Getting viewers’ attention amid the plethora of often-frantic fast-food TV ads out there gets more difficult by the day. But a new campaign from Bojangles’ Restaurants isn’t likely to go unnoticed. Charlotte, N.C.-based agency BooneOakley agency came up with three 30-second spots with humorous, over-the-top visual pay-offs fitting the outsized nature of the product launch: the chain’s Big Bo Box. Big Bo, about the size of a small moving box, can easily hold enough chicken, biscuits, “fixin’s” and iced tea for a large family, office gathering, or tailgating party (prices start at $19.99). The most startling spot – a bit surreal, in a goofy kind of way -- shows one surgeon marveling to another about how the Bo Box is big enough to feed “the whole team,” and even includes tea. Surgeon #2, expecting to make an impression, reveals that he has surgically switched his hands with his feet. Surgeon #1, pointing to the box: “[But] this holds tea!” The other two spots pivot on a “trophy wife” at a tailgating party and finding a “fountain of youth” in a home for seniors. The tailgating spot launched this month, and the “surgeons” and “fountain/seniors” ads will break in November and first-quarter 2012, respectively. The TV ads are airing in regional broadcast, including Sunday/Sunday night and SEC football, plus prime-time shows such as “Two and a Half Men,” “NCIS,” “House,” “Bones,” “Dancing with the Stars” and “The X-Factor.” Bojangles, headquartered in Charlotte, has 500-plus locations in 10 states, primarily in the Southeast (Mississippi to Florida, Washington, D.C., and north to Pennsylvania). The campaign also includes two 30-second radio spots and in-store promotions.
Daytime is Facebook time, not TV time, for most media consumers. Facebook is closing in on being a mass medium -- just like TV, according to a study by Frank N. Magid Associates Generational Strategies. More consumers use Facebook during workday hours -- 9 p.m. to 5 p.m. --than watch TV. The survey says only baby boomers are the exception -- 35% report they are watching TV, versus 26% who say they are using Facebook. Thirty-two percent of Gen Xers -- those 35-46 -- use Facebook during daytime. compared to 28% who watch television. Those 18-34 are using Facebook 44% compared to 32% for television. Teen millennials use Facebook 30% versus 24% for TV. Younger groups 8-14, which the study calls "iGens," are the only younger viewers to give TV parity compared to Facebook -- at 16% each. Things are different in prime time, where TV still dominates. Looking at 18-34 viewers/consumers, for example, 49% are using Facebook versus 24% who watch TV between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Even those hours after-work and before prime hours give the advantage to TV for these younger viewers/consumers: 43% versus 39%. Baby boomers 47 to 65 are the biggest users of TV in prime time, with a 70% number. Those 8-14 are using TV at 39%. During prime time, the greatest usage for Facebook comes from teens 15-17, at 39%. The lowest usage is among the older crowd, 47 to 65 years, at 21%.
A biologist studying shark behavior, an expedition team to the South Pole, a volunteer firerighter and an explorer rowing solo across the Pacific Ocean are out to show the rest of the world how durable labels from Brother International Corp. (yes, the things one puts on file folders and cupboards around the home and office) can be. Brother, maker of P-touch label maker, has enlisted seven “Extreme Office Ambassadors” to showcase exactly how durable the labels are in extreme work environments. The idea is that if the labels can survive some of the harshest environments, they can certainly handle regular office work. “One of the things about P-touch that’s the [differentiator] of our category is that we have durable laminated labels,” Linda Sanford, director of marketing for Brother Electronic Stationery Products, tells Marketing Daily. “We wanted to design a campaign that talks to the durability and sets us apart from everyone else.” Over the next six months, the so-called Extreme Office Test Team will use the labels in their working environments, posting videos and usage of the P-touch labels to a dedicated Web site, www.ptouchtough.com. In addition to the marine biologist, ocean explorer, firefighter and South Pole expedition, other extreme labelers will include a cross-country road-trip, solar astronomer and an adventurer crossing the Danakil Desert on foot. While the company is reasonably certain the labels will fare well over the six-month program, Sanford says she’s eager to see how they are used. “We’ve put these [labels] through controlled situations in our own environment, so we feel pretty confident they’ll hold up under these extreme conditions,” she says. “But that’s kind of the beauty of the campaign because we don’t know how these ambassadors are going to use them.” The initiative will be supported through television advertising (with a spot depicting how the labels are used in a firehouse -- although not the one to be depicted in the videos), as well as digital banner ads and social media outreach, all directing consumers to the ptouchtough.com Web site. The Web site will also profile mom and dad bloggers who have put the labels through their own rigorous household tests. The varied uses that many of these bloggers (as well as office workers around the country) have used the label makers for inspired the idea for the campaign, Sanford says. “Although we think of labels for file folders most of the time,” she says, “what we find in an office is it’s not just for file folders -- they’re also used as signage around offices.”
Now five weeks into the new season Fox is still on top among the key viewers advertisers want most -- but the race is much tighter. Fox is at a Nielsen average 2.9 rating among the 18-49 demographic to CBS' 2.8 rating. In specific viewer numbers, Fox is averaging 3.75 million 18-49 viewers in prime time to CBS' 3.60 million. NBC and ABC come next with a 2.4 average rating among 18-49 viewers. But in specific 18-49 viewer numbers, NBC is slightly ahead: 3.12 million versus 3.07 million. While critics note that NBC still suffers with most of its prime-time programming, it has been "Sunday Night Football," factored into these numbers, that keeps it in the running. CW is next with a 0.8 average 18-49 rating. That comes to a 969,000 average number of 18-49 viewers. For Fox, much of its credit this fall goes to two new shows, "New Girl" -- averaging a 4.5 rating after five weeks among 18-49 viewers -- and "The X Factor," averaging a 4.2 rating for its Wednesday performance telecast and a 4.0 for its results show. The downside for Fox is that it promised around a 6 rating or more to advertisers for the highly touted "Factor." CBS has seen strong results from Monday comedies -- new and old. A renewed "Two and a Half Men" is averaging a 7.1 rating after five weeks (although dropping in recent weeks); "2 Broke Girls" is earning a 5.0 rating; and higher results from its Thursday show "The Big Bang Theory," with a 4.8 number. Although ABC has had a slow start so far this season -- with older shows "Dancing with the Stars," "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy" drifting lower -- "Modern Family" is still going strong, at a 5.8 rating. New sitcom "Suburgatory" after four episodes is averaging a 3.2 rating among 18-49 viewers. NBC is earning a 7.4 number on average after five weeks of "Sunday Night Football." But after that, it is a long way down to its second-highest-rated show "The Office" at a 3.1 rating. "The Biggest Loser" has been a key NBC show and is off to a slow start.
Fox has added two new operators to its effort placing a soft paywall around online streaming of shows, such as “Glee” and “The Simpsons.” Mediacom and Verizon FiOS customers can view episodes the day after air, so long as they log in and prove they are paying subscribers. The shows are available on Fox.com and Hulu.com. Other people must wait until eight days after broadcast for access. Fox recently launched the authentication program with Dish Network. The initiative might help it obtain slightly higher retransmission-consent payments from operators. Verizon has already started making episodes available on VOD the day after air, while Mediacom is readying to do so. Programming -- which also includes “Family Guy” and “Bones” -- remains available for 28 days, except for “The X Factor” episodes, which stay up for three days after debuting. In addition to Fox.com and Hulu, Verizon will allow authenticated viewing on its FiOS home page.
Leave it to Steve Jobs to break tech news posthumously. There are thousands of stories out there following up on Jobs’ comment in Walter Isaacson’s new bio (and Issacson’s discussing it on “60 Minutes” Sunday) that he had “cracked the code” on making interactive television “simple and elegant.” What will it look like? Will it be as revolutionary as other Apple products have been? And what might this mean to the market and marketing? Let’s start with how much of the physical product was in Jobs’ fertile mind and how much of it is actually rooted in reality. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says he’s met with suppliers in the Far East and anticipates units rolling off their lines late next year or in early 2013. “Imagine a 40- or 50-inch iPad," says an ABC News report. “[Munster] envisions a system that understands voice commands, using Apple's new Siri virtual assistant, and spares you the trouble of fumbling with a clunky remote that always gets lost between the sofa cushions. If you want to watch an obscure movie or play a game or record the Titans game on Sunday, ask and the system will find it. No more finding the buttons to switch manually between video sources; the TV will put it on the screen for you,” writes Ned Potter. Ticonderoga Securities’ Brian White tells investors in a note that an Apple TV is “already flowing through factories over in China and in early-stage pilot and prototype production,” Neil Hughes reports in Apple Insider. White believes that, unlike the current “hockey puck” unit that’s a hard-to-resist (though most people do) $99, the new Apple TV will sell at two or three times the average LCD unit. “In addition to offering Siri [‘intelligent’ voice recognition] and FaceTime [video conferencing] on its television set, [White] believes Apple could also bring its iAd advertising platform as well, allowing developers of third-party applications on the App Store to earn more revenue with software and games written for the HDTV,” says Hughes. And its Game Center social network could also be a “natural fit.” Three sources tellBloomberg Businessweek’s Adam Satariano that Jeff Robbin, who helped create the iPod and the iTunes media store, is running the development effort. “Robbin’s involvement is a sign of Apple’s commitment to extending its leadership in smartphones and tablets into the living room, Satariano writes. But, one source tells him, it's not a done deal that the TV will be released. Indeed, PC Mag’s Peter Pachal gives us “5 Big Obstacles Standing in the Way of a Real Apple TV.” First, it’s not easy to make money making television sets (as they were once quaintly called) — prices are dropping and competition is stiff. Second, people generally upgrade their TVs about once every 10 years. Third, TVs are physically much bigger than anything else Apple has ever sold. Where will they be displayed in Apple Stores? How will repairs be handled? Fourth, who’s going to make them? Many likely suppliers are also potential competitors. Fifth, is this something that consumers really want? Pachal concludes that, despite these and other challenges, the “goal of taking over consumers' living rooms is probably worth the cost.” But, he cautions, “Apple can't enter the TV market with the same lackadaisical approach it had with its set-top box.” “In a hundred ways, an Apple television makes sense, but Apple is really leaping into new waters here -- and they're both cluttered with the detritus of devices of yore and shark-infested,” writes Kit Eaton in Fast Company. The big question is: What will we use it for? Probably a supercharged iTunes movie and TV store, for one thing, and “Apps with a capital ‘A,’” for another, Eaton guesses. Not to mention gaming. But there's one thing to remember: This device is not going to be what you think,” Eaton writes. “As with most Apple innovations, the success of the Apple television won't come down to its design alone, or its screen or any other single aspect. What you've got to imagine is the synergy of a hundred elements, not all of which are necessarily brand-new, brought together with polish and smart thinking: Classic Apple.” Need I tell you that Apple, as it generally does, refuses to comment on any of these reports beyond what Jobs uncharacteristically revealed to Issacson? Then again, maybe it wasn’t so uncharacteristic after all. “Steve Jobs was the master at ‘just one more thing,’” analyst Munster points out, “and this was his last one thing.”
Todd Cunningham, senior vice president, strategic insights and research, for Viacom Media Networks (previously known as MTV Networks), built his career starting on the agency and branding side of media and marketing. Coming to VMN has been a natural fit for Todd who can now mesh his love of music and pop culture with his love of research. In my interview with him, Todd talks about his work at VMN, cross-platform research methods, and his work for CTAM as a co-chair of the recent Insights Conference Planning Committee. The videos of the interview can be viewed here. Below is an excerpt: CW: Your networks have a unique advantage when it comes to cross platform, because they start off essentially engaged. Have you done any cross-platform measurement research that you can share with us? TC: We are beginning to get more consistently into cross-platform measurement now that there are new tools available. We are continuously testing and learning and working with partners to help them refine their products and services in this area. Over time we have been able to quantify that people do start out engaged with various platforms. That is a huge finding and something that a lot of measurement approaches don’t acknowledge. They assume that people are not engaged and that you have to earn that engagement -- that there is this giant hill to overcome. But we have found that they are in fact already engaged. We were the first media company to quantify the value of engagement across screens and have been able to prove that smaller and smaller audiences are of higher and higher value. It enabled us to apply that approach across all types of genres, all types of content, all types of audiences. One of the big learnings of that is when you set the content free and the consumer has it on their own terms, their affinity for your message or your content across all measures reaches a peak. That is when the consumer is co-creating with you. We were able to dispel a lot of threat that was being felt across the industry with this finding. CW: Many networks that target 18-49 and 25-54 have a 20- to 300year span in their audience. Some of your networks turn over audience in a matter of just a few years and yet you keep the brands fresh. How does research participate in the freshening and the tracking of the brand? TC: A lot of it comes back to commitment from the top, which I find is the key to success for a great research and insights person. Having cover from your senior management who endorses and makes sure that you and your team have a seat at the table, that you are respected, you are well resourced and certainly if you are challenged from a research perspective you are allowed to be creative about finding the kinds of things you need to find out to help grow the business. But we know that we can’t do it alone. The consumer holds the keys to a lot of solutions. In terms of being able to keep the brands fresh, having al those in research co-located with the brands who are focused on understanding those insights (from research) and translating the data into insights that work across the businesses. So we are on road shows legal, rights and clearances, ad sales etc, making sure that the research has value to all those groups. It is really a team effort and helps keep the brands fresh and informed about the evolution of their target audiences. CW: In terms of a MTV for example, where the audience may turn over every five, six, seven years, are there research techniques that tend to work well in tracking the audience and the changes in the audience through different generations? TC: That is a great question these days where the backdrop for everything has changed. All of our research teams, including MTV’s, are among the best at adapting and applying the most relevant research techniques to unearth new insights. New methodologies are great. New realities bring new opportunities. But one thing I have found in my experience is that methodologies focused on unearthing people’s motivations, their desires, their rituals and things like that which surround behaviors, will help you get to great insights. I’m honored every day to have the opportunity to work alongside such an impressive team.
Patience is a virtue -- except when you run a major broadcast network. Dave Cassaro is out as head of advertising sales for NBC Universal cable networks and Linda Yaccarino is in as senior executive of advertising sales -- perhaps in charge of all broadcast and cable ad sales operations. NBC isn't commenting just yet -- but an announcement is probably coming soon. Still, it's head-scratching time: Didn't Cassaro get through his first NBCU upfront -- to record results -- following the finally completed Comcast takeover of NBC a few months before? Yaccarino, according to reports, also had been doing well leading all entertainment advertising for Turner Broadcasting cable platforms. You can understand that a big media merger such as this takes some digestion. But there still seems to be some gnashing of teeth. Is patience wearing thin? Or is there some fat around to chew on? Just look at NBC's ratings – with the exception of the high ratings for "Sunday Night Football." After five weeks of the new season, NBC has just one show averaging over a 3 rating among 18-49 viewers: "The Office." Everything else is suffering. The new stuff? That doesn't look well either. Early in the merger process, senior Comcast leaders, including Steve Burke, now chief executive officer of NBC Universal, said it could be years before the network got back on its feet. That would mean patience. But this seems lacking in some areas -- which makes sense in a world where quarter-to-quarter financial results are under increasing scrutiny. Sure there were major changes. Early on -- just after the merger was completed -- NBC primetime entertainment shifted out its most senior marketing executive -- in search of a better message. I guess that's normal collateral damage when you have a deeply seated fourth place network. But then Dick Ebersol left as chairman of NBC Sports -- after starting NBC Sports Group. And he later came back as a consultant. In the fast-moving digital video world, especially where premium TV programs command big value, NBC could be behind the eight ball -- not just on traditional TV screens, but the new screens as well. One major condition of Comcast's deal for NBC was that it would have no management say in the direction of the likes of Hulu. After deciding to keep broadcast and cable adsales operations separate for only a few months -- with Cassaro running cable and Marianne Gambelli running network -- now NBC apparently wants one person, Yaccarino, to guide the whole she-bang, no doubt to squeeze few more dollars out of advertisers’ hands. NBC is already down a big 16% in 18-49 viewership for this season’s non-sports entertainment primetime programming. We are only in October. Better news should come, starting in February, with the second season of NBC's "The Voice," which debuted last spring to big numbers. Personalty conflicts? Changes in the corporate offices? Everyone has an opinion about what goes on. Question is: Does NBC need patience with programming, marketing, the performance of its executives, profitability, revenue expectation, management structure or something else? A suffering network means anything can change at any time. No waiting required.