[opendtv] Marketing HD
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 08:26:15 -0500
Hey Bert...
Have you ever heard of a broadcasters rolling a truck to help a
viewer install their new HD receiver?
This article says volumes about the REAL HD transition.
Regards
Craig
http://www.cableworld.com/cgi/cw/show_mag.cgi?pub=cw&mon=022105&file=cablesbest.htm
Cable's Best HD Buy? Local Sales and Promos
By combining a strong retail presence with high-profile marketing,
Comcast has leaped ahead with HD.
By John P. Ourand
Comcast's increased commitment to rolling out HDTV services becomes
apparent the minute you step into a Best Buy franchise. One such
store in Rockville, Md.--where Comcast runs a system--is plastered
with Comcast's signage. The store's employees seem anxious to push
the MSO's products, particularly HDTV.
The mood in the store contrasts sharply from the mood a year earlier,
when that same Rockville store seemed to be the exclusive realm of
DirecTV.
HD promotions with programmers such as Discovery have helped drive
subscriptions.
That kind of turnaround with one of the country's biggest consumer
electronics chains is one of the reasons why programming executives
picked Comcast as the MSO that was furthest along with HD, according
to results from CableWORLD's affiliate sales survey. Comcast
executives consistently cite retail partnerships with chains such as
Best Buy and Circuit City as a main reason why its HD product is
becoming more popular.
"We are very aggressive on the retail front," says Dave Watson, EVP,
operations, for Comcast. "We have a coordinated approach with our
retail and consumer electronics partners."
That retail discipline can be found in the way Comcast offers HD to
its subscribers. For an extra $5-per-month set-top charge, Comcast
customers can get up to 15 channels of HD programming--a price point
that is much more affordable than anything DirecTV or EchoStar can
offer.
"Comcast doesn't really charge additional amounts for its HD
programming," says Discovery's president, affiliate sales and
marketing Bill Goodwyn. "They use that for a big strategic advantage."
That strategic advantage has helped Comcast deploy more than 1
million HD set-tops, booking a 143% jump in HD subscriptions from
January 2003 to January 2004. HD channels have been rolled out to 94%
of Comcast's footprint.
Local, Local, Local
From its in-store displays to its programming promotions, Comcast
stresses its local advantage as one of the main strengths behind its
HD offering. "We're taking advantage of local opportunities," Watson
says. "The big part of our thinking is to take advantage of your
local competition."
Nowhere is that more apparent than in the educational programs
Comcast uses to address customer confusion surrounding hi-def. Watson
cited one consumer survey showing that 40% of respondents thought
they would get HD signals if they simply bought a set and plugged it
in when they got home. They apparently had no idea that they needed
to get service from a cable or satellite companies.
"We have to keep working at it," Watson says. "The demand is there.
We have to attack it fundamentally."
Comcast is addressing this confusion by educating frontline employees
about all things hi-def. "We have a unique advantage, and that's
having our troops in the marketplace doing the installs," Watson
says. "It's extraordinarily important to have a local person."
That educational process starts with CSRs (or, as Comcast calls them,
CAEs--customer account executives). As the first line, not only can
they educate consumers, they also help figure out whether to order a
truck roll or not. The education process continues with installers,
who need proper scripts to answer consumer questions that inevitably
come up.
"When we roll a truck, we have to make certain that we send the right
person who understands HD," Watson says.
Pitching Promos
Partnering with programmers on promotions continues to play a big
part in driving HD subscriptions. For example, Comcast set up promos
with Samsung around the March Madness NCAA basketball tournament and
Sony around the NFL.
Comcast has had notable success working with ESPN on HD promotions
(ESPN has two HD channels, although Comcast only carries one). The
two partnered on eight promotions in the last quarter of 2004, most
revolving around ESPN's Sunday Night Football NFL franchise.
ESPN was particularly pleased with an "Enter to Win" sweepstakes in
the month before a Sunday Night Football game in Denver this fall.
While exact numbers for that promotion aren't available yet, David
Preschlack, ESPN/ABC Cable's SVP, national accounts, compares it to a
December 2003 digital cable campaign Comcast launched with ESPN HD
that also centered around Sunday Night Football. That campaign led to
20,000 digital adds during the time period, Preschlack says.
"It supports the value proposition for HD," he says. "Comcast and Cox
are ahead of the game. They're savvy in terms of how to market [high
definition]."
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