4sight

Team Coco

Consider these comments in a recent New York Times article that describe a popular media personality and his new show:

“It will be a hit with advertisers initially because of the familiarity they have with ______.” – Brad Adgate, SVP for Research, Horizon Media in NYC

“We know ______ has a passionate following, and we wanted to tap into that.” – Daryl Evans, VP/Consumer Advertising & Marketing Communications, AT&T Atlanta

Here’s another quote from Evans:

“______ is a proven talent, and a proven brand.  Rubbing up the AT&T brand against the ______ brand is a good thing; there’s a nice brand equity share.”

The name that belongs in these blanks is Conan O’Brien.  Turner Entertainment ad sales is leveraging his new show on TBS.  In fact, they had deals in place with AT&T, General Motors, Microsoft, and the News Corporation – before the show even aired.

How is that possible, especially for a guy who “the press always liked…more than viewers,” according to Steve Sternberg of the Sternberg Report?

Nonetheless, to hear Linda Yaccarino, EVP and COO for Turner Entertainment tell it, getting Conan off the ground (check out the AT&T blimp) with advertisers was about “working closely with Conan’s creative team” to integrate sponsors into commercials.”

O’Brien’s team also utilized social media, generating nearly a quarter million “fans” for the show’s Facebook page, as well as more than 100,000 followers on Twitter, a strategy they are working hard:

 

This combination of strategy plus investment guarantees a successful launch for Conan, whether the show ultimately wins in the ratings or not.

And it speaks to the differences between the way that TV companies and networks approach their franchise shows and personalities and the way that radio often does it.

Consider the following...

1. Investment. Turner invested in promotional materials and collateral, well before the show debuted.  By thinking and acting big, they communicated the message to advertisers that they are committed to this show and their new personality icon.  In turn, sponsors and brands – already familiar with who Conan is and what he does – feel that if TBS believes in this show, they can, too.

2. Integration. Conan’s team is ready, willing, and able to work with sales and sponsors to handcraft commercials, campaigns, and materials that reflect his brand essence.  By working closely with advertisers, the Turner sales team reflects a confidence in Conan – to him and his team, and to these sponsors.  Plus, the show gets incidental marketing from commercial campaign integration. 

3. Social media. Conan and the Turner team had a plan to generate audience excitement for the show, something that any major personality could do.  But presence on Facebook and Twitter – with strong followings on each – is another metric for advertisers that demonstrates engagement and loyalty.  It also helps to ensure a respectable audience when the show kicked off.

4. Proactivity.  Turner didn’t wait for the first few Nielsen's “to see what happens” in the ratings.  In radio, that “wait and see” approach guarantees a slow advertising start for new shows.  By locking down advertiser commitments upfront, Turner has some breathing room to tweak the show and its marketing after it rolls out.

5. Strategy.  Offering sales trips to Cozumel in January isn’t a strategy.  It’s a tactic.  A strategy is working with individual advertisers to create win-win-win programs for Turner, brands, and viewers.  In the process, some of these advertisers are using their own sites and media to promote the show.  Diet Coke and Bing are both advertisers that are creating their own content or using their sites, while Chevy may give away a new 2011 Cruze.  By helping advertisers debut their own products in the show, Turner and Conan can share in their success.

Tailored promotions, talent integration, product placement, and an intrinsic belief in the product are all components in the Team Coco plan.  All departments at Turner are on board – programming, talent, sales, social, and marketing.

That’s media value, that’s multi-platform marketing, that’s integrated sales programs.

That’s success.

(And if the first night means anything, Conan edged out both Jay and Dave.)

Stray Voltage

What happens when social media meets politics and creates an unintended consequence?

That’s what happened to two of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s staffers – Alec Ross and Jared Cohen.

 

Both of these guys got their Twitter thumbs slapped for sending out colloquial tweets during a trip to Syria.  The State Department was embarrassed by some of their missives, calling their messaging “stray voltage,” and there were the predictable criticisms from the other side of the aisle.

But the piece of the story that may have gone unnoticed is the importance of integrating young people into the political process as hundreds of thousands live vicariously through the tweets of Cohen and Ross.  When I wrote this blog, Cohen had amassed more than 300,000 followers, while Ross has more than 287,000.  As they journey around the globe, they have become Twitter celebrities, keeping their followers up to date with U.S. foreign policy as well as their unique views from the inner circle.

Secretary Clinton praised both Cohen and Ross, saying their ability to combine diplomacy and technology is a piece of “21st century statecraft.”  As we struggle in radio to integrate America’s youth into our medium, the political world has many of the same challenges, especially among a generation loaded with cynicism, and justifiably so. 

This is Twitter at its best – celebrities or people in a position of power or access who take us behind the curtain.  Many radio personalities have the ability to bring their special access – backstage, in the studio, or even at home – into the spotlight.  But so often, tweets from DJs have more to do with “Breaking Benjamin tickets in the 9 p.m. hour” or “Talking about Lost tomorrow morning.”

 

As mobile devices make Twitter totally accessible and ever-present, smart digital strategists and social media thinkers can do amazing things with this great tool – more important than retweeting other people’s stuff or waxing philosophically about the weather. 

Otherwise, it’s just a bunch of stray voltage.

A New Leaf

Welcome back from your holiday weekend.

While we were watching fireworks, eating burgers and dogs, and hopefully not getting too sunburned, Apple was reinventing mobile advertising.

 

<FOR EMAIL RECIPIENTS: CLICK HERE TO VIEW NISSAN LEAF APPLE iAD>

10 More Years

Usually, CEOs are accused of being overly rosy when it comes to their industry's projected health.  That's why it was interesting to hear the comments from the new Chairman/CEO of the company that just bought the bankrupt Chicago Sun Times.

James Tyree predicted that "newspapers have got a good strong 10 years.  By then, you'll have to evolve into something else - maybe five years evolve into something else - or you'll just be out of business."  

Whoa. 

Perhaps if you knew you only had 10 years to live, it would be tragic but perhaps motivating.  Knowing your life was limited to a relatively short period of time, how would you live it differently?  How would you rethink your career, your family, your financial situation, and your overall life?

Would you go to Hawaii?  Would you take that cooking class?  Would you get married?  Or divorced?  Would your life change?  

A 10-year window might make you better.  It might make you more innovative and dynamic.  It might motivate you to do something special.

What if many businesses only had 10 productive years left?

What would companies do differently?  How would they rethink their content, their marketing models, their talent, and their entire business plans? 

How would attitudes about entertainment, content, and customer service and benefit change?

What ideas that have been sitting on the shelf would go into action?  What kinds of risks would be taken?  

And could any of these moves benefit companies right now?

Tick tock.

Smart Guy

Venture capitalist and all-round wise person, Guy Kawasaki, has always approached doing business with logic and common sense. 

I was fortunate enough to see him speak at last year's Convergence conference - the Radio Ink get-together that brings together lots of tech-savvy thinkers and doers.  In a recent New York Times "Corner Office" piece, Guy reiterated the importance of brevity in a fast-paced environment.

When asked what business schools should focus on, he replied: "They should teach students how to communicate in five-sentence emails and with 10-slide PowerPoint presentations.  IF they just taught every student that, American business would be much better off."

We make that mistake at Jacobs Media from time to time, and I have been guilty of it in this blog.  We're increasingly multi-tasking and becoming more ADD - good or bad.  We're all trying to do more in less time, so the need for those quick-hitting takeaways is so important.

I frequently ask my staff, programmers, and researchers to try to boil it down to the "elevator speech" (or pitch).  Imagine you're with the key exec or decision-maker in an elevator, and you only have the time it takes to travel from the 30th floor to the lobby.  Could you synopsize and boil down your idea or strategy in that tight time frame?

If you can't, perhaps your concept isn't as succinct and focused as you think.  That's where Guy is headed with his advice to business schools.

We should follow it in our businesses, too.

The Dirty Little Secret

OK, "recession" aside, perhaps the three most oft-mentioned words in business and communications circles last year (and now this year) are "mobile," and "social media.' 

We've discussed both phenomena in this space, and I can promise some powerful data from our Tech Poll VI which we're wrapping up as this blog posts. 

Social media has become a mega-force because it changes the way we communicate with one another.  If you think about it, for decades and decades, people simply picked up the phone, wrote a letter (or sent a fax), or struck up a live conversation.  That's how people did business with one another.

Then the Internet came along, and we started emailing information.  Later, texting on mobile devices became shorthand for conversation.

But it has been the advent of social media, popularized first by MySpace, and now totally dominated by Facebook that has reinvented the way we interact with one another.  And Twitter is using some of the same principles to become a force in social media.

At the same time, there is no shortage of social media "experts," more than happy to advise businesses on the best way to utilize these new tools.  And caught in the middle are traditional advertising agencies, struggling to come across as hip, but often tethered to their traditional media roots.  When you have been proficient for decades at designing and creating campaigns for television, radio, and print, the explosion of social media can totally redefine the media plan - and with it, the core focus and staff of the agency itself.

We're all trying to learn and better understand this space, often reading whatever we can get our hands on to better grasp the change.  We were fortunate to have one of President Obama's top advisors, Scott Goodstein, speak at last fall's Summit at the NAB.  And since then, I have made a connection with Alison Circle, who heads up media and social networking for the Columbus (Ohio) Metropolitan Library.  I have truly enjoyed the insights gleaned from both of these new experts in the field.

A recent case study in the "Business" section of The New York Times caught my attention.  It's the story of a new high-end startup - EPC Cigar - and the media choices they made in launching their new brand.  They had a $300,000 budget with lots of options in front of them:  taxi tops in New York City, TV ads on channels like Comedy Central, Spike, and Vh1, radio in NYC, Chicago, and L.A., and print ads in publications like The Wall Street Journal, Yachting, Golf Digest, Wine Spectator and Cigar Aficionado.

Instead, EPC Cigar went with their agency's choice and opted for a social media campaign that mostly uses website resources, Facebook, and Twitter.  This campaign only chewed up $40K, allowing them to divvy up the rest on trade shows, events, point of sales material, and some traditional media.  Part of their aversion to going the "old media" route was a belief they could get more bang for their buck with social media.

The company's main spokespeople are also the owners - Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, Jr. and Ernesto Perez-Carrillo III - and they are directly involved with maintaining the company's Facebook and Twitter presence.  

When the article was written in late February, EPC Cigar had garnered 700 Facebook fans and 250 users following their tweets on Twitter.  (Since the Times article appeared and I wrote this blog a few days later, they picked up another 700 fans.)

Now this doesn't strike me as great results.  Understanding that this is a premium brand that is aimed for a well-heeled male consumer, I picked WCSX here in Detroit - and they have twice the number of Facebook fans.  So what does that tell you? 

In an effort to put these case studies in perspective, The Times sought out opinions from a panel of experts, some of whom expressed disappointment at EPC Cigar's small numbers of fans and followers. 

As Donna Novitsky, CEO of BigTent pointed out, "The Facebook fan and Twitter follower numbers are extremely low — we would want to see tens of thousands, at least.  It is likely that cigar smokers and would-be cigar smokers are not the most active social media users.  It is also possible that avid social media users do not smoke $13 cigars.  Plus, the dirty little secret of viral marketing campaigns on social media is that it often takes a lot of traditional media marketing to get them started.”

That's a "dirty little secret" that every radio rep should be telling clients who are enamored with the "efficiency" of using only social media tools for branding and sales.  Traditional media still delivers the big numbers for new media monsters from Apple to Microsoft to Droid.

And there's a good reason why.

Constant Contact High

You've probably heard them, too - lots of smart radio ads for Constant Contact, the email marketing company that enables small businesses and organizations to create email marketing campaigns.

I know lots of people who use Constant Contact, and I often look at the bottom of email blasts I receive to see whether the company has picked up another client. 

Constant Contact is a huge success story.  In the middle of this great recession, they racked up a 50% revenue increase last year.  And they hired 170 new employees in '09, and are looking to increase their ranks this year. 

Here's another success story:  they are heavy radio advertisers, relying on national radio campaigns to tell their story. 

As their CEO Gail Goodman recently noted, "During one of the most challenging economic environments for the small business community ... (Constant Contact) delivered significant revenue growth and profitability that was well ahead of our original expectations."

This is an incredible sign that radio can deliver eyeballs - and new customers - to a "new media" company like Constant Contact.  

Radio works, when the campaign is strategic, clever, and consistent - all attributes that define the Constant Contact effort on radio.  

At a time when radio continues to be positioned as a punching bag as ad dollars move to social media, advertisers, planners, and marketer need to hear about success stories like Constant Contact.  By the way, they're even "testing" radio with a link on their website (below):

Constant Contact isn't an auto parts company, a tattoo parlor, a bar, a fast food chain, or a mattress discounter.  

They are a new media, email marketing success story.

And radio has played a key role in their rapid growth.

Big, Bigger, Biggest

A recent story in The New York Times highlighted that famous Vh1 promotion back in the '80s where they gave away 36 Corvettes - from the very first model in 1953 all the way to the current year (1989) sports car.  For a bit more than a million dollars, that much-buzzed about promotion helped put Vh1 - MTV's neglected little sister - on the map.

Conceived by branding and marketing impresario Jim Cahill, the Corvette promotion remains legendary more than two decades later.  You still "ooh and ah" when you think about the magnitude of one guy winning all those dream cars.  The winner was Dennis Amodeo who quickly flipped the cars to artist Peter Max who had an idea for an art project for the fleet that never materialized.

Now you're probably thinking, "Who has a million dollars to come up with a big promotion?"  And in fact, when Cahill pitched the promotion to MTV Networks head, Tom Freston, the response was, "This is a big hunk of change, boys."

So, here's the kicker.  MTV Networks made money on the promotion!

Working with Vh1's head of programming, Jeff Rowe (many of you remember him as radio PD Dallas Cole) and the GM of MTV/Vh1 Lee Masters, Cahill put together a plan to monetize the promotion utilizing 1-900 numbers.

Well, consider that in order to enter Vh1's contest, viewers had to use a 900-number with a fee of $2.  By the end of the promotion, more than 1.3 million viewers paid $1.49 a call to enter, two presenting sponsors ponied up $500,000, along with another million from four participating sponsors.  All told, $3 million dollars in profit to MTV Networks. 

The story is a reminder of what you could do with a lot of imagination and a few bucks back in the day.  But why couldn't you pull off a similar win-win promotion right now?  What if your company came to you with a hunk of cash and the directive to "Shake it up, make some noise, and get people talking about the station."  Or in the case of a startup, what if you actually had some working capital to launch a new station.  

What would you do?

Don't laugh.  I've had this conversation a couple of times already this year.  While this might suggest that there is indeed the beginning of an economic recovery underway, it also is a reminder of how long it's been since radio stations had any significant dollars to use in order to move the promotional needle.

Guess what?  It's not like the days when you could simply peruse this year's Filmhouse reel and buy something off the rack.  So if you had some cash right ow, what kind of television spot would you create for your station or morning show that would stand out and accomplish your goals?  Or would you even bother with TV at all?

I had a similar thing happen last week where a client programmer got a nice "gift" of contest dollars for second quarter.  It had been so long since they had actually given something away that wasn't a part of a sponsorship deal, the PD had almost forgotten about some of the great contests and promotions his stations had pulled off in the past. 

In an industry where it is becoming common to just play "small ball" with reduced staffs, minimal research, and virtually no promotional spending, it is even more important to keep thinking big in order to avoid totally losing sight of that big idea.  And as we've learned time and again, it is possible to still put that big promotion together with a combination of client sponsorships, promotional ingenuity, and a few bucks. 

Sometimes having no money for promotions and marketing becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Quarter after quarter, year after year, the promotional budget comes up bare.  So managers stop asking for funds, and worse - they stop thinking about the "what if's" - the ideas that could generate awareness, more listening, and brand building. 

At a time when everyone is being asked to do more with less, it is important to not let those big ideas and dreams gather dust.  When MTV's Tom Freston came to Jim Cahill for that big idea, it didn't take long for that amazing promotion to come together.

All they did was make money and history.

So what would YOU do?

Risk/Reward

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may be thinking, "Enough already with this Super Bowl."

But when a single sporting event attracts more viewers than any other show in the history of television, generating approximately $3 million per :60 commercial, you'll have to indulge me for one more post.

That's because with all the marbles on the line, the Super Bowl's big winners were those who didn't play it safe.  In fact, the biggest risk-takers were rewarded (or will be rewarded) with the best returns. 

First, there was Saints' coach Sean Payton who opted to start off the second half with a surprise onside kick.  Of course, it turned out to be successful, and changed the tone and vibe of the game.  Even had it not worked, however, Payton sent a message to the Colts that he was not going to simply go the tried-and-true by the book route.  It was a big risk that paid off big-time.

Second, there was Jay Leno.  After weeks of NBC corporate botching his drama with Conan O'Brien, Leno took a risk by appearing with David Letterman (and Oprah) in one of the most memorable promos we've ever seen.  By bucking convention and appearing on behalf of his arch rival, Leno sent the message that he is truly a funny, inventive guy willing to break the rules and have a good time.  By not taking it so seriously, Leno did more in :15 to repair his image than any major ad campaign (hey, Toyota, did you notice that?). 

<CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO>

Third, there was Denny's.  Yup, free Grand Slam Breakfasts for every Tom, Dick, and Harriet this past Tuesday.  Did it work?  Well, the restaurant chain reportedly served up a whole lot of GSB's, while generating millions and millions of dollars in free coverage and buzz on media outlets worldwide. 

 

Is it a great return on investment to give away all that food on Denny's "Super Tuesday?"  Maybe/maybe not, but that's what brand investment is all about.  

At a time when conventional wisdom tells us that if we want to win in business, we need play it safe, don't make mistakes, and avoid risks, it might be wise to revisit that thinking. 

As we all know from experience, not every risk pays off.  And the bigger the risk, the bigger the potential failure.  But in a media and entertainment environment where consumers have seen it and heard it all before, it is megawatt films like Avatar on the one hand, and boutique projects like Crazy Heart and District 9' on the other, that have the best chance of winning this year's Oscar gold. 

Steve Jobs' iPad adventure is taking a lot of heat in the geek community.  Everyone has their snarkey list about why it is destined to fail.  And while Jobs has been widely criticized before the device is even on sale to the public, he would probably tell you that without risk (Remember Newton, Lisa, etc.), there is no reward. 

Super Bowl XLIV - By The Numbers

Our consultant, Ralph Cipolla, is still frustrated that his beloved Buffalo Bills still haven't won the big one.  Undaunted, here are some of his observations from Super Bowl XLIV:

Here are some reflections of the big game from my couch: 

• We saw The Saints win their first NFL championship in their history, a franchise that was formed a week after the first Super Bowl was played.  The Saints went 10 years before posting a .500 season, and saw 20 years pass before realizing a winning season.

• We saw a victory that vindicated the loyalty of their long-suffering fans, and another layer of healing balm settle upon on a great city, that lest we forget, has endured insufferable trials.

• We saw 65 year-old Roger Daltrey and 64 year-old bandmate Pete Townshend belt out a 12-minute medley of Who classics.  In 1970, when the NFL and rival league AFL merged to form the NFL as we now know it, both rockers were 25, contemporaries of many of the guys on the field.

• We also saw another crop of SuperBowl ads, each 30-second avail costing between $2.5 and $3 million, lower than NBC's 2009 rates of $3 million per, when adjusted for inflation.

There were several different Budweiser ads, the perennial FCC-taunting Go Daddy ads, and several others of far less than "epic" production quality. 

And then there was this :60 ad, which stood in stark contrast to the others.  No famous actors, no rap stars, no Hollywood director, no Avatar-rivaling computer-generated graphics.  

Google's first foray into Super Bowl advertising, was most-likely the least-expensive and conceptually simplest and least expensive of the lot.  To my eye, it was also the most engaging, did the best job of actually demonstrating the product, and was most worthy of an on-line after-the-game replay. 

It also screamed, in a subtle and seductive manner - "new media."  If you've ever tried to explain what "search" is all about, Google nailed it in one minute.

Watch the Google Super Bowl ad here, and see if you agree.

<CLICK HERE TO WATCH GOOGLE SUPER BOWL AD>

And because parody is truly flattery, here's another version of it that showed up a few hours after the game:

<CLICK HERE TO WATCH PARODY OF GOOGLE SUPER BOWL AD>