Propagation Planning

2009 Themes

2009 Themes // Ideas Are Awesome

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Selling TV ads not by the people you reach... by the people they reach

Brian Steinberg wrote a great article in Ad Age last week which was hidden on the bottom of Page 6 (come on Ad Age, show Brian some love!) that showcases television networks changing their model based on Propagation Planning ideals. "Plan not for the people you reach, but the people they reach," is what ad agencies want to accomplish and media corporations are now "Selling ads not on the people you reach, but the people they reach."

Greg Liebman, senior VP-ad sales research at CNN and Artie Bulgrin senior VP-research and analytics at ESPN are heading up the efforts at the two media corporations respectively. I'm going to repeat key parts of the article here:

Time Warner's CNN and Walt Disney's ESPN are grappling with the idea that a TV ad should not be judged solely by the number of people it reaches, but also by how many people who see it are spurred to share its message with others.

It's all well and good for a TV network to boast about the ability to lure a sizale crowd, but that's so old school. Today, marketers want to know what subset of that audience talked about their ad with other people, and if that conversation was a positive or negative one. 

CNN and ESPN are both working with independent social media firm Keller Fay, which has since June of 2006 been surveying what CEO Ed Keller describes as a "rolling cross-section" of 700 consumers every week, totaling 36,000 a year. The respondents, between the ages of 13 and 69, are recruited to take notes on conversations they have in 15 different categories over a 24-hour period, then contacted again to answer questions about brands and companies they may have discussed. Keller Fay found that it has been able to track 7,000 brand mentions per week, or about 35,000 per year. The firm also works to identify with media outlets via which the commercial was viewed.

CBS Sports Fantasy Football Propagation Campaign

It's that magical time of the year again when I actually have a reason to pick up the phone and call my buddies because I have something to talk about... Fantasy Football. Fantasy Football allows men to hang out with their friends, use college humor and smack talk each other. God I love this time of year!

I was lucky enough to team with David White on the strategy for the CBS Sports Fantasy Football digital campaign and 22squared used some propagation planning theories to win the business and develop the creative. We gave consumers a personal stake in the campaign by allowing them to customize messages and emails to send to each other. The campaign revolves around a micro  site called The Locker Room where people can get some help igniting the season of Smack Talk.

Target Audience on the Creative Brief:
We will target the next generation of Fantasy Football players/owners. At 22 to 28, these are guys in the process of transitioning from the fun, camaraderie, and competition of their college lives to the working world that forces them to be politically correct and act like an adult in social situations. Fantasy Sports offers an escape from the drudgery of their “new life”. Whether it be a team name like “My Vick in a Box” or a seething remark about missing a game for a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond, players are rewarded for re-visiting tactics learned in college when social class was determined by how well you could use your wit to disparage friends.

Key Idea on the Creative Brief:
Fantasy Football at CBSSports.com - A place where guys can come together and tear each other apart.

Step 1: Go to Smack Talk Central

Step 2: Click on Flag a Friend and send an email. The email will appear in their inbox like this:

Step 3: Laugh as they open the email titled 'My Killer Sunset Pictures on Flickr'

Intent to Influence Others

My dear friend Christie at ThinkTank Treasury had a great post on 'Why people go online'. She writes that “Ruder Finn’s Intent Index is an ongoing online research study that provides a comprehensive analysis of the underlying motivations or reasons people go online – their intent."

The interactive graph has a great section on Advocacy and Influencing Others. According to the study, 56% of people go online to influence others and the research goes on to include: 57% forward content I've received from someone else, 23% join a discussion on a social networking site, 21% go online to influence people's opinions and 16% get people to talk about a subject.

Branded Content for Brides and Grooms

22squared is working on promoting the Marriott Honeymoon Registry, which help brides and grooms pay for their Honeymoon as a worthy gift on their wedding registry. It's an interesting product that aligns well with the agency Friendship Model. In the past we have had great success with people signing up for the registry but we needed more people funding the actual honeymoon from the wedding party.

Challenge: Get people talking about thoughtful wedding gifts

Creative Idea: The Useless Gifter branded content. The video showcases the reaction people have when they are given a gift they don't really need (like many wedding gifts).

More True Blood videos from Desedo

Our friends at Desedo films were kind enough to share 6 of their True Blood videos with us. These videos help create a storyline beyond the narrative of the Television show which form the alternative world that this story lives in. Follow @michaelhb on Twitter as somebody who does Propagation Planning on the production end.

You can find the full list of videos on their site or you can view my favorite one here:

YouTube as a Gaming Platform

I wanted to congratulate our Tampa Shoe Carnival creative team (Danny Corrales AD, Ryan Stafford ACD and John Stapleton ECD) who came up with a really interesting idea that used the extra footage that we filmed to create a video game that is hosted on YouTube. We paid the talent extra for internet usage, mapped out the game design of the 'choose your own adventure,' and designed a link to the game on the homepage of Shoe Carnival. This all went live today.

"I've always wanted to do a 'choose your adventure' type thing in advertising and we've finally found a way to do it using YouTube as the platform," says Danny Corrales.

If you have been looking for Propagation Planning examples from 22squared... this is a good example of one. The paid media begins this weekend for Back to School, a major United States buying period for any family that has teens or tweens. Prior to the paid media starting we hope to earn media from people that actually want to share this and you can see some traction on Twitter here.

From an Engagement Planning stand point, the media and account team choreographed 
the consumer participation by stage and media channel, aligning different executions that all revolve around the 'Beat the Bell' narrative.

Stage 1: YouTube 'Beat the Bell' Game (Today)
Stage 2: Television Broadcast 'Beat the Bell' Ad (This weekend in most markets)
Stage 3: Can't Say Yet (but I'll update you when it goes live)

Best Buy advertises Twitter page

I was watching television this morning when I saw a typical promotional retail ad for Best Buy. The final screen of the ad surprised me when I saw a slate reading "thousands of people eager to help" and at the bottom they had this Twitter URL: twitter.com/twelpforce

I remember when I started in Advertising it was a big deal to have your URL in your television ad. Back then most websites were not very good and they didn't have much information that was useful to the average consumer.

It will be interesting to see Facebook and Twitter as extension to television campaigns in retail.

Atlanta shows 142% growth in Facebook Users

Many of my clients make most of their money in the Southeast United States, so when I saw this stat about the growth of Facebook adoption in the Atlanta Metro I had to share it here. iStrategy Labs has completed their fourth Facebook tracking study with some interesting results:

Additional top insights according to the original post:

• 70.8% increase in total US users over the last six months (71,901,400 total)
• 54.6% of users are female
• 142.4% increase in the number of users from Atlanta – the fastest growing metro

The most troubling statistics we’ve seen are that there are 16.5% less high school users, and 21.7% less college users. There have been rumors that these younger user groups are being alienated by their parents joining the service, and this data seems to prove it.

Transmedia Storytelling

If Propagation Planning had a Dalai Lama, that person would be Henry Jenkins who is now featured in this video about Transmedia Storytelling.

Henry Jenkins on Transmedia - November 2009 from niko on Vimeo.

On June 27th Mauricio Mota from Brazil was at Cannes that gave a seminar about Transmedia Storytelling who also gave homage to C3 and Henry Jenkins. He launched the Alchemists Network, a ThinkDO Tank focused on delivering strategies and developing transmedia content and projects.