Marketing That Gets High-Speed Results

Cable World, June 18, 2001 by Staci D. Kramer

CD's, cartoon characters get the message across

No matter which box makes it into consumers' homes or how much the programming costs, without good marketing none of it will pay off. And last week's National Cable & Telecommunications Association show was loaded with examples of how to deliver. Whether it's convincing Internet users to go broadband, pumping up subscriptions to cable service or premium features or boosting viewership, cable operators and programmers are exploiting digital opportunities without abandoning the tried-and-true methods.

All the promotions that we do these days, MTV2 general manager David Cohn told attendees at one panel, "are traditional promotions but with an online aspect that drives cable modems in a very strong way." Viacom's recently created MTV360 integrates MTV, MTV2 and MTV.com for marketing, advertising and programming.

Cohn illustrated the possibilities with an MTV2 promotion with Charter Communications in Miami featuring the band Saliva at a street fair. They created promotional materials and co-branded spots for a $500 CD giveaway--everybody who signed up for high-speed access that month got a free Saliva CD. Charter promoted it locally cross-channel and got significant on-air mentions on MTV networks because Saliva was a featured artist that month.

The spots pushed Charter's Pipeline high-speed access as the best way to experience MTV online with copy like "You can get the latest information faster and clearer so you can listen to the music all the time." For its part, Charter put together an attractive introductory package. "The results were very strong--20% above goal for Charter that month," Cohn said.

At Time Warner Cable, the first-ever national Time Warner-RoadRunner marketing effort relies heavily on the on-air promos featuring the cartoon character, but it's blended with online marketing techniques. The campaign marks the first time Time Warner and RoadRunner have been able to use the character in its traditional animated form instead of a static image. They put him to good use, employing the always-victorious RoadRunner to mock DSL competitors who were mounting an aggressive campaign. The greater challenge though, for Brian Kelly, SVP-marketing, was creating materials that would appeal to all of the decentralized Time Warner systems. He got 100% buy-in on the basis of a mailer with pencil drawings of the animated commercials.

He's using that support to take an even larger step. All of the materials will feature a toll-free number for tracking response rates, and the company has committed to publishing the analysis from each individual division so they can see which tactic drove the most connectivity during the course of the campaign. In addition, the campaign is plugged into Cable Labs' online lead generator. When it broke in April, more than 25,000 leads came in from visitors to the RoadRunner site.

Other examples:

* AMC's elaborate and engaging flight Web site complemented October's Monster Movie Week, drove traffic and included a revenue stream by selling VHS tapes of the movies being aired.

* At ESPN.com, nonbroadband users who start to download an NBA finals' clip highlight see the message "Best experienced with a cable modem." The reminder remains under the video window as long as the feature is being used.