REICH COMMUNICATIONS

What We Do: Virtual Media Tour Gets Results

The quarantine during the pandemic has put up some tough new challenges to get PR clients into the news.

It's also opened some new opportunities, as shown by a virtual media tour we've been doing for The National Road Safety Foundation (NRSF). 

With Bob Thomas Productions, we've arranged virtual interviews via Skype and Zoom with 19 TV stations in markets ranging from smaller places like Joplin, Missouri to top markets including Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Cleveland, Nashville and Jacksonville... with more to come.

Here are two typical news segments -- Click to see spots from the CBS station in Cleveland and the CBS outlet in Bakersfield, Calif.

In normal times, Skype interviews would rarely be acceptable for most TV stations because of picture and sound quality and reliability.  But now we're accustomed to seeing interview guests and even reporters and anchors broadcasting from their living rooms and kitchens. 

Hopefully, whenever things get back to "normal," stations will continue to take interviews via the internet rather than the more costly and time-consuming traditional methods -- traveling cross-country for in-studio interviews or doing spots via costly satellite feeds.

For now, it's working nicely for us.

 

 

 

 

 

What We Do: Virtual Media Tour

 

Producing a TV media tour is usually a time-consuming and costly PR tool.

Traditionally, a media tour requires that a spokeseperson either travel to multiple cities to do interviews in-studio at each TV station or else sit in a studio to do a series of back-to-back interviews with stations by satellite. The city-by-city tour requires a good amount of time and travel, and a satellite tour is quite expensive to produce because of satellite time charges and studio rental.  And few major market stations normally take satellite interviews unless the guest is an extremely high-profile or in-demand person.

But during this pandemic, we've become accustomed to seeing TV anchors, reporters and interview guests appear via Skype from their homes, without the usual top-quality studio cameras, lighting and backdrops. 

So we thought perhaps this could work for our client, The National Road Safety Foundation, which wouldn't normally use one of the traditional media tour methods. 

We're in the process now of producing a ten-market TV media tour, to talk about teen summer driving, which always sees a spike in crashes and fatalities during the summer months. In fact, the traffic safety community refers to the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day as "the 100 deadliest days."

With an assist Bob Thomas Productions, we have NRSF spokesperson Michelle Anderson virtually "visiting" at least ten markets to do live or taped interviews, getting across important messages about teen driver safety and the role parents can play in keeping their young people safe behind the wheel.

The first spot will air live Monday morning on "The Morning Show" on WXIX-TV, FOX 19 in Cincinnati, followed on Tuesday by a taped interview with the ABC station in Johnson City/Knoxville in Tennessee, with several more in the works throughout the nation.

Will this become a "new normal" even after the pandemic has passed or will we go back to the high broadcast-quality standards of TV interviews?  Time will tell, but some creativity and flexibility is working for us and our client at the moment. 

Cookie!

 

My daughter Jen told me today is the birthday of a special friend -- Cookie Monster.

Cookie was one of my favorites when I used to watch "Sesame Street" with Jen when she was little, and then a few years later, with our son Michael.  I used to make them laugh when I'd imitate the furry blue guy by saying, in a gruff vice, "Me want cookie." 

But I knew Cookie long before my kids watched him.

Although no one seems to know how old Cookie is, he's been on TV for 50 years, since "Sesame Street" first went on the air in 1969. 

My friendship with Cookie began shortly after that, in the spring of 1970.  I was working on my Master's thesis.  I had books and note cards spread out on the living room floor, as I as trying to piece the thing together.  One afternoon, at around 4, I decided to take a break.  I turned the TV on and .  It was set on Channel 13 (PBS) and a kids' show was on.  I was about to change the channel, but I got caught up by the puppets and the cleverness of the fast-paced show.  I got hooked.

For the rest of the spring, I'd push my thesis notes aside every day at 4 o'clock to watch "Sesame Street."  Cookie and Big Bird were (and are) my favorite characters.  I like Big Bird for his innocence and sweetness and consideration for the feelings of others.  I identified with Cookie Monster because I, too, like to eat -- cookies and almost everything else.

So happy birthday, Cookie Monster.  Have a cookie...or two.

 

 

Emmy Awards recognize the "new" TV

Regardless of whether you liked the awards telecast or not, the The Emmy Awards again put the spotlight on how much TV has changed over the 20+ years.

First, take a look at which networks won the most awards...   Most winners by network: HBO, 34; Netflix, 27; Amazon, 15; National Geographic, 8; NBC, 7; CNN, 5; FX, 5; CBS, 4; Fox, 4; Hulu, 4; VH1, 4; YouTube, 4.

One of the major broadcast networks -- ABC -- got only one Emmy Sunday night.  And the four broadcast networks combined took home only 16 awards -- less than half of what HBO won.

But the big news is how many awards the streaming networks got -- Netflix, Amazon, Hulu.  (Who even heard of Hulu five years ago?)  The streamers dominated the awards.

Don't cry for the networks, though.  Even if they don't dominate the awards anymore, they're still pulling big audiences and even bigger ad dollars.  Broadcast TV isn't going to disappear, although the focus on the subscription (HBO and Showtime) and streaming services like Netflix and Amazon is forcing the broadcast nets to up their game in terms of program quality.  They're not just lowest common denominator programming anymore.

I can remember when top film actors and directors wouldn't go near TV.  But not anymore - not for a long time.  TV programs now feature big screen stars like Michael Douglas and Jane Fonda. 

TV (if you include all the ways programs get onto your TV screen) has come so far from the time in 1961 when FCC Commissioner Newton Minnow called it a "vast wasteland."  TV now seems to be in a new golden age, which is good for all of us.

 

 

What We Do: The Christopher Awards

 

Thursday evening is the 70th annual Christopher Awards, honoring the creators of books, films and TV that tell stories of people doing good.

It's not about the best-seller list or box office or TV ratings. Instead, the Awards are about encouraging people to do whatever they can, in ways big or small, to make our world a better place.

Honorees this year range from Mark Wahlberg's film about foster parenting, "Instant Family," to the Mr. Rogers documentary, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" to the 886-page book by David Blight about slave-turned-abolitionist/author and journalist Frederick Douglass.

We've been knocking on doors to get advance publicity on the winners in papers, on radio, TV and online.  Tomorrow the awards will be presented.  It's always an inspiring evening. 

More to come in this space after the awards.

 

The Upfronts: Paying More for Less

 

It’s a ritual of late spring…the upfront TV marketplace.

Every year, the networks (and in recent years, major ad-supported cable channels) present their fall programming to major advertisers and ad agencies here in New York.  They’re usually glitzy productions at major venues – this year at Radio City Music Hall, Lincoln Center, the Beacon Theater – with lots of star-power from the networks.

There’s a lot at stake.  It’s a chance for advertisers to buy ad time at better rates than if they waited until later in the year, when prices could be anywhere from 10 to 40 percent higher in what’s called the scatter market.

During the upfront period, the networks usually sell as much as 90 percent of their prime time ad availability. 

The numbers are big.  The major networks rake in around $9 billion as advertisers rush to grab up ad time.  When you add in the dozens of cable networks, from A+E to National Geographic Channel, the total take is close to $20 billion.  And it’s almost always a sellers’ market, since the ad buyers don’t want to get locked out.

For major advertisers, TV still offers something other media can’t – a big audience seeing ad messages pretty much at the same time, or in “real time” as the network ad salespeople say.  So even as the total TV audience continues to dip, ad rates appear to be going up again this year. 

Marketers are paying more for less, but FOMO (fear of missing out) still drives the upfront market.

And the winner is... ABC

 

Big events like the Super Bowl, the Grammy’s and the Oscars traditionally were must-watch TV, pulling in giant audiences for the nationwide live broadcasts.  But for the last several years, these events have not been a guarantee for a huge audience, which has been troubling for both the network carrying the event and for the advertisers spending in the millions per 30-second spot. 

The Academy Awards last Sunday proved to be a winner – not only for Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody and Roma, but for ABC as well.

The ratings were up by 11.5 percent over last year’s Oscars telecast, drawing in 29.6 viewers.  And the event was profitable for ABC, which sold out all its available time in the telecast.  The network earned about $120 million during the program, with 30-second spots going for more than $2.8 million.

For comparison, the Grammy’s brought in about $95 million for CBS.  Approximately 30 million tuned in for the broadcast.  Super Bowl, which was the least-watched Super Bowl in ten years, still drew a super audience of 98.2 million – dwarfing the Grammy’s and Oscars combined.  Ad revenues for CBS were down five percent from a year ago, but still came to a hefty total of more than $385 million. The typical spot cost between $4.6 and $5.2 million.  

Pfft… a bundle, gone in 30 seconds.

Super Bowl = Super Ad Showcase

 

CBS says ads for Super Bowl LIII are more than 90 percent sold out, with just over two weeks to go.  And title sponsorships have been sold for each hour of pre-game and post-game shows.

Marketers are shelling out more than $5.2 million for a 30-second spot.

CBS expects the extravaganza in Atlanta to bring in $500 million, topping the $414 million that NBC earned for last year's Super Bowl.

Understandably, CBS will milk the event for all they can get.  Starting at 11:30 a.m. eastern, with seven hours of pre-game shows.  They'll be covering the game with 115 cameras, including four with live augmented reality graphics.  CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus says the broadcast "will look as innovative as any broadcast in history."

For many people, Super Bowl is as much about the ads as it's about the football.  Top advertisers this year are automotive, beer and beverage, movie studios and technology companies.  Returningf advertisers include Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi, Doritos, Avocados from Mexico (even with tariffs), and WeatherTech.

 

 

Shorter is Better - For TV Ads

Shorter TV ads get more viewer attention than longer ones.  That's what research recently reported by Television News Daily says.

Ten-second ads get about ten percent more attention than 30-second spots, and 20 percent more than 60-second ads.

This doesn't seem like earth-shaking news.  To me, it sort of stands to reason.  A shorter ad is less of an intrusion. 

The challenge, though, for a shorter ad is you have less time to draw and hold the viewer's attention, and less time to get across a convincing marketing message.  Shorter ads might be used in combination with the more traditional 30s or 60s, which have the time to get across the marketing pitch, while the short 10-second spots can serve to keep the brand name out there and possibly remind viewers of the longer ads that have the full marketing info.

We've been seeing short ads -- some even less than 10 seconds -- on the internet for years as pre-roll for online content.  But for those online ads to be seen, marketers need to hook the viewer in the first few seconds so he or she will want to keep watching, rather than click on "Skip Ad."  That's where real creativity comes in... or not.

 

Ads We Like and Those We Hate

 

My wife is participating in a focus group and as a prep question she was asked to list some ads she likes and some she doesn't like. 

We talked about it and we both agreed we love the "Dog Tested" campaign Subaru is running, showing dogs in various situations.  I could watch those ads over and over and, in fact, I've stopped the fast-forward on our DVR so I could watch one of those ads for perhaps the 20th time.

The other question was: what ads do we hate?

Two insurance ads topped out list.  Aflac, for the annoying Aflac duck.  At least they don't use Gilbert Gotfried's grating voice any more, but the voice is still annoying. 

The other ads are the seemingly non-stop pitches from Geico.  Some are funny the first time and maybe even the second time.  But Geico, which is by far TV's biggest advertiser, has them running all the time and everywhere, it seems.  So we hate them because of overexposure.

Now to the key question... Would I buy a Subaru because of the ads, and would I not buy coverage from Geico or Aflac for the same reason?  Hard to say, since many other factors would be in play.  For a car, it would be things like price range, style and comfort, reputation.  For insurance, it would be price and reputation -- reputation not based on the ads but on word-of-mouth regarding how they respond when you have a claim.  But, all other things being equal, I would avoid a company whose ads I hate.  I've done it before with banks.