3 posts tagged “marketing”
first of all - if you haven't heard of or checked out the new website HULU then you need to click that link and get with the program...for those of you not in the know, HULU is the "YouTube Killer" that FOX and NBC, along with their networks, hashed together to offer their content through their own portal. ABC & the Disney family keep their content locked up behind ivory towers though making you visit their website to gain access to some of their content. HULU content includes full streaming episodes, movies, shorts, etc and includes some social networking features. With this and other media revolutions are changing the landscape of media and creating a seismic shift in how consumers are viewing their media these days. in a recent new york times article i was shocked to learn that the office premiere back from september had 1 in 5 viewers watching the episode on their home computer.
with the likes of video-on-demand, streaming content via the internet, DVR, TiVo and many more; the television program is becomming a different medium...tv is no longer tv, it's now just content with limitless boundaries for broadcast and few controls for advertisers. and with the rise of devices that allow consumers to control how and when they watch this content (PSP, iPods, iPhones, SlingBox, etc) people are not only able to determine how they'll watch it but also where and when. not to mention the media extenders that are coming about such as Apple's iTV and Microsoft backed Media Servers that already allow folks to setup a home media network so they can even stream video from sites like HULU, iTunes, Amazon Unbox and Joost directly to your TV...talk about true on-demand...not to mention ability to stream in HD!
what i find to be the most interesting of this whole media revolution is how it'll change the way brands advertise and leverage their marketing dollars. people are already beginning to see the decline in value for tv spots now that they can so easily be fast forward through. so what are brands to do? how can they still show up on TV and hit home with consumers to make the pitch? my answer, sports.
granted i work in the sports field so my answer may be a bit bias...but it is true. where else do you have a captive audience for multiple hours that you can take your brand and immerse it with a player, team, league or broadcast to provide fans with brand message points, consumer/brand interactions via promotions/sweepstakes and branding all in one programming segment...be it a game, season or playoffs? while some may argue the sports field is cluttered - that's partially true - but isn't TV just as cluttered? every category and brand is covered across television and multiple shows. no one really pays attention to know whether or not Car Maker X is the official car for commercials during the office...however fans will know that Car Maker X is the official partner of the NFL, or New York Yankees or the NCAA March Madness. not to mention you are connecting with a fan's passion during these times which has shown a correlation with stronger brand affinity and purchase intent.
anyhow the times article is an interesting take on the state of media consumption. with the recession at who knows what point of the cycle pending on the coverage you watch - brands are definitely going to be cutting back some dollars where they can over the next few years...in our trade journals people are expecting dips in our business given that sponsorship compared to tv metrics doesn't measure apples to apples but when those tv avenues are evaporating almost daily before our eyes i feel our industry will emerge to help brands bridge that gap that the new world of tv will be missing.
opinions? thoughts? sarcastic remarks? would welcome any and all.
you can buy something....or you can "win" something. that's the premise behind eBay's new shop victoriously ad campaign. the campaign taps the inner passion of gamers and the gamblers. i can recall numerous times being in an eBay showdown myself.
if you visit the eBay home page you can see they have added the "shop victoriously" tag line next to their logo. this comes right at beginning of the holiday season where people usually look to eBay to snag that hard to find must have gift. many times these gifts become the center of intense bidding wars between shoppers where in the haste of the final countdown the value of the product becomes priceless to the notion of losing the auction.
apparently, this campaign was foreshadowed by a "teaser" campaign over the summer called windorphis. i had seen this campaign throughout chicago and always assumed it was associated with microsoft trying to lift the poor sales of vista.
shop victoriously is set to run during major prime time television shows, starting with Sunday Night Football
on NBC and continuing with shows such as Grey's Anatomy, Deal or no
Deal, and Heroes. also part of the campaign...coming this november.....eBay GIFT CARDS. barf, sorry i'm tired of gift cards.
I've been watching the Discovery Channel more and more recently because let's face it...learning IS cool, especially with shows like Planet Earth and 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. I have this whole theory that somehow, and I haven't pin pointed how, although I'm sure HD and tech upgrades have helped, but Discovery Channel & Family has had a tremendous brand image shift from nerdy to hip...but I digress.
While watching all these shows I've picked up on a new method of TV advertisements that I think the Discovery Channel might be testing. I haven't really seen it practiced on any other channel before.
Essentially it seems to be that with their hour long programs they tend to set a commercial break around the 23 minute mark. This commercial break is usually around the same or maybe a minute longer than typical TV commercial breaks. After returning you to the program you remain uninterrupted until about the 47 minute mark where the show concludes. Discovery then utilizes those last 13 minutes to promote it's other shows with a few commercials mixed in.
This is an interesting approach that steers away from the traditional TV commercial model. I wonder if it adds dollar value to those ad spots for that one break?
One thing is for sure, it is definitely more enjoyable for the TV viewer.
