Marketing Ingenuity: A Website for Mocking Hit Bravo Shows Brought To You by Bravo.

Normally you don’t see networks providing a place for fans to publically rant about the channel’s programs (fan forums on most networks’ official websites are, whether they want to admit it or not, heavily monitored and controlled). Nor do most networks have websites devoted to recapping and promoting the hottest shows from their rival stations. But for Bravo, owning a site that lets fans mock Tim Gunn while exalting the talent and dashing good looks of Ryan Seacrest actually works. Even when users are saying things like “I am not yet convinced that she actually has a personality,” and “I want to give the woman a Red Bull or four so she'll talk faster,” in reference to Padma, the host of Bravo’s hit series “Top Chef,” the website surprisingly still fits into their overall marketing plan.


In 2007, Bravo, the home of “Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style” and “The Real Housewives of (Insert City Here)” bought the website www.televisionwithoutpity.com, a popular hub for television enthusiasts which features recaps, interviews, articles, and fan forums among other things. Even I, someone who doesn’t have any sort of cable subscription (I guess I’m part of Daisy Whitney’s Cable-Free Army, eh?) really love poking around on it from time to time. It keeps me updated on all those shows I wish I had time to watch and I can stay afloat with the ever-changing relationship of Blair and Nate from the CW’s Gossip Girl.

So why is Bravo is providing me with all this information about shows on rival networks? Aren’t they just driving me to go watch these other shows instead of watching Bravo? Well, in my opinion, what initially seems like a weird move for a cable network owned by General Electric is actually a brilliant marketing move. For one thing, Bravo’s ownership of TWoP proves that Bravo Execs have some serious confidence in their original programming and that it can stand up to all the hits on other networks.


But beyond that, Bravo actually gains a number of things by owning TWoP. Bravo is a network targeted to those 18-45 year olds that love all things pop-culture and what is more a part of pop-culture than popular TV shows? TWoP, above all else, furthers the network’s brand image. Those lovers of all things television come to the website and realize that Bravo understands them. Bravo is giving them a place to air their grievances about all kinds of different shows and a central point to read about every popular show currently running, building brand equity with its core viewers. TWoP also unlocks a world of information for the Execs at Bravo. This is their primary target audience and by having users create a profile (something you have to do to post in the forums) which tells their age, sex, location, interests, and even television viewing habits, their core viewers are essentially providing the network with better market research than they could go out and buy. They get to see what people are posting about, what people aren’t positing about, and who each and every one of those posters are. Television Without Pity is a great addition to Bravo’s online holdings and a great marketing tool for the network (and, a pretty great website if I do say so myself).

Oh yeah, and apparently you get some ad revenues as well when you run and own a popular website... something I’m sure Bravo doesn’t mind either.

Preston Hershorn
University of Pennsylvania

For Jugular Advertising click here.

For The New Advertising click here

Who's Heard of Hulu Now?

One of the most anticipated ads in this year’s SuperBowl was the Hulu spot because it’s a big deal for a new media company to be peddling its services in the most coveted ad time of the year. Sure, Hulu probably got a reduced rate because of its little corporate connection to NBC, which carried the game.

But let’s give it up for Hulu. That was a damn funny ad. Of course, it’s hard to go wrong when Alec Baldwin is the one on screen pitching your TV-on-the-Web proposition. He’s always good for a little diabolical twist and the ad had its share of diabolical twists. After all – no one is really going to turn off BOTH the TV and the computer so Hulu’s kind of got you there.

Anyway, the question now is whether this ad finally tilts Hulu into mainstream adoption. Time will tell, but the ad should give the site a big bump in one fell swoop.

According to Solutions Research Group, awareness of Hulu among online Americans registered at 15% in July 2008 and rose to 24% just four months later. The research firm predicted awareness would jump to 40% after the SuperBowl ad.



Daisy Whitney
California

Photographs/Images of HBO's Big Love New York City 2009 Billboard and Poster Ad Campaign.

I love the HBO Series, Big Love which has a third season premiere at 9 PM on Sunday January 18th. Like Rome and House of Sadaam (two of many), Big Love is one of the dark horses in the HBO stable that I wish more people would watch. Don't be put off by a show about polygamy...it's a captivating account of the clash between the modern and the fundamentalist traditions of the Mormon church. But we're not here to do plot summaries, but marketing and advertising. To see plot summaries, characters and a terrific family tree, take a look at this Wikipedia entry on Big Love.

From a marketing and advertising perspective, first up is this rock-and-roll 4:30 minute whirlwind summary of the first two seasons produced by HBO. Please do not skip this video. If you can watch this without at least tuning in to give the show a try, I'll be very disappointed in you.



HBO is also putting together a major outdoor campaign in the New York City (and LA) market. This campaign really has two objectives. Reintroduce "Big Love" to past viewers and reignite their enthusiasm. But clearly this is not just an attempt to reintroduce the show after a long hiatus from the writer's strike (the last show was in August of 2007), but also an attempt to entirely relaunch the show to a whole new group of viewers.

HBO's pantheon has changed since Big Love was first launched. The Sopranos franchise no longer rules with an iron hand. Now there are now at least three or four shows to promote (and more new ones coming in the coming months): Entourage, Flight of the Conchords, and Big Love. And then there's HBO's tremendous mini series programming like John Adams, Grey Gardens (coming this spring according to Drew Barrymore at The Golden Globes, and
Manhunt, based on the book by James L. Swanson about John WIlkes' Booth's flight after Lincoln's assasination.

So...HBO and Big Love has stormed Manhattan. Take a look at this Manhattan outdoor. It's hardworking: picturing key cast members and, in some wild postings, identifying the characters by name, something rarely done in television advertising.




Then, there's a unique Times Square campaign, running underground rather than in Times Square above ground where, like gladiators in the Roman Colosseum, outdoor spectaculars duke it out for eyeballs and mind share like this billboard takeover from Pepsi. So, HBO has bought precisely 42 posters running side by side in the tunnel that runs between 42nd Street Times Square and The Port Authority Bus Terminal. Are the 42 posters a subtle tie into the 42nd St and Times Square station? Or am I over-reaching?


The posters are unique because you can plug headphones into the people portrayed on the poster and listen to their secrets, an allusion to the governing story line that HBO is focusing on in positioning Big Love as a show about "secrets." (That association is a bit vague for my taste in this advertising). It's all good fun, provided the technology works, there's room in rush hour to plug in, and the link to the "secrets" in the show is clear.



Beyond all this I was approached this morning by a man wearing a huge thought bubble above his head. It said "I think I'm ugly." He looked ridiculous. But he was impossible to miss. I walked up to him and said "Could I get the Big Love handout?"

Tomorrow's going to be damned cold. Wonder what will be happening in the land of Big Love promotion?

Scott Lackey
New York, New York

All original photos by Jugular Advertising.

For Jugular Advertising click here

For The New Advertising blog click here

Nip/Tuck Advertising for 2009 Season on FX Networks.

As you may have seen last night, Nip/Tuck is back big time with a tremendous episode that started fast out of the gate and never slowed down. But...no spoilers here.

Instead...we'd like to focus on the absolutely remarkable Busby Berkeley spot (sorry about the quality...FX please post a higher quality version and we'll replace this one). Adding Kanye West to the kalaidescopic chorus of plastic surgery girls just makes it even more outrageous and attention getting.



Take a look at this shot of typical Busby Berkeley choreography and you'll see the inspiration for the Nip/Tuck spot.



Here's how the imagery was carried out on bus sides in New York. Equally provocative.



It's going to be a great season.

Scott Lackey/New York, NY

Click here to visit Jugular Advertising.
Click here to visit The New Advertising.

Social Network Etiquette and TV: Twitter Meets 24 & Kiefer Sutherland. As Told by Daisy Whitney.

Twitter met 24 and Kiefer Sutherland. And Twitter won. A few weeks ago I had just finished watching the movie length version of 24 and then, without much forethought, went to Twitter and asked people what they thought (forgetting that the West Coast feed had yet to begin). I was immediately silenced by Twitter fans who did not want, quite appropriately, me to spoil any element of the broadcast. I sent a tweet to Daisy Whitney, a TVWeek writer and contributor to this blog, and asked for her opinion. She spoke to me (and many others)...and it was all downhill from there.

Scott Lackey
NY, NY



Reproduced from TVWeek 12/7/08.

Column: A Novel Netiquette Solution to Spoilers
By Daisy Whitney

Am I allowed to mention that Izzie is having sex with Denny on “Grey’s Anatomy?”

It’s not the sex part I’m worried about. What I’m wondering is—is it OK to “spoil” that she did it with a dead guy more than two weeks ago?

I’m guessing that “more than two weeks” probably falls outside the spoilers statute of limitations, even in our digital video recorder and time-shifted world.

But what is the acceptable grace period? How long must we sit mute before we blog, Twitter or post Facebook updates on the cliffhanger or resolution in a new episode of a television series? In this hyper-connected social media world where our friends and our followers see our status updates about watching Meredith die—oops, she’s alive again—what is the netiquette for revealing the ending?

(Disclaimer: The Meredith dying episode ran two years ago on “Grey’s Anatomy.”)

I ask because some social media participants have been chided for even inquiring about a show. When advertising executive Scott Lackey posted a Twitter message on Nov. 23 asking only if anyone else had seen the movie version of “24” that ran that night, he was immediately rebuked by Twitter followers, who told him, “Don’t say anything, I am TiVo-ing it.”

As the co-founder and strategic director of Jugular Advertising in New York, Mr. Lackey wants television viewers to talk freely about shows they are watching. “Water-cooler talk is great and this is a living water cooler,” he said.

But at the same time, we should be sensitive to the wide range of viewing habits, shouldn’t we?

I surveyed my Twitter friends last week about when to share spoilers, and the responses ranged from after the West Coast feed ends to 48 hours, one week and maybe not at all. (You can tick off friends in foreign countries who often can’t see United States shows for six months or longer after they air here by talking about plot points.)

Even if you put “spoiler alert” on a Twitter message or a Facebook post, our gaze will see the whole post anyway, meaning we can’t hide from a message, said Barak Kassar, founding director for marketing communications agency Rassak.

For reader survey, click here
TVWeek 12/7/08.

So does common courtesy dictate that pop culture is verboten on social forums? That has its own risks, Mr. Lackey said. “It really hurts the medium if there become unspoken rules of ‘You can’t comment’ because it takes entertainment off the table, it takes premieres off the table, it takes television off the table, it takes sports off the table,” Mr. Lackey said.

On the other hand, maybe we need to accept the consequences of hearing about an ending before we see a show if we choose to engage in social media. If you don’t want to know if Vince gets the role on “Entourage,” or if Pam comes back to Scranton on “The Office” or if Izzie really does have a brain tumor (that is purely speculation at this point and NOT a spoiler) then maybe you should stay off Twitter, Facebook and other blogs.

But there’s another option. Maybe even a better one.

You can find a real person to talk to, said David Wheeler, a psychology professor at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. “Being able to talk to a buddy about TV shows will let you not share spoilers on Twitter.”

A buddy.

I like that idea.

Join Daisy Whitney's Cable-Free Army.

You know how when you start something new you want to reinforce the purchase by having EVERYONE ELSE YOU POSSIBLY CAN join you? Well, I kind of feel that way about ditching cable. You see, I gave it up two months ago. The reason? To test the untethered lifestyle for my TVWeek.com weekly column. I decided to do this because more consumers are cutting the cord and flying free, going without cable and satellite programming. To live the broadband-powered life, you need a combination of Apple TV, Hulu, maybe a little Boxee, Netflix and, in a perfect world, the Xbox. With this combination, plus a little elbow grease, persistence and rebellious nature, you’ll enjoy the benefits of saving $100, plus or minus, a month. The drawbacks are a little more hunting and pecking, so to speak, when you want to watch something. Oh, and you have to pretend too. For instance, I pretend Grey’s Anatomy premieres new episodes on Fridays now because that’s when the Thursday night episode posts on ABC.com. Anyway, the point is – the water’s nice, won’t you come join me? Because my dream for 2009 is to amass an army of fellow cord-cutters, of daring early adopters who are ready to take the plunge and swim in these cable-free waters with me.

Daisy Whitney
California

Welcome Daisy Whitney. My guess, based on everything I know, is that we could be hearing more about going cable-free, and Grey's Anatomy, in future posts. And much, much more. Scott Lackey, Cable Marketing

And...Here's Daisy Whitney, Noted Television Reporter Joins the Group Blogging Crew.

We’re absolutely thrilled to announce that noted multimedia authority, Daisy Whitney, has agreed to become a guest blogger for Cable Marketing.

If you’re unfamiliar with Daisy…here’s why you’ll want to sign up for our RSS feed so you don’t miss her incisive commentary on the business. She’s smart and she’s fun; you’ll enjoy reading her.

Take a look at her profile to get to know Daisy a bit better:

About Daisy

Daisy Whitney specializes in covering Internet video, social networking, YouTube, iTunes and other forms of online and new media distribution of content. As a multimedia reporter she is one of the first journalists to launch her own online newscast that covers the business of Internet video. Her work is regularly read and watched by executives across the television, cable, advertising and Internet businesses.

She has written for a number of publications including TelevisionWeek, Advertising Age, Shape, Business 2.0 and The Denver Post.

She is currently TelevisionWeek’s new media reporter, extensively covering broadband video, iTunes, online television, consumer-generated media, interactive television, video-on-demand and mobile programming. She also contributes on-air reports to “Tech Now” a program produced by NBC’s KNTV in San Francisco. Daisy is also the host and creator of the Webcast “New Media Minute,” carried at www.TVWeek.com, on ABCNews.com, and on Jugular Advertising’s The New Advertising blog . She is also the host of the audio podcast “This Week in Media”.

In addition, Daisy writes regularly for Advertising Age, OMMA and Media covering trends in television, online and advertising.

As an expert on new media technology, Daisy has appeared on CNN’s Showbiz Tonight, CNBC’s Closing Bell and G4’s Attack of the Show. She has also been interviewed by NPR and the Wall Street Journal. Daisy consults on new media and is a frequent moderator for industry panels at conferences such as the Consumer Electronics Show, the National Association of Broadcasters and the National Association of Television Programming Executives.

Her freelance articles have appeared in Canada’s The Globe and Mail, Miami Herald, New Media Age, Extra Extra, Multichannel News, Natural Health and Consumers Digest.

Daisy writes commercial women’s fiction with a modern and hip edge to her characters and dialogue.

Daisy graduated from Brown University in 1994 with a degree in art history.

Look for Daisy's first Cable Marketing post later this week. Her "New Media Minute" is distributed weekly on our The New Advertising blog.