In the coming weeks, consumers will be inundated with references to the launch of the new TV season in places far, far away from their Zeniths.
Readers of Entertainment Weekly will find a four-page ad for Ocean Spray juices that also touts NBC’s Monday-night lineup of comedies, such as “Fired Up” and “Suddenly Susan.”
And patrons at McDonald’s will find references to ABC’s “Wonderful World of Disney” movies.
These promotions and others are attempts by the networks to stay in the public consciousness at a time when consumers are bombarded with media messages.
“Every year we all face increasing competition, and we have to find multiple avenues to build awareness for our shows,” said George Schweitzer, executive vice president for marketing and communications at CBS. “It’s no longer enough to simply run on-air promos and traditional paid media.”
According to Schweitzer, CBS has linked with six companies for promotions. He declined to name them.
“If you’re a network, you have to reach out to a bigger audience,” said Alan Cohen, ABC’s executive vice president of marketing and research.
“The exposure you get (from tie-ins) is in non-traditional locations,” Cohen said. “You can get exposures in places where you wouldn’t normally buy exposure.”
For instance, ABC and American Airlines have joined for a yearlong tie-in that will include a watch-and-win sweepstakes keyed to the fall premieres. Viewers taking part in the promotion can win frequent-flier miles. ABC gets exposure on American Airlines flights and in promotional mailings; likewise, American gets on-air mentions.
The concept of networks doing off-channel campaigns with other companies dates to the late ’80s, when seemingly all the networks had partners. CBS danced withKmart, and NBC, in perhaps the biggest campaign ever, had a tie-in with Kellogg that saw 125 million cereal boxes on supermarket shelves bearing images of NBC stars.
“We feel if it works for the advertisers and it works for us, we do it,” said John Miller, NBC’s executive vice president of marketing. “Over the course of time, you learn what works and what doesn’t.”
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Indeed, in recent years the networks have scaled down their campaigns in favor of smaller, more focused promotions. Rather than promote the entire network, more of the marketing efforts are tied to specific shows or nights.
Aside from the potential benefits, the marketing campaigns are economically feasible. While they’re worth millions, usually little money changes hands between the partners. Networks trade air time for someone else’s services. “Often,” said CBS’ Schweitzer, “you’re not spending cash, but you’re leveraging something just as valuable, which is our air time.”