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By Mavis Scanlon
It's pretty easy to sign up for cable or satellite service at the largest consumer electronics stores these days, but cable is probably the last thing on your mind when you're in the grocery store. If you could get a $25 discount on your food bill, however, shopping for cable while purchasing provisions might not be a bad idea-it's actually a pretty powerful incentive.
Comcast South Florida and Farm Stores Express last month began a joint marketing program in which free groceries are offered to customers as an enticement to sign up for digital, high-speed Internet service and Comcast's Hispanic package, CableLatino, plus HBO.
New customers receive a $25 Farm Stores gift certificate when they sign up for any of the packages, which are being offered with introductory discounts. Existing customers are not excluded from the special offers; if they upgrade, they can get price discounts as well.
Seems like some marketers out there are starting to get it. In order to cut through the clutter, both operators and programmers need to innovate. With consumers stretched for time-and patience-when it comes to listening to sales pitches, immediacy and clarity are crucial. In Comcast South Florida's case, the offer will be promoted at more than 70 of the grocer's locations, as well as on posters, bag stuffers and grocery bags. That's all in conjunction with the operator's TV campaign, which will feature the store's slogan, "Life in the Fast Lane."
It's clever of Comcast to use food to promote TV-a twist on the typical advertising formula of packaged goods companies using TV to promote food.
That level of marketing originality is being applied to the on-demand debut of the Jack Black vehicle School of Rock.
Cablevision, Mag Rack, Paramount Pictures, guitar manufacturer Gibson Guitars, Long Island's classic rock radio station WBAB-FM and music retailer Sam Ash have joined forces to promote the movie. Each partner has an obvious stake in the outcome of the promotion-sales of CDs, guitars, VOD movies or digital services. What's innovative is the scale of cooperation among far-flung cousins in the entertainment and music industries.
Here's how it will work: Mag Rack's Guitar Xpress video magazine, launched in February, will introduce three new lessons featuring songs from the film ("Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple, "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream and the film's original theme song, "School of Rock").
An on-air promotion will run through early June touting a special School of Rock Mag Rack video magazine; that magazine will air the "School of Rock" music video, as well as a profile of Gibson Guitars. Needless to say, the movie's on-demand debut on Cablevision's VOD service-as well as on other Mag Rack MSOs-will be hyped.
By the time the movie premieres on VOD (April 16), at least 1 million Mag Rack homes in Insight and Charter systems will have received bill stuffers promoting the movie. That Friday, the Sam Ash record store in Carle Place, Long Island, will host a live broadcast by WBAB-FM's John Klug, who hosts the station's Led Zeppelin hour. Gibson gets involved again here-the manufacturer donated a $2,000 guitar, signed by Jack Black-that will be given away during the broadcast.
The School promo underscores the importance of multi-platform campaigns. And this one has it all, from a local retail tie-in, to direct mail, to the sweepstakes giveaway to getting local DJs involved. Maybe Mag Rack should produce a new video magazine on marketing.
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