melnyk, senior brand manager, Bacardi rums. Fans' "likes" are "curating" the activities -- determining the talent, activities and food at the events, he says. For example, rappers Cee Lo Green and Kid Cudi will appear at the New York and Las Vegas events, respectively. Bacardi is now Facebook-posting updates on the details of the events as shaped by fans, and will video the events and post those on Facebook, as well -- "completing the loop," says Melnyk. "We've built a strong relationship with Facebook -- Bacardi's ability to bring people together fits perfectly with Facebook's social purpose," he adds. The message that it's important to make time for personal, live socializing as well as connecting online is clearly at the core of Bacardi's theme. (A "Bacardi Together Manifesto" video created by the brand's global marketing team that's on YouTube -- an experiment with viral messaging -- stresses sometimes putting aside devices and harried work schedules to meet with friends.) But Melynk points out that far from conveying an anti-technology message, Bacardi is employing technology as a "catalyst" and enabler of live get-togethers, by creating and promoting the live events through Facebook. The campaign was designed to unify the brand's product portfolio, as well as consumers, by creating both live and online Bacardi get-together opportunities, summed up Toby Whitmoyer, VP, category managing director for Bacardi rums, in a release. The TV spot and other creative elements depict daily-life scenarios and moments of celebration over Bacardi -- known for its "spirit for life" and heritage -- to which people can readily relate, he noted. "We've had great campaigns in the past, but this one really expresses Bacardi's core 'bringing people together' truth across all of the campaign's elements," adds Melnyk.
With CBS already done with its Sunday finales of a week ago, it was ABC's turn this time to grab a win -- the last Sunday night of the season -- but it came via the return of "The Billboard Music Awards." The special three-hour program grabbed an average Nielsen 3.0 rating/ 8 share among 18-49 viewers. The show was up a bit from the last time it ran -- on Fox, some seven years ago. Along with a one-hour finale "America's Funniest Home Video" at 7 p.m. (a 1.5/5), this gave the ABC network a 2.6/6. A week before, ABC was at a 2.5 rating. Fox was next with a 2.2/7, with the one-hour finale for its big 9 p.m. show "Family Guy" reaching a 3.1/7 -- the best-rated show of the night. This was, strangely, a bit lower than the 3.3 rating the show scored the week before for an original episode. "The Simpsons" finale earned a 2.5/7 -- the same numbers as a week ago. NBC rose to a 2.9/7 for its special two-hour "Celebrity Apprentice" finale -- higher than its 2.4 rating the week before. For the night, NBC averaged a 2.1/6, some four-tenths of a rating point above the week before. Now a week removed from its "Survivor" finale, CBS went into hiding a bit -- devoting a large part of the evening to its recurring special show "Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost," which grabbed a 1.3/3. CBS had a 1.4/4 for the night, versus a 3.3 rating average the Sunday before. The network tied Univision for the same 18-49 rating/share result -- a 1.4/4. The young-skewing "Billboard Music Special" did well among the 18-34 crowd for ABC, with a 2.4 rating/7 share for the evening. But it didn't top Fox, the younger-viewing Sunday night specialist, at a 2.5/8.
. . . Or is it more like selling ice to Eskimos? At the ESPN Upfront on May 17, intended to lure new advertisers to and have current marketing partners expand around the network's upcoming schedule, a packed house at the Best Buy Theater in New York was witness to some of both. Comedian Seth Meyers, who later this year will host his second consecutive "ESPY Awards" show, took a jab at the obvious. "Don't ESPN [sales executives] just say, "Nike. We good. Gatorade. We good." Probably. But it's not quite that easy to maintain and expand upon the long-running manta, "The worldwide leader in sport." So ESPN, as with any company that consumers and marketers so closely align with a specific product -- sports, in this case -- puts a lot of money into growth, movement and proactive experimentation. "Value," said Eric Johnson, ESPN's evp-multimedia sales," has never been more critical." ESPN will continue to show games and events from MLB, NBA, the NFL (more on that to follow), college football, tennis and other marketing-friendly offerings. But new options are being developed for viewers and marketers alike. As a division of Disney, it makes sense for ESPN to continue to merge sports with movies. ESPN Films will be an offshoot of the popular "30 for 30" series that launched in 2009, in which award-winning or up-and-coming directors created documentaries that told the stories behind the stories of controversial or memorable moments in sports. The X Games, created by ESPN in 1995 when extreme sports on TV were getting a lot of push back from marketers, has since proven to companies that a solid demographic of young fans willing to spend money are watching, X Games will be given a global stage, expanding from an annual Winter and Summer event to four additional events beginning in 2013. Sean Bratches, ESPN's evp of sales and marketing, offered the statistic, "We have 2.2 million people every day using an ESPN app." That was a jumping off point to expound upon the recently launched WatchESPN application, which enables computers, smartphones and tablets to stream live shows from across the ESPN family of networks. Potential advertisers were told that WatchESPN later this year will be running commercials. ESPN made its pitch to Hispanic consumers and marketers, talking about the growth of ESPN Deportes. That will include its first original scripted series, "El Diez," as well as other new programming to attract a burgeoning fan base. ESPN's Nascar coverage will also be morphing to placate both viewers and advertisers via "Nascar Non-Stop." Updating a format initiated elsewhere during coverage of non-stop soccer matches, ESPN will offer a split-screen so that commercials can air without cutting away from on-track action. The NFL situation was addressed, in particular with regard to ESPN's investment in "Monday Night Football." The feeling touted to marketing partners was a cautious but optimistic, "There will be a resolution between owners and players, sooner rather than later." Not directly addressed but alluded to throughout the presentation was ESPN's current attempt to win U.S. broadcasting rights to the Olympics, currently held by NBC through the Summer Games in 2012. As a wrap-up, current marketing partners such as Taco Bell, Phillips-Van Heusen and Edible Arrangements explained how they as marketers usually not associated with sports have attracted consumers by being part of the ESPN machine. ESPN then rolled out the Laker Girls, the University of Oregon and University of Connecticut mascots, New York Jets "No. 1" fan Fireman Ed and skateboarder/businessman Tony Hawk to liven things up. Just in case the "choir" was bored or the "Eskimos" still weren't interested,
At Google, Jim Lecinski, managing director of U.S. sales, became known as the thought leader for the concept of the "zero moment of truth" (ZMOT). It's an offshoot of the Procter & Gamble's (P&G) concept of "the first moment of truth," which describes the first few seconds consumers spend in a store aisle. Lecinski wrote an ebook that Google will publish in June titled "Winning the Zero Moment of Truth." Along with companion videos uploaded to YouTube, the book explains why marketers should pay attention, and how the concept influences the sale of products and services. The second half of Lecinski's ebook describes seven recommendations and best practices to succeed at ZMOT. It also goes into detail on practical applications beyond consumer products goods, which P&G focused on. MediaPost: What are some practical applications for ZMOT beyond CPG? Lecinski: We commissioned research through Shopper Sciences, which took a look at 11 product categories. Among the categories were financial services, CPG, healthcare, automotive, and elections. We asked for quantitative data as to what goes into the decisions to purchase products. The research firm grouped together more than 50 factors based on classic stimulus, ZMOT and at the point of purchase. They measured the level of influence in the purchase process, and found all three about equal. Most marketers focus a lot on stimulus and on the point of purchase, but not on ZMOT. But consumers are equally considering all three before making a decision. Even when considering someone to vote for during an election. Voters will go to a search engine and enter keywords such as "policies" and "positions" to learn about what the candidate does. (Search provides that first ZMOT for nearly every topic category.) MediaPost: How do you know that first stimulus is the impetus for the moment of truth? Lecinski: Google has many free tools, and we illustrate how to do this in the book. For example, you know when you start typing in a search and Google completes the query with suggestions in a drop-down box. You type "dog food r" and the auto suggest will come back with "dog food ratings," "dog food reviews," "dog food recalls," or "dog food recommendations." Those are four zero moments if you're in the dog food category. The first step is identifying the zero moments. So, if you want to know how prevalent each can become, the searchers can take "dog food reviews" and put it in Google's free keyword tool to determine in a specific geography how many times that zero moment occurred each month. The second step is identifying when they show up. To do this, take the brand, product and category to determine what consumers use to decide on the purchase. All this is done before consumers show up at the dog food aisle at Wal-Mart. In the B2B space the decision process often times occurs during a face-to-face sales meeting, but even before that meeting those attending will type into a search engine words that describe the event to research the topic. Are you there? Do you show up in the search results? If not, it makes it difficult to win in the sales meeting. MediaPost: How does this relate to traditional marketers? Traditional marketers thought of search engine marketing, social marketing and video marketing as a direct response strategy. If I'm Amazon and someone types in "kid's books 10% off," the content should show up in search results. For stuff not sold with a credit card online -- whether elections, dog food or jet engines -- what's happening is buyers continue to get smarter with online searches before the point of sale. We once did this offline with a few categories in Consumer Reports way back in the day. As disposable income gets tighter, consumers can't afford to make a mistake, so they continue to transfer the pre-purchase decision-making process online.
I have the privilege to teach graduate students at one of New York's fine educational institutions. I say privilege because one of our fundamental classroom principles is that the students and "teacher" have a responsibility to each other over the course of the semester. Each of us has to learn from the experience. The classes are in the evening and we've both spent the day working at our professions. We're there because we want to be there. Over the semester we cover finance and marketing, ethics and management. There is one topic however, that brings engagement and the phrase "lean forward" to real life. The topic is leadership. These student/professionals are bright, they're ambitious and they have an instinct that something is missing in their daily work environment and perhaps even in their standard curriculum of learning. The missing piece is leadership. They are aware that we live and work in a time where fundamental forces are changing. They are also aware (think Egypt) that the technology they grew up with is at the heart of so much of the change. They see an opportunity to seize the moment, partly because of their familiarity and innate understanding of things others consider complex and technical. They want to lead -- and they've been taught, actually conditioned, to believe that there's a technique, an app, for that too. When you study leadership, it's easy to get mired in the traits that make up leadership, the styles, the 10 steps to being an effective leader. And I'm certainly not diminishing the literature; in fact, I've been adding to it. It's critical to have a framework and a set of ideas from which to begin. And like other important parts of our lives that define who we are, leadership characteristics are both inherent and learned. What we have discovered however, is that those attributes within us need to be triggered, "turned on" by something. What is that something? Very simply, it is the assumption of responsibility. That's the spark. That's what causes the entrepreneur to do what he or she does, the (noble) political leader, the line manager, the captain, the coach. The realization that it's up to me to lead, to achieve the goal for which I am responsible. Leadership does require intelligence and vision and discipline. But these traits and the techniques to employ them are only useful when we discover and embrace the first principle: that I'm in charge of this outcome. This can be revelatory in a classroom, or in any other venue we choose. There may be an "app" for leadership, a methodology, but there's an important commitment that comes before its effective use. This is a subject that impacts us all. What are your thoughts? What should we require of our leaders? What does leadership require of us?
Advertisers: The buying and selling part of the upfront is commencing, and Facebook wants your TV money. According to a recent report, Facebook has been looking to recruit big veteran TV sellers. No, Facebook won't be running "Glee" or "Modern Family" episodes anytime soon. It has other stuff to sell: like viewers talking about TV shows. Through the ages, TV has been a big target for new media platforms. Newspapers have been in the sightlines as well, yielding digital providers way better results. TV is a different story. Many new video and other platforms have gone up against traditional TV networks and failed. They've then seen the strangest thing: TV's share of advertising increasing. Before you talk about cable networks being a big piece of the puzzle, remember that many of the biggest, most mature cable networks have been hit with familiar-looking viewer erosion that has been plaguing the broadcast networks for a long time. It goes deeper. Media agency and TV sales executives continue to remind clients that TV still works as the big, splashy way to sell product and build brands - and that's the reason why the expected average price per thousand viewers is pegged to aggressively climb anywhere from 8% to 12%, depending on the network, during this upfront period. So here comes Facebook, a social media platform reaching some 600 million people worldwide, as a big gate crasher at the upfront ball. And it has some extra, and perhaps unexpected, leverage: the endorsement of TV and media agency sellers. Executives have been talking about how Facebook, Twitter, and others -- with their instant and deeply engaged social network users -- have been instrumental in keeping networks and programs top of mind. It make sense for Facebook to make the next step, luring TV-minded advertising executives to its camp, with the goal of going after some seven-figure, TV-like media deals. But some facts bespeak perspective. CBS says, for example, that Facebook users' time only amounts to 25% of the time that regular CBS consumers spend with its network each month. Facebook aggregates 42 billion minutes from 151 million unique U.S users, compared with 210 million minutes from CBS's 240 million or so total viewers per month. Still Facebook is big. How big? PBS big, that's how much. (Ah. PBS doesn't take regular advertising, right?). Yes, we get the picture. Facebook is still big and influential, perhaps more than many other digital platforms. Thus it needs to raise the bar, to distinguish itself to the bigger money in the room. Are you impressed -- or do you need the impressions?
On May 9, 1961 FCC Chairman Newton N. Minow, an appointee of President Kennedy's administration, delivered his historic speech to the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, DC. The speech is best known for two words he uttered in reference to the programming found on TV stations nationwide: vast wasteland. The term became a cultural touchpoint for critics of television, and remains so to this day. If you listen to the entire speech, you'll see that "vast wasteland" was not intended to be Minow's career catchphrase. In his 1999 Archive of American Television interview he reiterates that. His point was: In 1961, the major networks and affiliates controlled much of America's television content production and distribution using the airwaves, which were granted to the networks by the people of the U.S. In his opinion, much of that content, although highly rated, was not necessarily in the "public interest" - particularly when it came to children's programming. "I believe that most of television's problems stem from lack of competition," Minow stated in the speech. "This is the importance of UHF to me: with more channels on the air, we will be able to provide every community with enough stations to offer service to all parts of the public. Programs with a mass market appeal required by mass product advertisers certainly will still be available. But other stations will recognize the need to appeal to more limited markets and to special tastes." He then discussed his goals of widening of distribution through more channels on UHF, satellite transmission and public television - all things that came to fruition soon after. He left his chairmanship early (after two years), but he certainly made his mark. Last week, 50 years to the day later, Minow took the stage at The National Press Club, along with current FCC chair Julius Genachowski. What a difference 50 years makes! Content is practically unlimited (Minow fessed up to having a smartphone and a tablet) and the public has plenty, if not too much, to be interested in from a content standpoint. And, of course, Minow still feels that his speech was misinterpreted. Also, almost 50 years later, current FCC chair Julius Genachowski gave his keynote at the 2011 NAB Show in April. Did he coin a new phrase? Inspire a national dialogue? State more than the obvious? Hardly. The speech centered on how broadcasters will need to embrace new platforms, and, at the same time, relinquish pieces of the broadband spectrum (yes, the same publicly owned spectrum Minow was talking about) to make way for mobile and DTV. How will the public interest be "served" this time? His answer: by adding lots of money to the U.S. Treasury from the auction of these valuable airwaves -- and through the promise of new jobs in the burgeoning wireless industry. Maybe the public airwaves are all-business after all, or maybe the public's just lost interest....
As you may know by now, readers, I am a lifelong hoops player and fan. So you won't be surprised to learn how much I enjoyed the National Association of Basketball Coaches' Court of Honor Foundation gala last week, which honored Nike Chairman and Co-Founder Phil Knight. At the risk of sounding like a little kid, it was one heck of an enchanted evening, blending my passions for basketball, media, and accountability. The greatest minds in college basketball -- Duke's Mike Krzyzewki, Jim Boeheim from Syracuse, Kentucky's John Calipari, and many others -- convened in one room to pay homage to the man who, I would argue, made both basketball and advertising what they are today. Phil Knight started the company that would become Nike back in 1964, in partnership with his University of Oregon running coach and mentor, Bill Bowerman (who would help design the iconic Cortez, Nike's first running shoe). Knight and Bowerman shared the belief that anyone with a body is an athlete, and set out to help all athletes reach their full potential. Thus Nike was born, with Knight hanging out at track meets to sell shoes from the trunk of his car and generating $8,000 in revenue in year one. (Today, Nike does $20 billion annually.) If I were to assemble a list of the greatest visionaries of the 20th century, Phil Knight would be right up there at the top with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Knight took what might have been just a shoe company, and turned it into the first lifestyle juggernaut. What became clear during the gala was Knight's long-time appreciation of coaches and their ability to mentor, which is the key to educating today's athlete and non-athlete alike. And while Knight has been responsible for putting many an athlete on a pedestal (literally, if you visit the Nike campus), it's the coaches whom he canonizes. The gala was an embodiment of that principle. Coach K orchestrated the evening and Coach PJ Carlesimo served as emcee, with top college coaches speaking throughout the dinner about the ways in which Knight created a community among them. From the constant (though good-natured) ribbing that characterized the evening's banter I could tell that I was among a Band of Brothers. Based on the one opportunity I had to spend substantial time with Knight 10 years ago (concerning the V Foundation, named for the legendary late college basketball coach Jim Valvano), I understood the coaches' affection for Knight. Hall of Fame Georgetown Coach and Nike Board Member John Thompson pointed out during the dinner that Knight always looked first at what players did "away from the ball," when they were out of the limelight. This is what Knight has embodied: clarity, conviction, and the courage to do the right thing. Courage, in this case, means accountability, but a different accountability than that we've discussed on this blog before: accountability to one's self. Those of us in the media-measurement world could stand to learn a thing or two from him. Nike, after all, might be one of the seminal television advertisers in history. Its "Just Do It" ads, Spike Lee commercials, and ads for Air Jordans -- and, more recently, the controversial Tiger Woods and LeBron James spots -- helped position Nike as a culture-defining, risk-taking brand. If the ads haven't always sold more shoes, they have created a brand proposition to entice the world. (Auto makers face a similar challenge at the moment: how best to balance lifestyle brand-building over the long term with the post-recession focus on selling cars and achieving ROI against media spend.) Clearly, the coaches are huge believers in the importance of coaching in kids' lives. The Court of Honor raised funds for Ticket to Reading Rewards, a program that encourages middle-school kids to read more outside the classroom. Talk about ROI! While I have always admired the coaches, I left the event with a new appreciation for the legacy of Phil Knight. By celebrating coaches, he has fostered a community that has made a difference. By occasionally ignoring short-term returns, he helped an industry evolve. By creating a company that was true to his vision, he put a lasting "dent in the universe."
Netflix continues to be a game-changer. But its new business model may be a reincarnation of an older formula, at least for one area of the TV business. Long known for offering older TV and movie content, the 22 million-plus-subscriber service may now look to take away one of the big pieces of the traditional syndication business: reruns. CBS programming exec Kelly Kahl recently noted that the syndication market is booming - helping to fuel the network's continuing production of original content, especially one-hour dramas. As first, I took that to mean syndication to U.S. TV stations. But, I wasn't really considering the whole picture, which also includes foreign sales, and increasingly sales via Netflix. "Hawaii Five-0" pulls in $5 million an episode on a worldwide basis. If the show costs $2 million to $2.5 million an episode, you can understand why Les Moonves, CBS president/CEO of CBS, called it extremely profitable. Even if "Hawaii Five-0" doesn't get mega-ratings (it pulls around a 3 rating among 18-49 viewers), you can see that you don't need an "American Idol" (grabbing 6 to 8 ratings) for this to still be a good business. CBS says it has averaged over a 3 rating among 18-49 viewers for five nights of the week during the past season. Right now that's good data -- and especially good enough to generate the after-market revenue where networks and studios really make hay. Recently, "TV Watch" examined a rare occurrence in syndication: HBO pulling "Entourage" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" from the market after one season because ratings were so low the national advertising generated from those series could not pay for the uplink services that digitally send the episodes to TV stations. You have to wonder -- would a bigger Netflix syndication rerun deal have been a better business decision?