Network-sponsored promotions designed to help cable operators upsell top-tier services are fast becoming common. Indeed, big operations such as Turner Network Sales and ESPN have such programs touring the country more often than not. But it's not often that such a promotion is generated by a smaller, digital, nonadvertising-supported, 22.8 million-subscriber network like the Independent Film Channel.
?We're stepping up to the plate with affiliates and helping them market their digital tiers,? says Caroline Bock, SVP-marketing for Bravo Networks. IFC is part of the Bravo Network Group within Cablevision Systems' Rainbow Media Holdings.
IFC's promotion seeks to make the network's Dinner for Five into its marquee show. Set to begin an eight-episode run beginning April 15, the show is hosted by writer, producer and director Jon Favreau and features a revolving roster of four friends who shoot the Hollywood breeze over dinner and wine.
The components of the promotion, aimed at upselling digital cable and high-speed Internet service, are fairly standard. Customized postcards promise those who upgrade a hip black-leather-banded, IFC-logoed watch, as well as a year's subscription to the network's bimonthly magazine, IFCRant. In taggable spots, Favreau hints at the candid talk on the show and the more-candid footage available at IFC's website, which is best viewed via a high-speed connection.
IFC is giving partner systems co-op money for local TV, radio and newspaper advertisements and is spearheading its own local and national marketing push. Also, IFC helps plan local media buys and offers incentives to MSO salespeople ? the top salesperson in St. Louis gets a $1,000-plus dinner for five at a gourmet restaurant.
The network is working with various Comcast Pennsylvania properties, as well as those in Nashville and Santa Fe, N.M.; AT&T Broadband's Portland, Chicago and Atlanta systems; and Charter's St. Louis system. (IFC says more systems are signing up still.)
In St. Louis, where Charter has 520,000 subscribers, the operator is running the promotion for six weeks, at a cost of $440,000 of IFC's ?Phenomenal Dinner for Five? (as the campaign has been dubbed) marketing budget, which Gregg Hill, EVP-affiliate sales and marketing for Rainbow, says is ?in the millions.? According to Jill Inman, Charter's central region marketing and communications manager, the campaign kicks off next month when 25,000 postcards will be mailed to those cable subscribers most likely to switch to digital. Inman hopes at least 750 of the recipients will upgrade.
The logic for promoting a digital network is simple. In AT&T Broadband's Atlanta system, for example, a basic cable subscription fee is $39.91; the most basic digital service, which includes IFC, is $42.99, or 7.7% more. Systems benefit, of course, when content accessible only through a digital tier becomes can't-miss and subscribers upgrade. With digital available to nearly 450,000 Atlanta subscribers, the revenue potential in a mass digital upgrade is substantial. And a promotion from a smaller niche network like IFC becomes worthwhile.
?There are so many movie channels, and they all look alike,? says Bravo Networks' Bock. ?For a consumer to want [a digital network], it must deliver extra value.?
According to Bock, because IFC's viewership is generally young, male and given to heavy computer use and early adoption of new technologies, it's the perfect audience for a promotion that upsells digital services. Reg Griffin, executive director-communications for AT&T Broadband in Atlanta, says AT&T will send 100,000 postcards to encourage subscribers to upgrade, as well as place ads in the local alternative newsweekly, Creative Loafing. (Also telling of IFC's audience is that a standard local buy would include the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.)
According to Charter's Inman, promotions sponsored by niche networks will probably become more frequent, if not as costly as Phenomenal Dinner for Five; promotions that focus on the merits of one particular product are more successful than the vague, please-try-it pitches of old. ?If you give potential upgraders or subscribers a broad message,? Inman says, such as signing up for cable because of this or that bell or whistle, ?that doesn't give good results.? Niche programs give better results, according to Inman, ?because there are so many channels, and consumers are impulsive.? They might even sign up for digital cable just to get a cool-looking watch.
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