TV Commercials - The Cost Keeps Getting Higher

First, if you haven’t gotten ahold of the “Marketing Fact Pack 2016” produced by Advertising Age, it’s worth your time and money to get one.  The piece is one of the better information resources to help make decisions and comparisons.

Second, in reviewing the information specific to the cost of a 30 second TV spot, I nearly feel out of my chair — wait, I actually did fall out of my chair.  The lowest cost of a :30 second weekly network spot was $14,309 for the CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, running Friday at 9:00 p.m.  Now sit down because the high end weekly network spot was Sunday Night Football at $673,664.

And as usual football was priced at a high premium across the entire week:

NBC Sunday Night Football — $673,664

CBS Thursday Night Football — $522,910

NBC Thursday Night Football — $485,695

Running a single :30 second spot to reach the male demo in each of the above football programs would cost you a mere $1,682,269 per week.  Naturally, that cost is un-negotiated.  If you’re one of the big boys you could easily spend $2,500,000 a week on TV advertising.

Even bulking up a TV schedule with lower rated and lower cost TV while utilizing remnant TV with the goal to get the CPP down would be tough to do.  

Now taking into account all of the other media channels $3,300,000 a week for a medium GRP media schedule would not be out of the ballpark.

My preference is to run an 80/8 schedule (hit 80% of the target audience at least 8 times).  And while I’d love to see if that is still doable with the increased pricing I’m not even sure reaching 50% of the target 5 times is achievable.

How the times have changed.

Scott

My Top Super Bowl Commercials...

It’s Super Bowl time again… when we all sit around the big screen TV and watch commercials, and a football game if actually relevant.  My top five Super Bowl Commercials of all time include:

Snickers - You’re Not You When You’re Hungry

Coke — Mean Joe Green

McDonalds - The Showdown

Volkswagon - The Force

Wendy’s — Where’s the Beef?

What’s your list?

Scott

College Football Championship Game -- What's Wrong?

I have to congratulate the Alabama Crimson Tide.  What a great College Football Championship game this past week.  

So I was shocked when the TV ratings started rolling in.

This years game ratings were down 23% to 25.7 million viewers. Compare that to the previous year at 33.4 million viewers.

If ESPN made rating guarantees with advertisers at 33 million viewers then…., well, let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be an ESPN traffic coordinator.  

Now some folks think it’s the teams which played this year… Alabama and Clemson vs. the previous year, Ohio State and Oregon.  That might have something to do with it.

I believe there’s more going on and opportunity to increase ratings.

1. Competition — the NFL playoffs are the same time… getting a great deal of clean pre-game promotion is tough.  Beef up the promotion and create stronger sponsor involvement.  It is going to be tough given Super Bowl competition, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.
2. When it airs — Perhaps it’s time to think about moving the game to a Saturday evening?  There’s issues with the NFL game schedule, but this might be worth a look.  a
3. Where it airs — the game ran on ESPN exclusive.  What about putting this on ABC? A solid prime time channel and time. 
4. How it airs — online viewership was up 38% this year.  I wouldn’t make any changes. 

The College Football Championship game should be drawing 32 million viewers… it’s a showcase of talent and passion.  ESPN has some work to do.

Scott

It’s Awards Time

The Golden Globes, Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild… you name it and it will be awarded in the coming months.  And Marketing is now different.

The one I like to key in on, is the Cannes Lions.  Held every summer its kind of the “Academy Awards” of Marketing.  It’s the big one.  If you’re lucky to win one, you’ve covet it forever.

So now is the time to start sifting through all of your marketing activities to find those gems in all the categories.  But remember folks, you’re competing against Marketers and Agencies from across the globe.  

Take a few moments to get educated on Cannes.  I’ll provide some tips on how to bolster your entry in the coming weeks.

Scott

TV Ratings -- Sometimes a Case of Shooting Yourself in the Foot

AdAge reported on a December 9th, 2015 article that TV ratings continued to fall… and this time 39 legacy shows are experiencing the issue.  Just 3 are feeling an uptick.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.  We know live sports events always do better as people would rather experience the action as it happens vs. rebooting TIVO to watch.  The Sunday Night Football ratings prove that as the ratings were up 8.2 in the 18-49 demo up from the last ratings period.

But I’m confounded by a move ABC is making.  Marvels Agents of Shield just ended it’s Fall shows on December 8th.  But the show doesn’t return until March… March, you’ve got to be kidding me.  It’s time slot is being filled by Agent Carter another Marvel property during the vacancy, but March?  It’s 2.5 months from now.   That’s an eternity to have the show off the air.  AND… Agent Carter really doesn’t have a solid track record as a ratings driver.  And hoping that the Shield crowd stays around for Carter is a risk.  Certainly, getting the audience to gravitate to a new show is great, if, they also stay around for the old show.  But that’s a damn big risk.

Now summer is different story, consumers expect the reruns or shows off the air.  But during the prime season to keep a show off for 2.5 months.  Good luck boys.  My gut, ratings will fall on Agents of Shield at least 15%.

I don’t know about you, but I’m so frustrated with the TV networks these days.  Shows are off the air for extended time periods, get switched between different TV properties, can be watched online etc.  It’s no wonder ratings continue to fall.  The disaggregation continues making it easier for consumers to get access to the show, but this continues to hurt aggregation of ratings.

I long for those days of less tech, and schedule simplicity.

Scott

Ad Placement - What To Do When The Public Complains

Our country provides everyone the right to express themselves via freedom of speech, etc.  You’re going to find, like minded groups who won’t be happy with your media placement.  These groups typically spam Executives or the Marketing Team, with canned emails expressing their displeasure with the advertising and asking (or demanding) that you change your media schedule based on this “controversial programming.”  Some might include:

• Sexual specific programming
• Gay or lesbian programming
• Questionable family values
• Actors/Actresses within a program which might have controversy surrounding them
• Politically based programming
• News programming — too liberal, too conservative
• Basically about anything someone will complain about
• Ethnic based programming

I used to get thousands of emails when these groups would target their displeasure.  I even had a media company threatened me if I didn’t run advertising with their publication.  So I was getting hammered by consumers and the advertising media at the same time.  

At first I was appalled… well pissed is probably the best word to describe someone telling me what and where I could advertise.  But after calming myself I came to accept that everyone has their opinion, they can express it and I needed to deal with it.  So I came up with some general rules of the road.

1. Respect the opinions of these groups/people.
2. Have a drawer statement ready and pre plan for these types of events.
3. Communicate your decision in a professional manner.  You don’t need to give your reason - if you do, you’ll get into a war of ideals, which you’ll never win.
4. Determine if your advertising actually ran on the wrong show… if you’re doing direct advertising, you might have been plugged into a show which might have been inappropriate.  Sometimes mistakes happen.
5. Does the show represent your brand values?  If so, no worries.
6. How many GRP’s is the program in question pulling?  Determine if it’s worth the stomach acid to run in the program.
7. If you have events, etc. which surround the program target audience this should be considered.  Sunk costs without any promotion aren’t going to generate revenue
8. Don’t fall on the sword for a show… if your management isn’t happy and wants you to move the media, do it… don’t argue…it will only create turmoil later.
9. But, don’t let any group tell you what to do.  Stick to your plan if it’s the right place to advertise, do it.  Don’t be swayed by detractors…this too shall pass.
10. Document, document, document… if it gets nasty you’ll need the facts.
11. Have your tech group stop the emails from reaching your email box and other executives email boxes.
12. Notify legal AND security of the situation in the case you start getting protestors out the front door, or the situation escalates further.  Keep your eyes open for any suspicious activities. 

Don’t be paranoid, but also stay vigilant.  

Scott

YOWSER…. $5M for a 30 second Super Bowl Ad!

AdAge announced today CBS has nearly sold out all of the TV inventory for the upcoming Super Bowl airing February 7th.  Prices are at $5M for a 30 second spot or an 11.1% increase year over year.

I can remember buying a 30 second spot for a mere $1M around 12 years ago.  I can’t believe I just said “a mere $1M”….

I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with Super Bowl advertising… the ratings are massive, people focus in on the spots and messages.  Digital integration is becoming stronger so the spots live on post airing.  And naturally, if the creative is killer, everyone is talking about it for weeks.  Then again, if the creative or message is poor… you die a quick death of ridicule by late night TV hosts and you’re forever known as the media guy who pissed away a ton of money.

Needless to say, I’ll be tuned in February 7th like most of America, looking at those spots like everyone else.

Scott

Exorcism -- The Live TV Event

Exorcism …. the word conjures up visions of pea soup being vomited across the room.  Last night the live broadcast #Exorcism aired on Destination America.  So I watched this live train wreck of a show.  I mean who the hell doesn’t like to see a good exorcism every once in a while.   Frankly, I could care less of whether the boogie man exists, if a house is possessed or whether the dead can talk beyond the grave.

Actually, what intrigued me the most was who would advertise or potentially sponsor such a program.  It’s not everyday you can say “proudly sponsored by …” on a show which might have some guys head doing a 360 degree turn while demons escape from his body.

My gut told me the advertisers would be company’s which tend to be direct response oriented… low priced/high volume of spots with possibly some local stuff thrown in — car dealers pushing end of the month sales, etc. 

Drum roll… those which were advertising included:  Geico, Jimmy Dean, Bass Pro Shops, US Army, Reese Peanut Butter Cups, Fiat, Select Life Insurance, Proactiv,  Sylvania Car Light Bulbs, Pampers, Little Caesars, Thermo Spas, Dish Network, Subaru, etc. etc.

My thoughts… great placement for the high volume/low cost spot providers — Insurance, US Army, Caesars, Dish, Proactiv, etc.  The content was crazy appealing (to the right demo), kept people glued to the TV to see what the whole exorcism would entail.

What I questioned were Fiat and Pampers.  The brands don’t seem to fit the programming.. there big brands, targeted niche markets, etc.  The only thing I could think of is with Pampers you could make the leap to “crapping in your pants” from being so scared.

The show was a total bust, but honestly I think the brands who advertised got their money’s worth.

Scott