Posts Tagged ‘super bowl’

Industry Quote of the Day

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

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“There’s no way you can justify spending $3 million on a thirty-second Super Bowl ad, but you sure as hell can justify a half hour infomercial that you know the cost of when within 72 hours you know the revenue you generated from it.” — Chris Rebholz, president of Christopher Morgan Fulfillment

Look for more insights from Chris and other DR fulfillment leaders in Electronic Retailer’s upcoming May issue! Do you have an industry quote or industry event pictures worth sharing? Post a comment or send an e-mail to eMedia editor Pat Cauley at pcauley@retailing.org for possible inclusion.


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Posted in Advertising, Direct Response, Electronic Retailer, Infomercials, Just for fun..., Marketer, Photos, Retailer, Support Services, drtv, fulfillment | No Comments »

Steelers, Doritos and DRTV

Friday, February 13th, 2009

n688471012_2522881_2693.jpg Hailing from Pittsburgh, or should I say Sixburgh, I’m obviously still ecstatic at the outcome of this year’s Super Bowl. But for our purposes here, I’ll spare you the Steelers fan gloating. There were other winners on Super Bowl Sunday and they come from the advertising and marketing community.

According to USA Today, the Doritos crystal ball commercial was the favorite of the evening. I literally remember sitting in a room full of people before the first commercial break and someone managed to crack the joke: “Here come the blatant marketing pitches.” Maybe my sarcastic friend spoke too soon. As the now infamous crystal ball Doritos commercial ensued, the entire room erupted into laughter and one of my friends even said, “That makes me want to buy some Doritos for sure.” Mission accomplished.

During another part of the evening, a commercial played for an upcoming feature film. My friend who interns for the studio made sure to hush everyone as the spot played. Being that it was a preview for a comedy, the room’s continued silence was not a good sign. “Damn, that cost a lot of money,” my friend said to disapproving stares. On the up side, she used our live, informal focus group the next day during a meeting to let her supervisors know that the preview did not go over well with our crowd.

But if anything, the Super Bowl proved that there is still a place for advertising and marketing in a fast-forward world. From 3-D glasses, to impressive strides in mobile campaigns, marketers are still cleverly rising above the clutter. In industry specific news, the Super Bowl even had a DRTV spot for Cash4Gold that played to rave reviews and even rivaled Doritos as the night’s favorite.

“Super Bowl 43 was memorable for several reasons, so much so that the media world is still buzzing about it a week later. It was arguably one of the best games ever, and certainly one of the most exciting fourth quarters in recent history. A record number of viewers tuned in as well — Nielsen’s final report put it at 98.7 million, up a full million over last year. Unprecedented economic times meant no ads from perennial sponsors General Motors and FedEx. But despite the loss of these brands, NBC successfully sold all 65 spots for a record $206 million, with in-game ads running at $3 million apiece. That is up 11 percent from last year’s Fox rate for the game,” according to Video Insider.

Furthermore, a recent study actually shows that watching ads increases the pleasure of the TV viewing experience. Maybe consumers are especially willing to watch ads during the Super Bowl because they know that ad execs are at the top of their game. Perhaps the lesson for advertisers should be to act like it’s the Super Bowl every day. As a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, I can assure you I certainly will.

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Pat Cauley is Electronic Retailer magazine’s eMedia editor.

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Posted in Advertising, Branding, Direct Response, Infomercials, Just for fun..., Marketer, Mobile, Photos, Research, Retailer, Video | 1 Comment »

ERA’s Julie Coons Joins NARC Board

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

julie-coons.gif WASHINGTON—On the cusp of the Electronic Retailing Association’s (ERA) self-regulation program (ERSP) completing its 200th case and a DRTV spot playing during the Super Bowl, ERA president and CEO, Julie Coons, has been named to The National Advertising Review Council’s (NARC) Board. Coons, who was brought on the board simultaneously with DMA CEO John Greco and IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg, recognizes that the perfect storm of the wary economy, the Obama administration and the broader acceptance of direct response marketing all played a significant role in the updated board appointments.

“The convergence of the decision by NARC to welcome ERA to the board and the economic conditions and the continuing evolution of this industry is incredibly synergistic. It gives us an opportunity as an industry to work more closely with the well established organizations representing the advertising community, which will definitely increase our prominence both with the government and industry players alike,” says Coons.

The Better Business Bureau, NARC and various associations are eagerly waiting to see how the recent changes in Washington will affect advertising regulation, which up this point has been widely self-regulated. “We must be vigilant to see what changes are made at the top, particularly with the FTC. We need to be vigilant in this era in which there’s clearly going to be a focus on greater business regulation, but we do have a very good track record. I am not overly worried today, but again, we must be very vigilant to ensure that these new policy makers and appointees understand the tremendous success of ERA’s self-regulation program,” says Coons. Currently, ERA’s ERSP program independently reviews direct response advertising claims and then refers cases to the FTC when its recommendations are not acted upon.

Coons is eager and excited about ERA’s newly positioned role and believes that in the end it will be a major win for the consumer who can expect a greater level of comfort in remote transactions. “This is a result of the electronic retailing industry working with NARC and pursuing a dialogue with them about the changing landscape of reaching the consumer. To their great credit, it also serves as a recognition on NARC’s part that electronic retailers are a very important marketing channel and should be appropriately represented to ensure consumers are protected against false claims,” she says. Coons sees her role as ensuring that the direct marketing industry has an equal voice within the advertising community. For more information on ERA or its government affairs initiatives, please click here.

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Posted in Advertising, Direct Response, ERA, Government Affairs, Infomercials, Marketer, Retailer | 1 Comment »

Catching the Viewer

Friday, February 8th, 2008

facebookpic.jpg At a time when attention is being shared among various media avenues, traditional television advertising has to try very hard to reach consumers. The writer’s strike certainly hasn’t helped their plight either. However, every year there’s one media television event where an advertiser is guaranteed to reach a huge audience. During the Super Bowl, consumers not only watch the commercials, but they watch them very closely. This year’s Super Bowl was the highest rated broadcast in the game’s history. But which ad made the biggest impression?

According to Media Post’s Search Insider, this year’s Super Bowl drew an estimated 97.5 million viewers and was the second most-watched TV program ever (next to the final episode of “MASH”). They found that 64 percent of Super Bowl advertisers included a website in their ad; however, just 12 percent of the ads actually called out the advertisers’ websites in the voiceover.

E-Trade Financial had the biggest impact on viewers, according to TiVo, which put together a list by using aggregated, anonymous, second-by-second audience measurement data about how TiVo subscribers watched the game.

Are you surprised by TiVo’s findings regarding the E-Trade Financial ad? Which ad was your favorite?

And on a personal note, as a Pittsburgh Steelers’ fan, thank you to the New York Giants for ruining the Patriots’ perfect season!

Pat Cauley, eMedia Editor, Electronic Retailer Magazine

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Posted in Advertising, Just for fun..., Marketer, Online, Video | 3 Comments »