[opendtv] News: Rain or Shine, Win or Lose, This Ad Is Just for You
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 07:42:26 -0400
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/28/business/media/28adco.html?th
Rain or Shine, Win or Lose, This Ad Is Just for You
By NAT IVES
Published: June 28, 2004
After the Los Angeles Lakers lost the N.B.A. championship two weeks
ago, the first television commercial many viewers saw starred a
defeated Laker, Shaquille O'Neal. For marketers who believe context
matters, it was like watching the losing quarterback of the Super
Bowl turn to the camera and yell, "I'm going to Disneyland."
Cable companies are developing systems that would help advertisers
avoid such jarring juxtapositions by fragmenting commercials during
the national broadcasts of, say, an N.B.A. game. Ultimately, national
broadcasts could feature different advertising for every different
segment of the audience. For viewers, it would mean their cable box
can tell which team they are rooting for and, based on the outcome,
show them the most appropriate commercial.
"This is the first tangible step in the movement to addressable
advertising, with the ultimate destination of sending individual
targeted ads to the set-top box," said Charlie Thurston, president at
Comcast Spotlight, the ad sales division of the Comcast Corporation,
the country's largest cable company. "We believe that this is a
business that will exist several years down the road."
The system is far from perfect, but there are already some
applications under way.
The Weather Channel, for example, plans to activate a national
system on Oct. 1 that among other things can tailor ads to the
forecast, sending commercials for rugged trucks to rainy parts of the
country while simultaneously sending commercials for convertibles to
those viewers getting sun. Big advertisers so far seem interested.
Home Depot, Kraft, Six Flags and Toyota have already helped the
Weather Channel test its new services.
Separately, Comcast recently began offering advertisers the ability
to buy commercial time in the country's 10 largest markets and
deliver highly tailored versions of each spot based on geographic,
demographic and other factors. Previously, marketers would have had
to buy separate commercial time on individual cable systems or
broadcast affiliates to achieve the same effect. The cable network
TNT has used it to promote shows with specific times and channel
numbers in place of the tepid and time-worn advice, "Check your local
listings."
For the moment, the innovations add more arrows to the cable quiver
at a time when all kinds of media companies are maneuvering for ad
revenue. Marketers have complained loudly this year about the high
cost of broadcast television advertising as well as its shrinking
audience.
"All television networks are constantly challenged by the
multiplicity of other networks as well as increased use of the
Internet," said Todd Chanko, the television analyst at Jupiter
Research. "Every network has to resort to its own bag of tricks to
convince advertisers that they are the best place to spend
advertising dollars."
The ability to slice signals so finely is a result of both digital
broadcasting and more cooperation among cable companies. Comcast
licensed the technology for its system last year from Adlink, the
cooperative of cable providers in the Los Angeles area. Comcast is
now able to roll out the service nationally to many more homes by
virtue of its merger with AT&T Broadband in 2002
The Weather Channel already had a web of about 9,000 devices around
the country that it already uses to customize local forecasts that it
can tap, a technological advantage that helps explain why it can
offer customized commercials before, say, Comedy Central or Bravo.
(Executives at the Weather Channel said, though, that they would
probably consider licensing the system to other channels in the
future.)
The Weather Channel's system includes targeting abilities similar to
those offered by Comcast. For three weeks in April, Six Flags ran a
package of commercials on the channel that were pegged to location:
each spot promoted the theme park closest to the viewer. Six Flags
also arranged to replace its spot with broader branding messages in
the event of rain.
"The actual device out in the field makes the decision which copy
runs," said Paul Iaffaldano, executive vice president and general
manager at TWC Media Solutions, which sells ads on the Weather
Channel and weather.com, units of Landmark Communications. "If it
was a sunny day, they'd say 'Go to Six Flags tomorrow.' If it was
going to be rainy the next day, they'd run a spot that talked about
Six Flags in general."
But some agency executives and marketers wondered how much benefit
could accrue even from commercials that know the local forecast, dew
point or pollen count.
"Television first and foremost is a branding vehicle," said Charles
Rosen, managing partner at Amalgamated, an ad agency in New York. "It
is not the best vehicle for driving impulse purchases. If I make a
memorable ad for Ben & Jerry's, it's still rare that somebody's going
to get off their couch, go to the store and buy our ice cream."
Jerry Dow, managing director of worldwide marketing communications
for United Airlines, said he used the Comcast system last month to
introduce Ted, the new discount carrier, to the Chicago area with
custom ad copy for each neighborhood.
"Chicago is really a city of individual neighborhoods where everyone
really identifies with their area," he said. "For us to be able to
put a targeted message that specifically mentioned a neighborhood had
far more stopping power than a simple broadcast message."
Viewers in the Arlington Heights area, for instance, saw commercials
that said, "Viva Las Arlington Heights. Doesn't quite have the same
ring to it. Let's go to Vegas. Arlington Heights, say hello to Ted."
In Barrington, the system aired the same spot but with a message
tailored to begin with "Viva Barrington," and end with "Barrington,
say hello to Ted."
The system would also have allowed Mr. Dow to easily adapt the spot
if necessary, swapping the mention of one vacation destination for
another as flights booked up. "We are very happy with the results,"
he said.
For all his satisfaction, Mr. Dow said the innovations could only add
so much to the existing allure of cable advertising, which remains
limited by far smaller audiences than found on broadcast channels.
"The most significant limitation of this technology is the available
reach of cable," he said.
Mr. Rosen, the Amalgamated managing partner, echoed that theme. "This
is a tool that helps cable look more attractive to spend media
dollars," he said. "I don't think the broadcast networks have to
demonstrate the same thing, because they already offer such a big
audience."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at
FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts:
