NCTA, CTAM Ponder Ways to Clear Up Consumer Confusion

BY STACI D. KRAMER

The message from digital cable marketers can be as murky as the Mississippi River rolling past the New Orleans hotel where some 1,100 participants gathered last week for the Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) Digital Conference.

And it can be as vivid as the pink pigs flying across the screen behind Time Warner Cable executives, who performed a skit to illustrate their approach: Show consumers how new services can change their lives.

The push into real marketing as higher percentages of MSO subscribers have access to services like VOD, HD and DVR only underscores the confusion. Consumers are being whipsawed by terms, definitions and messages that change from market to market and, where multiple MSOs serve the same market, even within that market.

National marketers aren't sure which language to use coast to coast. Time Warner Cable customers get iControl. Comcast customers are On Demand. Add in the confusion of FOD, VOD and SVOD. Matters are only likely to get worse as the one-way digital-cable-ready consumer electronics products hit the stores.

?I would just like common terminology,? says Stacy Melle, VP and director of worldwide PPV marketing for Universal Studios. Universal, the first studio to sign a VOD agreement with In Demand, is now adding to all of its materials the fact that a movie is available by pay-per-view and on-demand.

This is where the new initiative from the National Cable and Telecommunications Association and CTAM ? quietly being discussed in halls and meeting rooms ? comes into play.

NCTA and CTAM are exploring an integrated educational program with a consumer media outreach component that may also include other organizations. The idea is to agree on common language and definitions and use the strengths of each organization to get the message across in a manner that complements the MSOs' own campaigns.

Rob Stoddard, NCTA SVP of communications, came to New Orleans with the idea of collaborating on an HD project. But as he and CTAM VP of communications Anne Cowan listened, it became clear that HD wasn't enough. The two will meet again this week to start the process of moving from idea to reality.

CTAM president and COO Char Beales cautioned that the notion is still in the earliest of stages. ?I think what we can say, and I'm comfortable saying, is that this really is bubbling up from the industry,? she said. ?As people are going to market with these new products there's a lot of confusion, and they want it to move along faster. There's no agreement on what the solution is.?

?A lot of folks in our organization have talked about?what is a common definition of what is on-demand, because different companies define it different ways,? said Beales, adding, ?If we all agreed on what the product is it would be a step forward.?

Jerry McKenna, Cable One VP of strategic marketing, would like to see last week's meeting as a step toward standardized language and a consistent marketing message. He's more cautious about the idea of a national awareness campaign. ?It's not distributed enough yet,? said McKenna, although he does see the value in a campaign that could roll out by market as products are introduced.

Kim Kelly, president and COO of Insight Communications, stressed the importance of maintaining MSO branding but sees value in an educational effort. ?Anything that helps the consumer understand the product is great,? said Kelly.