Archives

November 1999 Issue
News & Opinion

Editor's Letter
Marketing Opportunities?
By Rex Porter

Rex Porter

The other day, I was sitting in a theater waiting for the movie to begin. The theater was almost completely full of people-we were, for all intents and purposes, a captive audience. As we sat there, advertisements via slides were shown on the screen. In fact, I probably saw the same advertisement two or three times.

Then a "leader" film was run by some company to promote a new product guaranteed to make me taller or something. I was ready for the previews, but this promotional film, inserted before the previews, caught my attention. And I wondered, "Why not use this same idea to promote all of the new services provided by local cable systems?"

In front of a captive audience, cable could demonstrate high-speed cable modem service. We could compare speed. We could illustrate Internet home pages. And we certainly could ask the question, "Are you tired of being disconnected from your Internet service provider (ISP) every five minutes?"

I've also wondered why programmers, who allow ad insertion over these very cable systems, haven't approached the multiple systems operators (MSOs) and local operators proposing to allow a number of ads that tout new cable services such as high-speed Internet access, telephony and digital services.

Why would promoting the local Ford dealer (or whatever the case might be) be more important to cable operators than promoting their own systems' modernization? Perhaps the National Cable Television Association could provide the ad segments for our industry.

If I were running a programming service and trying to increase the number of systems and MSOs using my channel, I think I would get the edge on any competition by perhaps offering this opportunity. We own the pipe into everyone's home. And everyone else wishes they owned that pipe. Perhaps we aren't making the best possible use of it.

If you wonder why marketing is any concern of a "technical magazine" such as Communications Technology, just remember that we are concerned with any ideas that will increase the use of the wonderful technology we cover each month. We'd like to hear your ideas.

, Editor

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