Tivo, advertising, television, Ford Motor Company, promoters,
marketing
Broadcast advertisers, who use television, are seeing dramatic
reductions in their ad results because of a four-letter
word--TiVo. In some ad agencies one can sense that TiVo really
is a four-letter word in the most derogatory sense. This
reporter decided to follow the actions of what such advertising
giants as Ford Motor Company and Shimano are doing creatively to
solve the TiVo problem.
What is the "TiVo problem?" It is all about consumers who fast
forward through the commercials associated with television shows
that they copy and capture in their TiVo systems. Madison Avenue
refers to this as "ad avoidance." Advertisers call this their
worst nightmare.
Another term used for TiVo is DVR, which is short for Digital
Video Recorder. Nielsen Media Research predicts that DVR
ownership rates could reach 10% by the end of 2005, and explode
to 41% by 2009. These numbers beg for an immediate and radical
solution if broadcast advertisers are to continue using
television as a promotional medium. The most intriguing aspect
about the whole TiVo issue is that the solution involves the
continued use of advertising, but in the shows themselves.
Television show product placement is at the heart of this
solution and both Ford and Shimano are using the same award
winning national sports show, Inside Sportfishing
(www.insidesportfishing.com) to complement their traditional
advertising campaigns through extensive product placement. What
do I mean by product placement? It is the creative placement of
actual product IN the TV show itself. Done in such a way that
the products become an integral and important part of the
storyline and show itself.
The Survivor reality show is known for its rather blatant
attempts to promote certain products, followed closely behind by
Donald Trump's hawking of the goods and services of those
companies that advertise on The Apprentice. Many consumers are
turned off by product placement that is clumsily done. Michael
Fowlkes, founder and Executive Producer of Inside Sportfishing,
developed his show over a decade ago, and decided to use the
entire format to gently, yet persuasively, promote the shows
sponsors. "I went to Ford initially because their trucks
literally sold themselves," states Fowlkes. "All we had to do
was figure out ways to showcase the F series trucks in action.
It wasn't all that hard because fisherman drive trucks."
Fowlkes went to see Richard Landfield, a 20 year Executive
Member of the Southern California Ford Dealers Advertising
Association, and pitched him on his concept. Simply put, Fowlkes
told Lanfield, that the F series trucks were the perfect
vehicles to tow his fishing boats around. From running down the
rugged Baja peninsula and Central America, to hitting famous
fishing holes and bass lakes across the American heartland from
Texas to as far north as Alaska. The fit was a natural for Ford,
whose trucks are consistent leaders in nearly every truck study
concerning the toughness of a truck.
Landfield took the concept to Dailey & Associates in Los
Angeles, the agency representing the SCFDAA. They jumped on
board and haven't looked back since. "I was worried about how
Inside Sportfishing would integrate the trucks into the series,"
concedes Landfield. "After I saw the first program, you could
see how Michael was proving our trucks were Ford Tough."
Landfield went on to say that Ford's whole advertising campaign
was based on the slogan "Ford Tough." During his show Fowlkes
would run the trucks through the harshest terrain, which drove
home the point about the trucks being "Ford Tough". "When
someone watched one of our shows, and was even remotely
interested in a truck, he was talking to the nearest Ford
dealership after the show was over," says Fowlkes "Dealers love
the show because it works. It helps them sell trucks."
Fowlkes then steered his attention to another major player in
the sport fishing arena, Shimano, which is well known for it's
rods and reels, bicycle, and snowboard products. Once again,
Fowkles vision for Shimano was to showcase the reliability of
Shimano's fishing gear but to do so in a non-intrusive manner.
The President of North American operations for Shimano, Dave
Pfeiffer, quickly jumped on board with Inside Sportfishing's
program the minute he learned about Fowlke's promotional
philosophy. "Placement of product within the content of the show
has been very effective for us," states Pfeiffer. "Michael has a
great understanding of how and why we make products the way we
do for certain techniques or markets and he instinctively is
able to portray them just the way we want. He makes it a point
not to be too obvious about it though, so the product really is
weaved into the total experience."
Pfeiffer has also been concerned about the TiVo challenge
lately. "There is no doubt that TiVo presents a problem for
advertisers and promoters alike," warns Pfeiffer, "we know our
products will be a major part of the action on the show."
Pfeiffer knows that one must develop alternative advertising
strategies but didn't necessarily consider sponsorships at
first. "Shimano does not tend to go out 'looking' for
sponsorships," says Pfeiffer, "But, we know a good fit when we
see it (www.insidesportfishing.com) and then pursue building the
kind of relationship that works for both of us."
Fowlkes is now building yet another strong element to his
overall programming presentation. After meeting Rachel Gershwin,
Director of Marketing & Development of the Make-A-Wish
Foundation of San Diego, Fowlkes was immediately drawn to the
concept of helping out not just one child and family, but an
entire group of kids and their loved ones. "It is amazing how
many kids and families are interested in fishing wishes,"
Gershwin says, "Michael's idea of having a boat trip for a
number of children and their families was a brilliant idea." The
idea was received so well by the Make-A-Wish Foundation that
they expect to make copies of the taped show, and plan to use
them throughout all their local chapters in the U.S. "The more
we talked, the more I fell in love with the project," Fowlkes
says.
Fowlkes is in the process of negotiating with additional
sponsors who've expressed a keen interest in becoming a part of
the series. Considering the content and nature of the show,
sponsors should be lining up to get involved.
With new advertising challenges cropping up, seemingly every
day, led by such new technologies as TiVo, advertisers have to
get involved with creative programming. Product placement,
particularly the type of product inclusion that "blends
seamlessly into the shows is the key to success." Selecting the
right programming partner, then becomes the most crucial action
to be taken.
Bruce Prokopets Executive Editor Press Direct International
www.pressdirectinternational.org