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K.C. and Mr. ME AT THE Ads

Cable World, July 21, 2003

Byline: K. C. NEEL

The assignment was simple enough. Find someone who could critique CTAM's Mark Award winners and the industry's efforts to sell itself.

I knew exactly who to go to. I called the guy, and he was game. But when I got to his office a few days later, he was reticent. Several factors were preventing him from going public with his judgments:

His mama's lessons in manners. ("If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all - at least publicly.")

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Cable's now-legendary brotherhood. (While the cable industry is pretty grown up and made of independent parties now, in the past it's been one big, happy, sometimes dysfunctional, tight-knit family. Operators didn't compete with one another. Hell, they didn't compete with anyone. And everyone worked together as a team of sorts to propel the entire industry forward.)

Survival. (This chap still works in the biz, so he wasn't eager to dis current and/or potential clients.)

Still, I knew he was perfect for the job. His marketing acumen is legendary, and he is very well respected among his peers. He's also been in the cable business long enough to watch it grow from a mishmash of mom-and-pop companies that offered ten or 20 video channels to what it is today - a multiproduct behemoth that's competing with very aggressive and competent competitors.

So we came to a compromise I don't usually consider: I'd keep his anonymity intact in return for his honesty and expertise. I'll call him Mr. ME (as in marketing expert).

We met and went through each of CTAM's Mark Awards finalists, although we concentrated most on the MSOs' ads. He had several general observations about this year's slate of winners. For one thing, he saw little to indicate that cable had come to any kind of promotional epiphany.

"I saw nothing here this year that jumped out at me," Mr. ME says. "These spots aren't a big leap forward. They're extensions of what cable's done in the past. It was just the same stuff made more current for this age and time."

Don't get him wrong. He generally liked what he saw. "There were a lot of good, solid efforts, even if a couple of them missed their mark," Mr. ME continues. "And you have to remember we're just looking at one spot. We don't know what the operator's needs were, so we're judging the ads in a vacuum."

That's a bigger issue that CTAM may want to grapple with in the future, Mr. ME contends. Ads and campaigns are being pigeonholed into categories that are 20 years old. The business has changed dramatically in that time, and he believes some of the award categories should probably change as well. He suggests judging entire campaigns rather than pieces of them.

"It's not that the ads aren't good," Mr. ME says. "They're all good, and there are many others out there that are very good and weren't, for some reason or another, nominated for a Mark Award. But all these spots are just pieces of larger campaigns. On their own they may not inspire, but as a whole, they might accomplish their mission, which is to motivate consumers to buy their service."

Some of the spots have great creative elements, but their message gets lost. Other ads' creative look and feel are straightforward and uncomplicated, and they get right to the point when it comes to whatever it is the operator is trying to get across.

"It's all about keeping things relatively simple," Mr. ME says. "It's all about understanding your audiences. It's an old formula but one that sometimes gets lost, even for some of these winners. The cable industry needs to take things to the next level."

Of all the operator ads Mr. ME scrutinized, he liked the spots from Cox Communications best. "Every one of Cox's ads is just a cut above everyone else's [spots]," he says. "Time Warner Cable's ads are well produced, and you can tell they are consciously trying to be on the cutting edge, but they often miss their mark in delivering the message they want to deliver."

After watching both the MSO and programming network spots, it was clear that the programmers still have a leg up in marketing their products. Of course, it's easier for programmers to have slick ads and enticing offers. They are creators of content; they often have in-house talent they can call on to produce slick, eye-catching ads; and they only have to sell one thing - themselves. Mr. ME pointed to National Geographic's spot which is not only beautiful to watch but captivates the viewer, who ends up wanting more.

That's exactly what a network is after - eyeballs - and the ad was fetching and successful.

Mr. ME was also impressed with CourtTV's ad telling viewers that stealing video service, be it from a satellite provider or cable operator, is illegal and noting that it isn't a matter of whether they'll get caught, but when. It's a powerful ad that ties into CourtTV's justice theme. At the same time it helps operators and DBS providers bring to light a multibillion dollar problem that has plagued them for years. At a period of time when the cable programmer/operator relationship is being tested at almost every corner, it's a refreshing reminder that the two camps can work together for a common cause.

Technology Industry

K.C. and Mr. ME AT THE Ads

Cable World, July 21, 2003

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