Archive for May, 2007

The Internet is changing consumer expectations and setting new standards for branding. With a global conveyor belt delivering an unlimited supply of new on-line brands striving to deliver customer-centric benefits, it’s no surprise that today’s consumers expect more from traditional brands. Drunk with the power of choice, today’s digitally-fragmented, media-savvy consumers scrutinize the brands they love and ask themselves why they ever accepted such low standards of customer interaction. Today’s brands need look no further than their consumers’ user-generated-content to interpret the needs of an audience whose expectations are changing in line with the on-line times.

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NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — This year’s U.S. Hispanic TV upfront is likely to be up by about 7%, compared with flat spending or even a decline in sales among the English-language networks. Along with those new Spanish-language dollars, some fresh ideas floated at last month’s upfront presentations are on the way.

NBC Universal-owned Telemundo is going ahead with a 40-episode telenovela that will contain no TV commercials, just branded content. It grew out of an idea that Patricio Wills, president of Telemundo Studios, had been toying with that involved creating a novela with a music reality show as a backdrop.

“Patricio Wills talked about his dream of producing a novela with the rhythm of real life. You’re never walking down the street and break for a commercial,” said Steve Mandala, senior VP-sales and marketing and distribution, Telemundo and NBC Universal Networks.

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As expected, Cox Communications and Discovery Communications today completed the $1.28 billion transaction that will send the Travel Channel packing while helping to streamline the ownership structure at DCI.

In a deal that was first announced on March 29, Discovery has anted up $1.28 billion in cash to buy out Cox’s 25 percent stake in DCI, while handing over the reins to the Travel Channel and its related digital media assets.

With the deal finalized, two-thirds of DCI is now held by Liberty Media’s Discovery Holding Company subsidiary, while the remaining third continues to be controlled by Advance/Newhouse.

“We are excited to finalize the deal and to convert our ownership position in Discovery to such a strong operating asset as Travel Channel,” said Cox president Pat Esser, adding that his team is “enthusiastic about [Travel’s] tremendous growth prospects.”

Travel Channel president Pat Younge will remain at the helm of the network, which he joined in early 2005 as executive vp and general manager. Through the upfront period, Travel Channel ad sales will continue to be overseen by Discovery ad sales president Joe Abruzzese..

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Last month, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” an Emmy award winning reality show on ABC, needed a bunch of hard hats to film an episode and asked Mine Safety Appliances Co., the O’Hara-based manufacturer of mining and safety products for help.

“We donated 500 hard hats, 250 white and 250 yellow,” said spokesman Mark Deasy. The MSA logo was prominently displayed on the hats. The show is scheduled to air in this month.

Del Monte Foods Co., whose pet food and Star-Kist tuna businesses are managed on the North Shore, said MasterCard wanted cans of organic Del Monte tomato sauce to place on a supermarket checkout counter in an TV commercial. “It’s a creative way to generate awareness of our brands,” said spokeswoman Michelle Faist. The company fields “at least one or two calls” a month from producers, she said.

All types of Pittsburgh companies are jumping on the bandwagon, placing or supplying their products on TV shows and in movies. The practice is “popular and growing,” said Petra Arbutina, executive vice president of contact strategy integration at Blattner Brunner, a Downtown advertising agency. “We’re seeing more and more of it. … Marketers are thinking of creative ways to reach their customers and potential customers, and one way is to actually become part of the content.”

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GIVE FORD A CHECKERED FLAG for its integration of its latest Mustang into a recent episode of ABC’s dating-competition show “The Bachelor.” The reason is simple: The GT model comes off as an absolute blast to drive–and it’s likely to rocket up the consideration list for a potential buyer.

True, extended scenes in the April 16 show could be mistaken for an infomercial plugging the iconic car: A group of attractive women and the handsome bachelor tool around in the slick roadsters. The way they dodge cones on a track could easily make viewers envious. But it comes off more as entertainment than advertising, and that’s the, er, track brand integration gurus want to be on.
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