Hillshire Farm's first creative from Y&R New York focuses on the brand’s attention to detail and craftsmanship. The campaign, themed “Greatness is in the Details,” kicks off with a 30-second TV spot in which a chef watches a timer to ensure that he'll pull a slow-roasted turkey out of the oven at exactly the right time. The voiceover: “A few extra minutes after hours of roasting seems unimportant. But at Hillshire Farm, cooking a turkey is a delicate thing. Take it out too early, and the flavors won’t sink in. But right on the dot, and the meat is silky and swimming in pan juices… It’s why every batch of our farm-raised turkey turns a mere sandwich into something…wait for it…mesmerizing. Hillshire Farm. Because it’s worth doing right.” To emphasize the brand’s “farmhouse values” while also conveying its convenience, the spot’s farmhouse kitchen setting segues into close-ups of the lunch meats being used to make sandwiches, followed by a shot of the resealable product package, and closes with a shot of a farmer leaving a Hillshire Farm barn. While the “Timer” spot represents the first step in a new marketing direction for Hillshire Farm, its theme represents a return to the “roots” and core differentiator of the nearly 75-year-old brand, says Reggie Moore, Hillshire Farm marketing vice president. “We’re shining a spotlight on what Hillshire Farm has done well for generations -- create quality meat products that can be enjoyed by the entire family,” Moore says. “As our brand and the needs of our consumers have evolved, so has the advertising.” The new spot began airing nationally and in targeted markets around the country on Sept. 17. A visual refresh of the brand's consumer site, www.hillshirefarm.com, will go live on Sept. 19.
With billions of ad dollars at stake, online video networks are fighting hard for a bigger piece of the pie. To that end, Adap.tv on Tuesday debuted a new tool, which it believes is the best way yet for advertisers to plan their online video buys. “In minutes, an optimal digital video media plan can be created, leveraging the best data sources available, such as Nielsen,” said Toby Gabriner, President of Adap.tv. “Planners can then easily buy the recommended inventory, automatically optimize the campaign once it launches, and measure its effectiveness using both TV- and online-based metrics.” Pulling out all the stops, Gabriner made the announcement at the first annual “Adapt Conference” in New York.The so-called “Unified Planner" comes fully integrated into the Adap.tv Platform, which is an automated system to plan, buy and measure video ads.At the company's conference on Tuesday, Gabriner touted the suite’s ability to specify target audiences and campaign goals, including parameters such as reach, frequency and TRPs. The solution will also recommend specific sites, which Adapt.tv says will more effectively deliver advertisers’ target audiences. Planners have long complained that planning, buying and managing video ads is a less-than-elegant experience. Whether Adapt.tv’s new service can change this perception only time will tell. Earlier this year, Forrester estimated that domestic digital video ad spending will explode by over 250% by 2016 -- from $2 billion in 2011 to $5.4 billion. The estimate was largely attributed to a renaissance in quality, brand-safe video content, a proliferation in video-friendly devices and the maturing of younger online adept consumers.
New York Life is hoping to humanize a business that consumers see as arcane and monolithic with a new marketing push that focuses on how it can help consumers perpetuate the good in their own lives. The TV, print, digital and out-of-home effort, via Euro RSCG New York, introduces a new theme line, “Keep Good Going,” and uses real footage of parents and kids and their forebears. The first of two TV ads is composed of found video and photographic images of real families and their “moments of good,” with past and present juxtaposed to show how traditions and behavior are passed on. The second ad shows snapshots of different people in a family. Found footage will also be the basis for a series of short online films, per the company. In addition to online video, digital includes display sponsorships and social media elements, aligning to the theme of sharing family experiences, with NY Life asking people to submit their own "life lesson" content online. “We’re in a highly regulated business that has historically been mired in its own jargon,” said Liz McCarthy, SVP and head of corporate communications at the insurance giant. “To achieve our primary goal of connecting with consumers, we need to have a conversation with them. They have to understand us and trust us.” Media agency TargetCast tcm put the TV portion of the media buy around family-gathering events like Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, per the company. Ads will run on network, cable and local television stations in select markets during major sports events such as NFL and SEC college football games, and during prime time shows. The effort also comprises "life lesson" creative in print, digital and outdoor ads that are intended to show benevolent things people do every day. One shows a toddler riding on the front of her mother’s bike and it carries the lesson “#84: Be one of life’s designated drivers.” Another shows a man walking with a bouquet of flowers with the lesson “#17: If you love someone, act on it.” The print ads will be in magazines like Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, People, Parents, Redbook, Money, and Kiplinger’s. Outdoor includes “station dominations” buys in train stations and digital billboards in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Chicago. Digital billboards will also be in other major markets like Seattle, Sacramento and Cleveland, per the company. Kari Axberg, head of advertising and branding at New York Life said, in a statement that “People not only understand and relate to what we’re trying to say -- they also immediately begin to share their own life lessons.” Lee Garfinkel, co-chairman Euro RSCG New York and chief creative officer global brands Euro RSCG Worldwide, said each of the scenes in the campaign is based on real stories. "Some of those stories even came from our colleagues,” he said. NewYorkLife.com is also revamped with the splash page now showing real people and visual and video components. Gone is the product-category focus, with content now organized around things like family financial protection or saving for retirement. The new site also has a direct "Talk to Us" social-media link connecting consumers to agents.
As the blackout of the CW affiliate in a large portion of the New York market settles into its fifth week, a top Cablevision executive has signaled that the cable operator feels little pressure to restore the channel to its system. Tribune-owned WPIX has been unavailable in Cablevision homes since mid-August. Four other Tribune local stations are off the Cablevision systems in far fewer homes in other markets. The CW’s new season launches Oct. 1 with a music festival as the network launches three new shows and the final season of “Gossip Girl.” Cablevision and the Tribune group are wrangling over the carriage fees Cablevison would pay to offer WPIX. The dispute could prove an interesting test case on how much younger viewers consume TV via other platforms. With CW series available online, a consumer push to restore the channel to Cablevision could be somewhat muted.The New York market accounts for about 6% of the country, and Cablevision serves a wide swath of homes, not that far below half. Cablevision recently concluded a carriage deal with CBS, which offers higher-rated programming to an older audience. Unlike, WPIX at the moment, it has high-profile sports events. Cablevision CFO Gregg Seibert said the CBS deal was concluded in a “non-confrontational” way. Last week at an investor event, Seibert added that “WPIX doesn’t provide the type of value in our marketplace that CBS provides by any stretch," adding that he did want to "overpay for product that’s not important to our customers. Seibert called it a "balance," adding that the company would prefer "to have no product off the air at any point in time, but sometimes we just have to draw the line.” Of course, during the dispute, a Cablevision executive would not be expected to cite the lack of WPIX as a crushing blow. Cablevision continues to fight in Washington for reform to the structure that has operators paying to carry broadcast stations, known as retransmission consent. “It does feel to me that something has to give, but I don’t know when that occurs,” he said. Cablevision, separately, recently debuted a refreshed logo and branding material for its Optimum service. “It’s really the front line of the transition of the company from being acquisition-oriented and promotional to being retention-oriented and brand specific,” Seibert said. Cablevision has been looking to forestall any customer loss to Verizon FiOS.
After leading ad sales at NBCUniversal’s cable networks since late last year, the company has expanded Linda Yaccarino’s duties to include the broadcast arena, notably the flagship NBC network. The move, where Yaccarino becomes president of ad sales, comes after she led NBCU networks, such as Bravo and USA, through the recent upfront.Yaccarino joined NBCU from Turner, where she headed entertainment sales for networks such as TNT and TBS.Yaccarino has the “proven ability to maximize the value of a portfolio of assets in a complex marketplace,” stated NBCU CEO Steve Burke.The increase in duties could help create a more “unified sales team,” Yaccarino says, sparking more cross-platform sales across NBCU properties, including digital properties.In her previous role, properties where she led sales also included Syfy and Oxygen as well as digital properties like NBC.com. NBCU also said NBCOlympics.com, where the company has touted success during the London Games, was folded in. No other top-level executive changes are planned as Yaccarino takes on the new role, which includes oversight of sports, stretching from the Golf Channel to regional sports networks, and Olympics sales.
Young-skewing Fox Broadcasting wants to make sure it's following -- and valuing -- social media interaction with its TV shows.To that end, it has signed a deal with digital media researcher trueAnthem to track social sharing of Fox's digital television content and measuring its social influence. Fox says "it marks the first time a broadcast network has invested significant resources in capturing the value of earned media.""In order to drive social conversation with our viewers, it’s critical that we understand the way they interact with our content,” stated Melva Benoit, senior vice presidnet of audience intelligence and research strategy for Fox. She adds this new data will help its branded advertising partners.Chris Hart, chief executive officer of trueAnthem, says one of the keys for Fox will be tracking "real-time social viewing and content sharing." The goal is to optimize distribution, as well as figure out the value of social media, also known as earned media by TV analysts.The digital media research company will measure audience awareness, engagement, viral distribution and influencer metrics in real time across multiple social areas, including Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus and LinkedIn.
Back in the days when the Internet was young and social media hadn’t been invented, many of the thrusting young Turks leading the digital charge were keen on declaring that the “old media” companies didn’t “get it.” They were dinosaurs hell bent on their inevitable path to extinction. Much the same was said of bricks-and-mortar retailers and pretty much any large established business. Well, it’s roughly 25 years since those cries began to be heard — and repeated endlessly, along with the phrase “paradigm shift.” There seems to be a remarkably large number of those seemingly tenacious dinosaurs going about their business alongside relatively few genuinely successful (large) digital businesses that started during those halcyon years. The real impact of digital was less about replacing one set of companies with another, and much more about changing aspects of how those companies do business. Often this adaptation has involved acquiring the new digital innovators; on occasion it, has been based on internal investment and innovation. In the TV world, one of the consequences has been that the conversation has moved well beyond the early and primitive debate best characterized as “TV vs. the Web.” Now, in our cross-platform world, we’re now talking about “video” rather than “TV” and – critically – how and where it is consumed and what those insights mean for advertisers, programmers and the business of buying and selling media. Right now, there is no credible doubt that TV remains the pivotal video medium. While online and mobile video (tablet on cellphone) may prevail in certain out-of-home environments, overall and in-home, TV is still the big dog. And that’s fine. The real question here is how these media can be leveraged in tandem to add value to each other and – more importantly – to the advertiser’s proposition when consumers are in relevant setting and receptive mind-states. But that isn’t to say that TV itself isn’t evolving. While the level of DVR penetration and usage, along with VOD consumption remains small compared to scheduled TV, those forms of on demand consumption continue to grow. Similarly, as the currently tiny share held by OTT providers, such as Roku and AppleTV, continue to grow, one has to ponder what the response of the content providers will be. If history is any guide, release windows across these platforms will continue to shrink. If music and movies are anything to go by, the whole concept of distribution windows may come to look like a quaint little relic of the past in five-to-10 years. There are some that say the OTT providers represent a serious threat to the cable and satellite companies and possibly even to the networks themselves. By unleashing access to a rapidly growing world of professionally produced content – as well as “the Web on your TV” as the saying once had it, the theory is that the MSOs and the networks could ultimately be displaced. I’m not so sure about that. Apart from the fact that the content has to be licensed from somewhere and leaving aside my jaded memory of the similar dotcom era predictions, the MSOs are already taking steps to secure their position in the cross-platform ecosystem. With Both TV Everywhere and XFinity leading the charge for the MSOs and HBO GO showing the way for channels, nothing is a foregone conclusion. Rumors are already circulating to the effect that Roku is an acquisition target – and why not? Roku and others that gain traction in the space will almost certainly be acquired in due course — possibly by a cable or satellite company seeking to broaden its footprint. More intriguingly, they could be bought by a consortium of networks and channels looking to be less dependent on the seemingly ever-more-fractious relationship between themselves and the MSOs. And then we will have come full circle. The dinosaurs that were meant to be driven to extinction by the ice age of alternative distribution, will have done what they did in real life for tens of millions of years — adapted with admirable dexterity in order to thrive in a changing landscape.
Since the beginning of digital media, online has largely been an afterthought relative to TV for brand advertisers. Consumers are studied for insights that lead to better TV copy. TV ad concepts are thoroughly vetted and studied before production. Final cut TV ads are tested and compared to long standing norms. Then, at some point, the material is repurposed for digital. This was a rational process given that digital inventory has been dominated by static display ads, digital campaigns reached smaller audiences, and digital advertising effectiveness was tough to reliably measure. Times are changing fast. The primary driver of this change is the explosion of digital video content and advertising inventory, though larger audiences and better measurement play key roles as well. While I’ve seen countless times that display campaigns can be quite effective and efficient, digital video is very comparable to TV in the minds of advertisers, which makes it easier to buy and offers the greatest potential for effective persuasion. Nowadays why wouldn’t brand advertisers produce and test video content online, like Unilever did with its Journeys to Comfort campaign for its Dove Men + Care brand, and then translate what works onto TV? Digital video campaigns can now be produced economically, reach large audiences with great precision and be measured for effectiveness rapidly while in-market, making them the new logical starting point relative to TV for branding efforts. Imagine how much more efficiently all of those TV dollars could be spent if the media planners and buyers knew in advance which ad units were most persuasive when paired with specific types of content and geared to particular audiences. Look for more digital material and insights to drive TV advertising in the future – at least until the two media become indistinguishable. Dan Beltramo, Executive Vice President, Product Leadership, Nielsen (CEO and Founder, Vizu, a Nielsen company)
Something is afoot with connected TVs. They may not be as popular as tablets or as sexy as new smartphones, but there’s a reason that consumer electronics makers have been betting on these devices. A handful of recent research studies reveals several promising data points about ad opportunities in connected TVs. For starters, connected TVs scored high as a medium for ad recall, according to a just-released study conducted by media agency IPG in partnership with digital video ad technology firm YuMe. The study found that unaided recall for ads on connected TV ads was 38%, with only PCs higher at 43%. Meanwhile, mobile phones garnered unaided recall of 35% and linear TV 27%. Add in the fact that connected TV viewers watch video for longer periods of time, and the medium becomes even more appealing for advertisers. In its second-quarter report analyzing nearly 200 million unique viewers, online video technology firm Ooyala found that the average time per play for videos watched on gaming consoles or connected TVs was about 14 minutes, compared to four minutes for tablets, three for PCs and two for mobile phones. Connected TV viewers also usually watch long-form content on those devices -- about 93% of the time they are watching movies or TV shows, Ooyala said. And finally, for the piece de resistance, let’s layer in this finding from a Magid study from August of connected TV users that found that nearly 90% said they noticed the ads on the platform and that 66% were likely to interact with them. Taken together, these research bits begin to reveal a picture of the advertising opportunities and the value in targeting connected TV viewers. Magid has said that about 21% of U.S. consumers connect their TVs to the Internet, up from 16% a year ago.
Now we move into the next phase of TV presidential content -- the debates. Unlike in previous elections, the debates come on top of wall-to-wall ads. The ultimate ROI for political ads is measured by votes delivered -- or at least the right kind of votes. TV debates aren't usually big dramatic affairs. Viewers need to hang in for some 90 minutes or so in order to find a big reason to cheer or groan. So there's a lot of media inefficiency. In 2008, 52.4 million people watched the first debate between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain. That was down from 62.5 million for the first debate between President George Bush and Sen. John Kerry in 2004 – but higher than for the George W. Bush vs. Vice President Al Gore in 2000, which pulled in around 50 million people. Major League Baseball’s playoffs can affect these affairs, because some people would rather see some boring baseball games than a lot of boring debate moments. That said, October brings some anticipation -- including the new TV season -- so anything goes. The presidential debates will be held Oct. 3, 16, and 22; the sole vice presidential debate will be Oct. 11. Back to advertising: Records will no doubt be broken in Presidential ad spending and in political advertising overall. How will this affect standard TV ratings for the debates? Probably a lot. But even if the viewership is lower, you can count on this: Social media proponents will surely claim big results. As with any TV content, you need drama and compelling characters. Last time, in the vice presidential debates, we had the smiling improv-stylings of Sarah Palin and the feisty improv-stylings of Joe Biden. Their first debate out-scored the first presidential contest by posting 70 million viewers. This time around Paul Ryan will try his hand at Biden, who will continue to show big emotion on the big stage. Even if viewership is lower, TV political media types will look to dig for some nuggets of direction from these yap efforts. And, as mentioned, digital media types will say voters are engaging more as social media interactions hit new levels. We all want to read the right tea leaves. So that may be the key. Viewers may just hang in there -- even after the blizzard of advertising -- hoping for a good train wreck or an I-got-ya moment.
With billions of ad dollars at stake, online video networks are fighting hard for a bigger piece of the pie. To that end, San Francisco-based Adap.tv on Tuesday debuted a new tool, which it believes is the best way yet for advertisers to plan their online video buys. “In minutes, an optimal digital video media plan can be created, leveraging the best data sources available, such as Nielsen,” said Toby Gabriner, President of Adap.tv. “Planners can then easily buy the recommended inventory, automatically optimize the campaign once it launches, and measure its effectiveness using both TV- and online-based metrics.” Putting out all the stops, Gabriner made the announcement at the first annual “Adapt Conference” in New York.The so-called “Unified Planner" comes fully integrated into the Adap.tv Platform, which is an automated system to plan, buy and measure video ads.At the company's conference on Tuesday, Gabriner touted the suite’s ability to specify target audiences and campaign goals, including parameters, such as reach, frequency and TRPs. The solution will also recommend specific sites, which Adapt.tv says will more effectively deliver advertisers’ target audiences. Planners have long complained that planning, buying and managing video ads is a less-than-elegant experience. Whether Adapt.tv’s new service can change this perception, only time will tell. Earlier this year, Forrester estimated that domestic digital video ad spending will explode by over 250% by 2016 -- from $2 billion in 2011 to $5.4 billion. The estimate was largely attributed to a renaissance in quality, brand-safe video content, a proliferation in video-friendly devices and the maturing of younger online adept consumers.
Are TV and online the last two great areas of growth for marketing? As someone who has been in the digital marketing space since 1994, I’ve waved the flag that online is the future as long if not longer than most, but I’ve never said it was at the expense of TV. I feel as though TV is actually on the precipice of becoming even more important than it has to date, and it’s a result of digital being embedded in the experience. TV has been the domain of the MSOs for far too long. They’ve maintained an oligopoly (for all intents and purposes) on the TV industry. They’ve created a collection of interfaces, and they’ve fought uniformity for a very long time, in order to stop the ability for the consumer to switch. You get a set-top box and that box stays with you for 10-15 years, and only when you move -- or they’re forced to update it -- do they change it out. That means you’re stuck with the same experience for a very long time, and they’re not forced to innovate in any way. It’s the opposite of the mobile phone business, where we see consumers switch phones every couple of years in order to stay on the cutting edge of technology and keep up with their friends and family. It’s easier to switch since you can port your number, and the competitive environment is driven by innovation. The iPhone drove a new era in mobile -- and Apple may just do that again in TV. Of course Apple is only one company trying to get a foothold in TV, and that kind of excitement is priming that space for a revolution as well. Between Apple, Google, Samsung, Vizio and the other TV manufacturers who are looking to redesign the interface and interaction of TV, it’s safe to say things are going to change A LOT in the next five years. Even Microsoft and its Kinect console are ready to radically change they way we watch TV. Maybe Microsoft is just leapfrogging the Web and headed to the TV marketplace to compete with Apple? Any way you look at it, things are about to get exciting. The television is the centerpiece of the home, and being connected to the Web gives it an infinite set of choices and directions to go. Online as a medium is almost an outdated term because we’re rapidly seeing the fruition of the “digital home” that was promised for years, and the TV transitions to the centerpiece of that environment as well. This sets up marketers for a period of focus. If you want to speak to consumers, Internet and TV are your two primary vehicles to do so. Print, radio, outdoor and everything else you have to choose from are secondary options. These are additional touchpoints that provide extensions of the messaging you create through the two primary screens in your marketing plan. Factor in mobile as a support vehicle, and the three-screen experience is the primary planning model you have to work with. As a former media planner for many, many years, this gives me a strategy to think through. You craft a plan where you introduce and engage your consumer across TV and online, with mobile as a frequency and proximity vehicle, as well a vehicle for the activation of your secondary media such as outdoor and print. With tools like Shazam you can even activate radio effectively. You build a media recommendation that has the lion’s share of your budgets spent against TV and online, and you negotiate mobile as an extension of your publishing relationships, then supplement with additional targeting in the mobile space. The remainder of your media is spent against frequency efforts, and all of a sudden you’ve created a 100% targetable, trackable media plan. As a data junkie and a media guy at heart, I love the way that sounds. Don’t you?
And now more digital platforms and services for professional TV content: Sounds like boom days for creative types -- in theory. Ex-CBSer Nancy Tellem is joining Microsoft Studios to do just that for the growing omnipresent Xbox platform/device, leading the charge to start up a new production company in Los Angeles. New video content on different platforms comes from long and short duration video for YouTube, Yaho!, Google, Hulu, as well as branded websites everywhere, and other online independent sites. And then we have all of mobile to consider. And subscription video-on-demand like Netflix and Hulu Plus. Did I forget to mention out-of-home, digital radio, in-theater, and/or my new holographic machine... (Wait... that's not real!) All this would seemingly be great news for creators/TV producers and of course, marketers. We all know there is a lot to consider in this world of media fractionalization. It’s better to have more kinds of video, right? Yes, when it can be targeted to the right people. So then we talk about return on investment -- for content owners, for marketers -- and we can get into trouble. Right now one of the biggest issues has to do with the issue of media "fractionalization," which works opposite "scale." With good scale you get more attempts to get to those people you really want. Want to get some viral video going? Sure. That'll get to a couple of million views. But will that mean paying customers somewhere in connection with that video? Someone is buying Old Spice somewhere -- smelling like a man should. Maybe a bar of soap will do. That's why all this addressable advertising talk in the traditional TV world is still important-- especially for marketers and their media agencies. TV/video creators should be modestly overjoyed that the likes of Xbox looks to expand its production efforts. But how much of this stuff will actually mean something down the road? Better still, how much of this stuff will create any valuable library of material. The development phase of new digital video platforms seems to be still in development.