General Motors is putting TV's biggest spotlight on Chevrolet and Cadillac with its Super Bowl ad buy on Feb. 5. But the mileage it gets from the game-day juggernaut comprising ads before the game, four ads in the game, and two after may well come from how the ads are integrated with the automaker's digital and social-media programs prior to, on, and after Super Bowl Sunday. Joel Ewanick, global head of marketing for the automaker, tells Marketing Daily that a major play for Chevrolet on Feb. 5 is to spark Millennials' interest through ads for the Chevy Sonic car. One of Chevrolet's three spots in the game is focused on the car. That and a second in-game spot are the capstones on digital efforts over the past weeks and months. The second ad is the winner of a global crowd-sourcing creative competition, "Chevrolet Route 66" (ChevroletRoute66.MSN.com.) The third spot is all about Chevy trucks. The Sonic ad is a mosaic of video assets from the car's digital campaign aimed squarely at younger consumers -- who, if they aren't dreaming about base jumping, skydiving, X-games, and other extreme pursuits, are watching them on YouTube videos. The ad shows extreme stunts Chevy did with the car, such as strapping a parachute to it and rolling it out of an airplane; having it bungee-jump from a stack of shipping containers (consumers could go online and move it toward the precipice with keystrokes); having a famed skateboarder drive it up a ramp and corkscrew-flip it over a giant skateboard; and use it to play music. "We have basically taken all of the digital launch videos for Sonic over the last four or five months and put them into a TV spot. Millennials will love it; the research is off the charts," he says. Ewanick says the music element will be blown out as a separate campaign featuring the ersatz band "OK Go," which also appears in the spot. In the post-game broadcast, an ad for the Sonic plays on bugs getting caught in the car's grill as it drives along. But in this spot they are deliberately jumping on the grill to get a joy ride. Ewanick says post-game viewership is no small potatoes. "We expect between 20 and 25 million will watch." The company decided to focus on the Sonic and its Millennial target rather than, say, the new Malibu for the Super Bowl because 40% of all cars sold in the U.S. will be bought by Millennials in coming years, per Ewanick. "We need to start building a relationship with them now. They will be buying cars in other segments seven years from now. It's a major strategic decision for us. Yes, we had stuff as much or more pressing, but this is a more strategic, long-term strategy for us." Ewanick says the number of views of the 34 Chevrolet Route 66 finalist spots -- submitted by indie filmmakers around the world and curated by UK-based Mofilms -- hit the stratosphere after last Sunday night. That's because Chevrolet launched a TV ad for its "Chevy Game Time App" on the Sunday night NFC playoff game between the New York Giants and the San Francisco ’49ers. According to Ewanick, that "Chevy Game Time" TV spot is doing double duty, not only driving downloads of the app (through which Chevrolet will engage fans during the game and the day after with trivia questions and prizes, including the chance to win one of 20 cars), but also driving traffic to the Route 66 site itself, where consumers are stopping to watch the ads. "It's working beautifully," says Ewanick. "[On Wednesday], we got two million views of the [Route 66 winning spot] 'Happy Grad' alone," he says. "We got six million views of the all of the ads yesterday alone." To put it in perspective, from the launch on Dec. 22 up until Sunday, the Route 66 site had garnered something over 30 million views of the 34 finalist Mofilms-sourced Chevrolet ads. But by around Tuesday, per Ewanick, that number was up to 45 million. He says views are now at around the 51.6-million mark. "That's 10% in one day. The beauty of it is, they aren't going to Facebook and clicking out to go elsewhere. They are staying in the site for a good, long time -- in the 10-minute range." For Cadillac, the company has grabbed prime positioning in the game to introduce the Cadillac ATS to viewers. The car, which Cadillac unveiled in Detroit early this month, competes in a critical high-volume region of the luxury market that pits Cadillac for the first time directly against BMW 3-Series, Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class cars. The ATS ad, at the two-minute warning point where viewership potential is at its highest, eschews humor for a straightforward performance play. The ad, "Green Hell," has the Cadillac ATS screaming around turns on the German Nürburgring test-drive circuit. "We are going to the heart of Germany, right on top of BMW," says Ewanick. The ad says that if people doubt the ATS performs as well as advertised, "tell them to go to Green Hell [the grass-flanked Nürburgring.]" "This car is strategically the most important in our history," says Ewanick, adding that the ATS effort will include a new web site featuring video content about the car's development and manufacturing. The campaign will roll out through the spring and into the Olympics. General Motors, a lead sponsor of the summer games, will promote Chevrolet for about 80% of the automaker's media commitment there. The automaker is also going on the offensive to promote the Chevy Volt gas/electric car. Most of the Volt effort is serious in tone and political in import. It includes an open letter from GM's CEO Dan Akerson in major papers this week and a new spot touting the car's virtues as a community builder and symbol of American technology know-how. But a post-game ad for the car takes a humorous turn, with aliens showing up in a guy's garage at night to steal his technology. The guy, it turns out, is used to these extraterrestrial intrusions. Says Ewanick: "We are going to be talking a lot in coming weeks about what the car means, in terms of innovation and technology to us, to the city, the state, and the country. We will talk about why the car is so safe, its features in the car, the fact that it earned the highest crash test rating you can get, and we'll just hammer it home over the next couple of weeks. We are explaining that this is the next logical step in electrification of the automobile.”
As a pioneer in the mobile media space, ESPN has long seen the value of reaching fans on-the-go with sports scores, video highlights and specialized apps to feed their passion. But rather than view mobile as the oft-described “third screen,” the sports media powerhouse refers to it as the “first screen,” according to Michael Bayle, VP and general manager of ESPN Mobile. In a keynote talk Thursday at MediaPost’s Mobile Insider Summit, Bayle explained that instead of determining how to shoehorn its programming from traditional media to mobile platforms, the process is now reversed, with mobile becoming the starting point. “What’s taking preference now is to try to get as ubiquitous as possible. Program and design from the mobile standpoint first, then extrapolate what could be applied for the PC, television and print experience,” he said. Driving that heightened emphasis on mobile is that it represents ESPN’s fastest-growing audience. Bayle pointed out that its mobile audience across its mobile properties has surpassed 20 million, with users spending 45% more time with ESPN mobile content in 2011 than the prior year. ESPN Mobile now ranks as the company’s fourth-largest network and it has 150,000 people plugged into its mobile offerings at any given time. “Particularly from an international standpoint, [mobile] is the primary way we reach an audience,” said Bayle, adding that ESPN Mobile has grown into a full-service content and commerce provider. But more isn’t always necessarily better. One of Bayle’s initiatives since joining ESPN last fall has been to reduce its focus to a handful of apps from the scores of titles released in recent years. That means the strongest focus on apps would be dedicated to Sports Center, collegiate sports, sports fantasy leagues, ESPN the Magazine and international sports like soccer and cricket. He noted that apps overall still account for the vast majority of the company’s mobile usage, although the embrace of HTML5 programming should swing the balance back in favor of the mobile Web in the coming years. ESPN’s mobile strategy is seen in terms of “bridges,” connecting people to its broader digital offerings, TV and mobile commerce. Mobile is the gateway to other screens and media formats. It also embraces social properties, like Twitter and Facebook, to distribute content more widely and allow fans to connect around live sporting events and hometown teams. When it comes to TV, part of the goal is to capitalize on two-screen viewing and the gradual shift toward interactive television. As an example, Bayle pointed to a new partnership the network unveiled today with Shazam that allows Winter X Games viewers on ESPN to use the Shazam smartphone app to access video highlights, photos and even music from the event. Conversely, ESPN also wants to leverage mobile to encourage television viewing through news updates and alerts about live events that might prompt people to reach for the remote. In the same vein, ESPN increasingly wants to infuse mobile content with transactional opportunities. Through a deal with StubHub, it allows fans to buy event tickets as they’re browsing upcoming schedules or information about their teams. It’s all about encouraging an impulse buy while people have mobile phones in hand, says Bayle. He sees m-commerce, in fact, as potentially the biggest draw for marketers. Bayle says it's "the catalyst that finally breaks through the 'why do I invest in mobile,' which many agencies are scratching their heads about." Given its focus on cross-platform programming, ESPN also takes an integrated approach on the ad side. Sponsorships are typically sold across digital, print, television, mobile. For an advertiser that can't afford a TV buy, Bayle says, mobile may be a way to reach ESPN’s male-skewing audience at lower cost.
TRA Inc, the marketing analytics company that merges media and consumer purchasing data, has announced a deal with Experian Automotive, to create something called TV Auto Ratings. The new software will enable advertisers to target networks and programs that best reach desired consumers -- matching automotive registration data with television tuning data at the household level. The single-source database will have a panel size of 700,000 homes. The service will match TV tuning to automotive registration data from Experian Automotive’s vehicle database. TRA says this Web-based service will dramatically improved the precision and accountability of the media-buying process. The new software is a product extension of TRA's main Media TRAnalytics software brand. Mark Lieberman, chief executive officer of TRA, stated: “Television networks can go to market and sell against the most accurate value propositions available today. By placing advertisements on the right networks within the right programs, we are establishing a new standard for targeting, measurement and accountability in the automotive category.” Back in September 2010, TRA announced a feature to measure the impact of TV ads on auto sales, combining aggregated automotive ownership data from Experian’s Auto Market Statistics product with TRA’s own TV set-top-box database. TRA’s Media TRAnalytics matches second-by-second TV tuning data from set-top boxes in 2.2 million households with consumer purchase data for consumer products, over 500,000 single-source homes, and pharmaceutical products, more than 900,000 households.
Suzuki is back in the Super Bowl this year with a regional buy focusing on its core cold-weather markets. Last year, the automaker did its first such regional buy in 14 markets during the Super Bowl broadcast. This year, the automaker is doubling down, putting a much more elaborate -- some of them 60-second spots -- ad in 21 markets. Again, the focus is on the all-wheel-drive version of its popular Kizashi sport sedan. While last year's ad had antagonistic snowmen attacking a Kizashi rambling through the snow, this year's ad offers a panoramic vista of the Canadian Rockies at sunset, from a frozen lake. An Inuit woman waits outside an igloo on the lake for her husband to return on his dog sled. Instead of a sled, however, he comes over the ice in an all-wheel-drive Kizashi. His passengers? His dogs. He reaches over and tunes the radio to a rap song, and he and the dogs start bobbing their heads. When he arrives at the igloo, his wife isn't pleased. Jeff Holland, director of social media and communications for Brea, Calif.-based American Suzuki Motor, tells Marketing Daily that last year's campaign brought a big sales boost in core winter markets. "In those 14 markets, we saw sales increase 54% in February, versus a 4% increase in other markets nationwide, so the spot was very well received," he says. Holland says the ad buy is especially serendipitous this year because Suzuki's biggest retail footprint and cold-weather region is the Northeast, from which Super Bowl combatants the Boston Patriots and New York Giants hail. "We shared the new ad with dealers in Denver four days ago and got a great response." He says that in addition to cities in the Northeast, the spot will run in Chicago, Dallas and Denver. Rob Siltanen, chairman and co-creative director at Suzuki's AOR, El Segundo, Calif.-based Siltanen and Partners, says the agency shot the ad outside of Calgary, Canada, on a lake covered by an 11-inch-thick sheet of ice. The actors, who speak Inuit in the ad, are indeed from that ethnic group. "This has a number of different things going for it," says Siltanen. "When it starts, you think it's perhaps a National Geographic spot, then it takes you into a rap music video place, and at the end a classic husband/wife conflict -- that he bought a car without her consent." The ad also directs viewers to the URL kizashikicks.com, and uses the tag, "Upgrade Your Ride." Holland says that after the Super Bowl, Suzuki will run the ad through March, "and we will have a follow-up campaign probably right after the Super Bowl," he adds. Suzuki doesn't have the marketing muscle to compete nationally with tier-one and -two players, so the company is taking a regional approach that focuses on major markets. "Our feeling is that if you aren't going to outspend, you have to outsmart and out-fascinate," says Siltanen. Holland says the company will also expand its Kizashi Kicks road show in summer 2012 that ties to concerts, festivals, and other events, and offers product information and test drives.
Callaway Golf is touting its 2012 product line with a new campaign that might be thought of as "extreme golf." Ads to air during CBS’ coverage of the Farmer’s Insurance Open promote the company’s line with stunts in Las Vegas meant to spotlight the power, accuracy and innovation of the new product line. The campaign, called "Epic Demo," is by Denver-based Factory Design Labs. One spot has PGA Tour pro Alvaro Quiros using Callaway's RAZR Fit Driver to fire a round 310 yards over the Bellagio fountain, complete with crowds along the Las Vegas strip. The company says forthcoming spots will feature Callaway golf-pro spokespeople like Phil Mickelson and Annika Sorenstam doing other similar shots from places like the rooftops of the Luxor and Excalibur, and the flames of the Mirage Volcano. The ad theme line is “Serious fun, serious performance.” The RAZR Fit ad will air Jan. 28 during the Famers Insurance Open telecast on CBS. A 60-second ad touts the Mirage HEX features Mickelson shooting from an elevated tee box at the edge of the Mirage Hotel’s pool. He sinks shots on two raised greens: one placed approximately 95 yards away, and another placed at 250 yards to showcase distance off the tee. The pool of the Mirage has a faux volcano that shoots fire. That provides another barrier as Michelson shoots for a floating green. Another minute-long ad, “Rooftop RAZR X,” which starts in February, touts Callaway's line of irons. Golf greens adorn the tops of the Luxor and Excalibur hotels, and helicopters are golf carts shuttling pros from one tee to the next. The campaign comprises national television, print and digital advertising, which will run from through March. The company says TV will run on networks like CBS, NBC, ESPN and the MLB Network. Print will run in the golf vertical, in books like Golf Digest, Golf Magazine, and SI Golf Plus. The company says online ads will adorn sites like PGA.com, GOLF.com, Yahoo! Golf, GolfChannel.com, GolfWRX.com, and danPatrick.com. A spokesperson for the brand says the campaign is larger than previous efforts by Callaway. "They have realigned and put more investment into the ads and marketing this year," he says. The campaign also involves "Callaway Creative Director" Justin Timberlake, who helped in pre- and post- production.
As Spanish-language networks proliferate and tout the buying power of Hispanics, new data shows weak economic indicators among the group versus the general public. At the same time, consumer confidence may be higher. Research from the Pew Hispanic Center shows that about 59% of Latinos say a member of their household has been out of work and searching for a job in the past year, compared to 51% of the general population. Furthermore, 75% say their personal finances are in “only fair” or “poor” shape, and 49% say they canceled or delayed a “major purchase" in the last year. Yet, 67% of Latinos say they expect their financial situation to improve in the next year, versus 58% of the general public. Sixty-six percent say they expect their children to have a higher standard of living than they do, compared to 48% for the public at large. Additional data shows that 24% label their personal finances as “excellent or good” versus 38% for the public at large. About 28% of Latino home owners say they owe more on their home than its saleable value, versus 14% of the general population. The phone survey from the Pew arm, conducted late last year in both English and Spanish, found 54% of Hispanics saying they have been hurt more than other groups by the troubled economy –- some 38% say they’ve been impacted as much as others. At least one estimate places the buying power of Hispanics at $1 trillion. That figure, coupled with results from the recent census showing population growth, are used by Univision and Telemundo in making pitches to advertisers. News Corp. and Colombian broadcasters RCN are launching a competitor to the two, while Univision is set to debut three cable networks.
Still looking for family entertainment on TV? "Modern Family" and shows like that might not entirely cut it. Big consumer product marketers continue to try to find new ways to promote family TV shows. But what is this really about? For almost 15 years, the Association of National Advertisers' Alliance for Family Entertainment -- a group of 30-plus major consumer product companies -- has tried to fund network script development with middling viewership results. More than 20 shows -- like "Gilmore Girls," "Chuck," "Everybody Hates Chris” and “Friday Night Lights” -- have been backed by the script-development fund. For many, "family" entertainment depends on the definition of “family.” Dated definitions might include words like "wholesome." Big consumer marketing companies, who carry a lot of clout, would say more specifically that they want more "co-viewing" television -- shows that parents and kids can watch together. That can be a difficult task. So now comes a contest to glean from ordinary people -- more or less -- what a new type of a family show might be. With networks looking more to cheap reality shows -- and less to expensive scripted shows -- it is perhaps tougher to push for "family" scripted shows that might almost assuredly garner smaller pools of viewers. For most of its run, except the last several months, TLC's "Jon & Kate Plus 8" was, in fact, a show about how a big family got along in everyday life. Then things turned ugly. E!’s "Keeping up with the Kardashians"? That's another "family" reality show, perhaps about a different kind of family. Even the likes of The CW (and its predecessors, UPN and WB) abandoned the concept of so-called family shows like "Everwood" and "Gilmore Girls." Now it offers younger-skewing shows -- like “Gossip Girl” -- that are less about traditional families. “There was a belief there’d be a momentum in the marketplace for family-friendly programming,” Robert D. Liodice, president and chief executive of the ANA, told The New York Times, adding that recently “reality programming has begun to push family programming to the back burner.” Some people -- especially when they talk about "values" -- believe "family" programming can be boring. As with much commercial television, family shows shouldn’t be about lessons, but about entertainment. In the absence of that, maybe marketers should look at the bottom line of their customers by providing better incentives -- perhaps cheaper Campbell Soup or a discount of a couple of thousands of dollars on a General Motors vehicle. Convincing networks to take more of these shows will take more work. Perhaps “family television” backers need to get more clinical and business-centric -- especially considering the continued erosion of broadcast viewers. Looking for a bigger audience? Just call it "co-viewing television."
CIMM is taking a pro-active role in advancing new media nomenclature and processes with both its Lexicon (terms and definitions associated with Set-Top Box data measurement) and Asset Identification Primer (glossary of asset terms). These documents form the basis of this, column which offers a common language for Set-Top-Box nomenclature that can expedite the rollout of the data for its many industry applications. Retention of content (Set-Top- Box Lexicon: Commercial Retention Metrics) is one aspect of engagement. But what exactly is engagement? Good question. The term has been a discussion point in the media industry for at least a decade. But even today it is not easily defined. Nonetheless that has not dissuaded us at CIMM from creating what we believe is an excellent generic definition of engagement -- whether for programming content or ads. The following are terms and definitions related to engagement, whether for all types of content or specifically commercial content: Engagement CIMM DEFINITION : The amount of attention and involvement a viewer gives to content. The greater the attention and involvement, the more likely that viewer will retain memories and will feel more predisposed to that content, whether a program, commercial, product or a video. Commercial EngagementSee also: Engagement, Commercial Retention CIMM DEFINITION : The amount of attention and involvement a viewer gives to an advertisement. The greater the attention and involvement, the more likely that viewer will retain memories and will feel more predisposed to that product that is advertised. 2 : The ability of an interactively enhanced commercial to engage the viewer sufficiently for the viewer to interact with the commercial via the Remote Control. Measured in AdWidgets via the Remote Clicks metric. (Source: FourthWall Media) Please refer to the CIMM Lexicon online at http://www.cimm-us.org/lexicon.htm for additional information on these and other terms.
Fueled by content, I exited completely energized and inspired from CES 2012. Why? Because every technology provider and hardware manufacturer highlighted their product features and innovations through content; specifically, video content. Listening to Tom Hanks talk about his new Yahoo Web series -- and how the format presents limitless opportunities -- only added to my excitement. All indicators are pointing to this being the year for Web video: Netflix’s original content deals, YouTube investing over $100 million in original Web series, Tom Hanks partnering with Yahoo on original programming -- the list goes on. Add in highly anticipated original content slates from CBS, Sony’s Crackle, Michael Eisner’s Vuguru, and you have the foundation for a game-changing year. The challenge for the buying side of the industry and advertisers remains how to find all the new content while it’s still available for investment. The television upfronts have long been the major sales driver for the broadcast and cable industries. Over the years, various Web video platforms and portals have attempted to create this same momentum. With all the recent innovations and investments in the space, this is going to be the year of the original Web television upfronts -- and I say, bring them on! Leading the unifying charge has been the International Academy of Web Television. (Disclosure: I’m the chairman of the IAWTV). With the inaugural Awards at CES, the IAWTV has taken the major step of establishing an industry awards platform to recognize and celebrate the best in Web television. You may ask – what do awards really bring to the table, aside from a shiny trophy? But as Hactivision recently wrote, awards are a necessary step in establishing “norms and values for audiences. They adjudicate quality, innovation, diversity and help raise awareness.” The IAWTV awards, with the help of YouTube and Yahoo, highlighted the most celebrated content within an international community of creators, distributors, studios and networks. Most important, the awards helped contribute to the growing sense of unity that has become so important to the web video industry. It is through unity that the marketplace will continue to manifest and deals will flow more easily. Currently our industry is hindered by a lack of sales and analysis norms. How does an advertiser find and evaluate content opportunities with so many around? With the continuing unity of creators, brands, and publishers, I anticipate a video content matchmaking platform that will provide advertisers the marketplace to discover, engage, and package scalable content. The scale and reach of original Web video content will only continue to expand. With all of the announcements that came out of CES (connected televisions, Sony’s bet on GoogleTV, immersive tablets, and smart appliances all seamlessly serving up and sharing content) video is expected to be the killer app. This will add to the growth of Web video audiences -- and even more important, the audiences for original web video. Look for an original Web series to forecast TV-like scale and reach in a single episode within a TV-like time period. Ultimately, unity means strength in numbers –- and that’s how we will grow the Web television industry beyond just projections. This is the year that Web series become the main product, and not just an extension of TV. Our numbers –- and this industry -- are growing stronger every day.
While media companies and brands should create content and services geared specifically to mobile, the panelists also agreed that mobile has a key part to play with the rise of 2-screen viewing in the livingroom to enhance what people are watching on TV. Chen said Digitas clients see &ldquo ;multi-sreen” viewing as a huge opportunity for cross-platform marketing through mobile tools and apps like Shazam, Yahoo’s IntoNow and social entertainment service GetGlue. Similarly, AKQA’s Krieger noted the agency had created an app for Heineken that lets users watching Champions League games (typically alone) to connect with friends and predict what will happen in games as they’re played.
With the nominations announced on Tuesday, Oscar Awards season formally begins. And so too does ABC’s now-annual attempt to leverage multimedia enhanced experiences for the show. Last year, the Academy and Disney/ABC issued their first attempt at a true transmedia Oscar night experience. As I said at the time, the mixed results were helped by the fact that the show itself was terrible. It planted multiple cameras on the red carpet and backstage and allowed app users and Web visitors to create their own backstage experience while watching the big show. This week, they issued the Oscars App, part two. The iPad version I have been playing with is a more evolved version of last year’s iteration. Most notably, the pre-show materials are much richer and more thoughtfully designed. Clearly. one of the things Disney/ABC learned from last year is not to rely on people remembering they have the thing on Oscar night. They have piled on videos in a handsome floating screen of tiles. Billy Crystal fans can see some of his best moments, as well as retrospectives of Oscars past. The top-level tiles actually keep track of how many of the videos you have seen, prompting you to dig even deeper. The app now has Twitter integration, allowing the user to track current discussions. The app has been gamified, as is the trend this season. Users can engage in predicting winners and sharing their picks on social networks. While I will have to see it in practice, it sounds as if the designers learned a very important lesson about options overload from last year. One of my chief complaints about the Oscar experience last year via apps was that it felt like it needed too much tending. Many of the backstage live cams were empty, and you often felt obliged to manage the many streams and chase the action backstage. All this is really a distraction from the main show. This year, they are promising two options for use: a Watch mode and Direct mode. The former seems to be more of a lean-back experience where ABC helps direct your backstage attention. The latter mode gives the user full control over their view. Trying a two-mode option sounds like a good idea, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Both in its TV division and in the film Blu-ray releases of Disney animation classics, the company has been thinking harder than just about anyone about how to modulate the second screen. The art of this will be in knowing how to enhance rather than distract -- to give people an expanded view of the programming and a way to engage socially without making them feel as if the apps are driving them. Disney/ABC tells me that the backstage videos were far and away the most popular features among users of the app last year. But the most revealing point involves engagement. iPad users had 10 times more video views and consumed almost 4 times more page views on the tablet app than they did on the Web version of the second screen experience. Engagement appears to be the tablet platform's clear strength in the digital portfolio.