DVR Owners and Political Communications

I was catching up on reading last week's issue of PR Week when I was surprised by the results of a poll by The Benenson Strategy Group. The firm works with many Democratic candidates, the DCCC, the DSCC, the AFL-CIO and corporate clients like Verizon and Proctor & Gamble. The firm's principal, Joel Benenson, lead the internal polling for Clinton-Gore in 1996.

From what I can gather, the survey was commissioned by MSHC Partners, a direct mail and Internet advertising firm that works with Democratic candidates like Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Chris Dodd and groups like NARAL, the Sierra Club and even the South Dakota Democratic Party.

The survey sampled 1,128 registered and unregistered voters both with and without DVR's to understand their habits and what it means for political campaigns. No surprise with a couple of the numbers.

• 60 percent of ads on recorded television are skipped by DVR users
• 50 percent of programming on TV is viewed in recorded form by DVR users

However, these next numbers left me a bit perplexed.

• 44 percent of DVR owners say TV ads are their most important source of political news
• 46 percent of non-DVR users say TV ads are their most important source of political news

Isn't that a tad bizarre? Sixty percent of DVR users say they aren't watching the ads, but they still use those ads as their main source of political news?

Since the survey was commissioned by a firm with a vested interest in the outcome, I question what this really means. MSHC has a lot to gain by convincing poltical candidates that direct mail and Internet is the way to go.

"What we found in this study is that this new technology does have an
impact on how voters get their information and while television still
remains the most influential source of information, as DVR ownership grows
it will become less efficient," said Hal Malchow, president of MSHC
Partners. "Cable television, with its hundreds of channels has also made it
increasingly difficult to reach the entire electorate, compared to the days
of dominance by three major networks. Between DVRs and cable television,
political ads are losing their punch."

Thoughts anyone?

Scent of a Man

You can almost smell it through the screen. This one's for Em Smith, my copywritin' colleague who recently introduced me to Bruce Campbell (am I the last to discover this guy?). For Old Spice, I smell a comeback. [via American Copywriter]

Coming into manhood at a hyper-feminist school that squeezed every ounce of testosterone from its male undergrads, I get a self-actualization from this spot that feels like reclaiming my voice. See? What real man has to reclaim his voice? Wildflowers and shame, my brethren. Four years of it.

Coming into the world under the tutelage of the side-by-side [via Schenk], I get the salty taste of payback.

BTW: Whoever came up with the name "Old Spice" deserves a medal.

Sometimes Truth Hurts

We spend a lot of energy showing people why it's important — and effective — to tell the truth in their communications.

This PSA for MTV (by Ogilvy Lisbon) does it in 60 seconds, and with one line of copy. Hurts to watch, but you can't argue with the truth....

Via Boards Magazine

PS: When you think about it, this is a healthcare ad....prevention being the best medicine. How often do we see healthcare advertising get this hardcore?

UPDATE: For a MUCH faster download, go straight here to the section of the Staying Alive website that features all new ads in this campaign. Click "Ogilvy" and select the first spot (from the far left of the navigation).

Pizza Pilots Deliver A New Reason to Love the Free Market

Now here's an idea that sticks:

Pizza delivery to remote Alaskan villages. Via airplane.

I barely caught this story last night — thanks to my wife and TiVo — on the CBS News about a pizzeria in Nome, Alaska called Airport Pizza that for $30 a pie delivers pizza to villages scattered around the Seward Peninsula.

As an Alaskan expatriate (you never get Alaska out of your blood), I got a big charge and a little homesick from the story. To appreciate what pizza delivery by bush plane means, you need to appreciate the remoteness of the villages Airport Pizza serves. How they're making a profit, I don't know, but I hope they keep it up.

The buzz from the sky is now buzz on the airwaves. Read about it here. Watch the story here.

You've just gotta love the things people come up with in the free market. Now, someone needs to bring Airport Pizza to rural South Dakota. I'll bet the idea would fly.

Time Is On Your Side. But Is the Future?

This in from Mediaweek (via AAF): longer TV spots stick with viewers better than :15's or :30's.

First thing I thought when I read the story is, "Jaffe will have a field day with this." And he already has.

The piece shares the findings of a report produced by The Atlas Group, which states that both viewers of video on demand content delivered through cable and web "gravitate" to longer ads (for Jaffe, author of Life After the 30-Second Spot, this is a giant "no duh").  No mention of standard broadcast/cable spots in the article.

What's interesting, then, is how the Atlas group seems to advise adherents of the traditional model Jaffe loathes to adjust (my bold):

John Chandler-Pepelnjak, the author of the new report... emphasized that for advertisers it is all about how much time the most willing-and-interested users spend with a brand, rather than making something palatable for the masses. "If it's something people want to see, they're not as much in a hurry to get it over with," he said. "With all things being equal, a brand planning a two-minute spot should make a four minute spot. The people that are going to watch are going to watch more."

This lines up precisely with Jaffe's analysis of the newly empowered/ connected/time-pressed/demanding consumer. But it would be a mistake, I think, to follow Chandler-Pepelnjak's advice on length and format without following Jaffe's on audience and medium. That's because, for the traditional TV spot model, none of this will matter in a few short fiscal years. The future, my demon-box-loving friend, is not on your side.

The most encouraging news for creatives concerns neither format or length:

Creative quality is perhaps more important than ever, said Chandler-Pepelnjak. These findings could also have implications for content-producers, he added, since users have indicated a willingness to sit through long form entertainment, particularly in VOD.

That secret has been out a while — but a least the Atlas Group just validated it:  for instance, if you're American and have watched the above British 120 spot for Honda — not to mention this one or this one — you already know the power of great creative that takes as long as it needs, never mind any media buy (the spots didn't run on US TV, but have circulated hugely on the web).

Attention = the new commodity

Ahhhh…vacation. I took two days off before Memorial Day Weekend to give myself (and my family) a five-day weekend. We spent the time in the Black Hills of South Dakota, which is one of my favorite places in the world (pictured to the right). We spent time fishing, hiking and soaking up the sun well off the beaten path.

In addition to the rest and relaxation, I caught up on some reading—two books that are relevant to this blog: All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin and Life After the 30-Second Spot by Joseph Jaffe (many thanks to Joseph for supplying us with a copy). I’d been meaning to get to these books for a long time and this vacation supplied me the time to get to both.

With the proliferation of blogs, I’ve noticed myself spending less time with books. It just seems that by the time a book comes to print, everything included therein has probably been covered by the blogosphere. However, this particular vacation I was without an Internet connection and my Treo was out of range, so I was forced to read the old way…and was rewarded for doing so.

One thing that jumped off the pages of these two marketing texts was the importance of gaining the attention of the consumer. The cluttered media landscape (which is rendering the 30-second spot irrelevant) has led to the “attention economy” with time “the new currency” states Jaffe. Rather than ROI, we need to focus on the “consumer’s ROA: return on attention."

Godin calls attention “the unstated precious commodity” and tells marketers that they “can no longer force people to pay attention.” Both authors reference the effectiveness of “permission marketing,” the title of a previous Godin book, and Jaffe calls for the introduction of “permission advertising.” The permission is necessary because marketers waste the time of today’s time-pressed consumers at their own peril.

Both authors see attention gained in similar fashions. For Godin, attention is earned from the consumer by telling a compelling story that does not conflict with their worldview. Jaffe urges advertisers to get attention by crafting advertising that is real, relevant and beneficial to the consumer (hint: it’s tough to do that with a 30-second TV ad).

This is consistent with what our agency regularly discusses with our clients. In our view, the first job of good advertising is to stop the consumer and get them to pay attention. The consumer is not looking for your ad; in most cases they’re actively trying to avoid it. That’s why they signed up for the “Do Not Call List,” bought a DVR and installed Google pop-up blocker. An ad can’t convince its target to do anything if it doesn’t first get someone to pay attention and today that’s harder than ever to accomplish.

I’ll be blogging more about these two texts in the coming days (perhaps even review them), but I first wanted to highlight a theme or two that was present in both. Following all the vacation reading, I have a lot of thoughts to share with Fresh Glue readers.

Incidentally, public relations pros have joined advertisers in discussing the importance of consumer attention. In a presentation titled “Communicating on the Read-Write Web” by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson, of For Immediate Release fame, attention is called “the scarcest resource.” The presentation is well worth the read.

Business Maverick Mark Cuban On Saving the TV Spot

The way to keep TV ads relevant (in case you thought they weren't)?

Live TV spots.

Mark Cuban, billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a business maverick in his own right — do you know anyone this flush with a blog? — has submitted an idea so obvious I can't believe we haven't heard of it before.

Why make TV spots live? Same as always: to stop viewers and inoculate them against the temptations of the TiVo.

Why this is so cool: it's a win for everyone.

• It's a win for viewers who would get the de facto entertainment value of sitting in judgment of a live spot — and will suddenly become more active participants in the exchange between themselves and the advertiser.
• It's a win for agencies who would now have an entirely new creative and sales challenge at all levels.
• It's a win for networks who would now have the equivalent of extra "content" they don't have pay for.
• It's a win for advertisers who now have a buzz-worthy vehicle to demo/explain/promote their product or service.

And if you think about it, the spot itself doesn't have to be an outright attempt at entertainment through a little mini-show; the live aspect of it injects it with entertainment value to begin with, which could give advertisers and creatives more latitude to — gasp — sell the product.

Now then: who's first?

Many Shining Moments

Advertising doesn't always have to come in pretty little 30 second spots, full-page ads or tri-fold  brochures. In fact, some of the most effective advertising breaks with convention to forge a lasting, memorable connection between your brand and your audience.

In light of that, it's hard to think of a more effective piece of advertising/branding/marketing than One Shining Moment, the anthem of College Basketball. For the story on the song, click here.

After the (rather boring) game on Monday night, I taped it as I do every year. As a fan of college hoops, it's hard for me to watch or hear the song without getting a few chills. Some people even get choked up. As always, it leaves me in anticipation of next year's shining moments.

A Real Turn On

Another gem from overseas: this spot for crossfader music technology. Via fubiz.net

March Madness on Demand: Nothing but Net

TV and the Internet are pretty compatible after all. If you weren't convinced by last year's hoo-ha over video downloads via Apple iTunes and AOL, or by partnerships between TiVo, Yahoo and Apple to pipe online services through your TV, check out this post on adrants. It shares stats on CBS's day-old "March Madness On Demand."

This post from Fresh Glue's own Nathan Schock proves the huge user value in this marriage of web and broadcast — for both fans and advertisers. It's encouraging evidence that, despite what pundits like us try to predict about new media, people — and companies — are constantly finding fresh ways to add value to the online experience. Are you one of them?

Next tournament-style opportunity for this kind of online content? World Cup 2006.