• by David Goetzl , April 5, 2007

Last September, as Syntax-Brillian looked to re-launch its Olevia HDTV brand, the company knew enhanced sports-viewing was the No. 1 factor driving purchases of high-definition sets. As its marketing team zoned in on sports-crazed males to convey that the brand was no longer about low cost but top quality, it turned to ESPN.

S-B began a four-month push to boost awareness looking to drive holiday sales. Which is why it devoted the bulk of its budget to the lesser-known Olevia in a sprawling deal that employed ESPN properties from "SportsCenter" (where it was the official HD sponsor with exposure at the top of each episode) to ESPN Radio (audio mentions on "Mike & Mike in the Morning") to a cover-wrap of the eponymous magazine and beyond.

ESPN and others are beginning to refer to these type of multi-touchpoint efforts under a "liquid content" umbrella. In ESPN's case, it applies to programmers' flowing news coverage and entertainment productions across the ESPN spectrum and the sales group looking for advertisers to follow.

To speed the momentum, ESPN just hired a top research executive, Thomas Evans, who is partly charged with crafting innovative ways to demonstrate to advertisers the effectiveness of cross-media buys. So far, the network says it is open to measurement gauges that include Dynamic Logic, IAG Research, IMS Media Mix and others. But perhaps the most distinctive aspect of the ESPN-Olevia affiliation was that both parties agreed to have Dynamic Logic (a marketing-research firm that's part of Millward Brown) conduct a study on the campaign's effectiveness. If results were positive, the marketer agreed to allow ESPN to turn the campaign into a case study as a basis to appeal to other potential clients.

It turned out to be a win-win.

Olevia had a cost-effective, practical way to gauge what ESPN refers to as "return on objective"--and the heretofore low-profile HDTV brand was electrified with its ROO, reporting record revenue for the quarter ending Dec. 31 and by one measure, brand awareness jump of 174% among its key male 18-to-34 focus. "We were not on the radar screen a year ago," said Hope Frank, CMO at Syntax-Brillian. It was "the best investment we could make." Now, the marketer has re-upped for certain aspects of the campaign through 2008 and added some new wrinkles.

For ESPN, the Olevia-endorsed study is now part of its arsenal as it embarks on an "up close and personal" pre-upfront agency road show. The core pitch: an ESPN Everywhere campaign is now even more effective: Looking for ROO while engaging young males? Weave your brand, 360-degree-style, across the ESPN content collection, much like Olevia.

"We have a way for our customers and advertisers to reach young men in a very unique and compelling way through the lens of sports, which is very important in their lives," said Michael Rooney, executive vice president, multimedia sales. "Nobody can offer more platforms, and do it better."

To be sure, ESPN (whose branded content also airs on ABC) isn't the only network this upfront season hoping to convince advertisers to buy into a reach-your-target via multi-platform integrations. It's sure to be a calling card from Discovery to NBC, too. However, it may be hard for other networks to top ESPN's persuasiveness. "There's an appetite at the client level," said Ira Berger, director of national broadcasting at the Richards Group in Dallas. "They're over-enthusiastic, and that's a credit to ESPN. It's developed the brand in a way clients want it."

ESPN's "door-to-door" pre-upfront presentation, all shown on a laptop (replete with stirring video), comes a month and a half before a more formal presentation scheduled for network upfront week.

The pitch incessantly touts ESPN's wide reach. The company says it intersects with 102 million unique consumers a week, ranging from TV viewers to online visitors to magazine readers to even duffers at its branded golf schools--which Olevia linked with via a point-of-sale initiative. But the network attempts to personalize its breadth. (If indeed it does reach 102 million per week, that would equal about one-third of the U.S. population).

One tactic: A deck of sports cards focusing not on a Ryan Howard and LeBron James, but a "Jaime" and "Clifton." Both early-30s males are supposed to represent prime ESPN targets. International banker "Jaime" ("ESPN Fan #74,339,226")" is a 32-year-old who views three ESPN networks, uses the flagship ESPN.com site and reads the magazine. Then, there's 30-year-old media supervisor (wonder why he was chosen?) Clifton ("ESPN Fan #26,572), who is a fan of the "announcers' personalities" and five TV networks.

Also, advertisers repeatedly say the goal is to follow the consumer--and ESPN attempts to make the case that its "fan" base bounces across its platforms for hours each day, offering them a prime opportunity.

Off-air, the portfolio goes beyond properties Olevia exploited, from mobile to podcasts to ESPN360, the broadband service--distinct from ESPN.com--overflowing with videos of ESPN shows, highlight clips and full broadcasts of events. ESPN360 offers advertisers exclusive buyouts of the service, most recently taken advantage of by Cisco, which gave viewers access to 61 streams of full college-basketball tournament games for two weeks in March. Avails included a sea of pre-roll ads, full-page interstitials at the consumer entry point and lower-screen banners.

On air, the network last fall began offering sole sponsor opportunities to "buy out" "SportsCenter." Nike, Microsoft, Sprint and Kawasaki have taken advantage. (Olevia's new deal is believed to include once-a-month "SportsCenter" buyouts on ESPN Deportes.)

In that vein, ESPN's upfront pitch includes sections touting a viewer-friendly environment with low commercial clutter and greater opportunities for advertisers to occupy the coveted "A" position going into commercial breaks (a spot many networks reserve for their own promos.)

ESPN says it has four of the top-five networks with the lowest clutter per hour among the leading cable networks reaching men--with ESPN2 leading at a 12:10 over total day, followed by AMC, but then returning with third-place ESPN Classic at 12:37, followed by ESPN at 13:23 and ESPN News at 13:40. The average is 14:47, the network says, and stretches all the way to 17:44 for Comedy Central and 18:03 for Nick-at-Nite.

ESPN also says as the leading cable networks reaching men, it has the four networks with the shortest average commercial-pod lengths--with ESPN2 at 1:55, followed by ESPN News at 2:00, ESPN Classic at 2:14 and ESPN at 2:19. The average is 2:57, but stretches all the way to TNT at 3:51.

With "A" positions, ESPN, ESPN Classic and ESPN2, take fewer percentages of the first spots leading into commercial breaks to run their own promos (among the leading cable networks reaching men)--with 19%, 20.6% and 21.3%, respectively. By comparison, the FX runs promos in the "A" spot 90.1% of the time, ESPN says.

Not surprisingly, another major aspect of ESPN's upfront foray is an emphasis on the influence of its "Monday Night Football" showcase, which will be entering its second season. "MNF" fits the "liquid content" theme, as pre-game coverage is spread across multiple ESPN platforms on Mondays.

The upfront presentation extols the success "MNF" had in its freshman year as it topped all networks--including broadcasters--in household ratings four times last fall on Mondays, twice in September, once in October and Dec. 18 when future Super Bowl champion Indianapolis romped over Cincinnati.

Beyond "MNF," ESPN has built a beachhead in college football, with live games airing on as many as six nights a week. A second season of Saturday night college football on ABC (a night where most broadcasters run a slew of repeats) will return, as will popular Saturday AM staple "ESPN College GameDay."

Also kicking off this season is sort of a daily version of "GameDay," tabbed "College Football Live," which will air weekdays at 3:30 p.m. with one of the network's smoothest and most erudite hosts, Rece Davis.

NASCAR, which ESPN made a significant investment in for rights fees, is also a focus, with ESPN taking over the full Busch Series and the final 17 Nextel Cup Series events, including the Chase for the Nextel Cup. In the multiplatform vein, ESPN took control of NASCAR site Jayski.com this week, giving the network an avenue to challenge Turner-operated NASCAR.com.

And it has a new package with the MLS, promising to offer multiple games with BMOS (Big Man on Scene) David Beckham. There, ESPN is ready to kick off a multitiered deal with Adidas as presenting sponsor.