Diversity in Practice: Cable's Excellence in Multi-Cultural Marketing Awards

The press release says the big winners in NAMIC’s 2006 Excellence in Multi-Cultural Marketing Awards (EMMA) competition were BET and Comcast. True, they’ll take home more trophies when the awards are presented on Sept. 11 in New York City by NAMIC’s media partners ESPN Deportes and CableWorld, but the real winners are cable and its ethnic customers. While the high level of competition in this contest is evident in the first- place campaigns described here, the overarching theme of the EMMAs is that cable finally recognizes the importance of marketing its services to ethnic groups. In addition, cable is hiring people, albeit slowly, who specialize in multicultural marketing. While cable certainly can improve its ethnic marketing and ethnic product offerings, nearly every EMMA winner we spoke with believes cable is moving in a positive direction. And not a moment too soon. "As the economic influence of ethnic groups continues to expand…it is critical to the long-term financial success of our industry" that cable hone its multicultural marketing approach, NAMIC president Kathy Johnson says. Following, are some who already have. CASE STUDY: CABLE


COMCAST SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
GMA PINOY TV LAUNCH: A FILIPINO SUCCESS STORY, NATALIE ROUSE MUSICAL MARKETING: Comcast’s ethnic marketing manager for Northern California Natalie Rouse isn’t old enough to have seen it all, but she’s been in the business of multicultural marketing for more than 17 years. "Back when I started, they didn’t even have a name" for multicultural marketers, the Australian-born Rouse laughs. But even Rouse’s experience and her two consecutive EMMA wins couldn’t have prepared her for the success she and Comcast enjoyed with the U.S. launch of Manila’s leading channel GMA Pinoy TV. "It all just worked like butter," she says of a campaign for the August 2005 launch whose highlight was a concert featuring top Filipino stars. "It was coincidence," she says, "the concert was already planned" before the GMA Pinoy TV launch. But it wasn’t coincidence that Rouse gently nudged Comcast officials to close a launch agreement just prior to the concert so Filipino stars could announce from the stage that GMA Pinoy TV was coming in two weeks. It also wasn’t serendipity that Rouse targeted the concert. "You have to know your market. Filipinos love their TV, and they love their entertainers. Having the stars announce the launch meant a lot." That’s an understatement. Within two days of launch, GMA had 4,286 calls and 9,449 subscribers within 12 days. A direct mail piece to subscribers of The Filipino Channel produced a 41% rate of return for a two-channel bundle. And the campaign’s cost per subscriber was a mere $1.28. The lessons? "The face of America is changing…if you market relevant products in a culturally sound way you’ll be successful, not only in a campaign, but for the bottom line…and you’ll get new customers," she says. "Our business is always looking for new customers." 2nd Place: West Bay Market/Northern CA Region/Comcast, On-Site Interactive Marketing, Kier Kristensen CASE STUDY: NETWORK



TuTV MARKETING PROMOTIONS CAMPAIGN, ARIELA NERUBAY A GIFTED MARKETER: If experience is the best teacher, then Ariel Nerubay has learned her lessons well. The Mexican-born executive spent years at advertising agencies marketing cable to the Latino community and helped Comcast launch Spanish-language tiers before she joined TuTV as VP, marketing & sales. In her experience, she noticed that if other things were equal, Latinos responded to offers that included free gifts. But in the Latino community "not all gifts are the same," she says. Less-expensive gifts are the ones that work best. "Offers where everyone wins something are more palatable for our Hispanic community…they have to believe that everyone can win a gift." Giving free, small gifts to everyone who signs up for cable service results in call volume spikes, she says. Nerubay’s experience with gifts came about fortuitously. A few years ago when she was working for ad agencies representing the Cable Co-op in Los Angeles, the five MSOs had difficulty agreeing on a standard price and lineup, "so I wasn’t able to run ads with specific information," like pay $19.99 for cable service. So, "the solution we came up with in many cases was the gift factor." Our ads just said if you sign up for cable right now [with any participating system], you will receive a gift." When she got to TuTV Nerubay decided to use her ad agency experience. Her goal was to run multiple campaigns with cable operators and offer gifts. She’s also partnered with companies, like Latina magazine, which offers Spanish digital tier subs a free six-month subscription to the magazine. The results are gifts themselves: Sub bases in systems that have run TuTV promotions have risen 25% and the response rate on her direct mail piece with Latina magazine is 5%, well above the average direct mail response rate of 1.5%. 2nd Place: Univision Networks, "You Are the Champion" World Cup Campaign, Jasmine Rezai MARKETING TACTIC: CABLE-ALL OTHER MEDIA


ADLINK’S ADCONEXION SALES KIT, JOYCE DABNEY One way to emphasize that an American entity is in touch with the Latino community is to speak its language. That’s why Adlink created a bilingual kit to introduce the Los Angeles Interconnect’s new Hispanic division to advertisers. The kit is impressive even before one reads its contents. It comes in a heavy metallic box and its English and Spanish sections are separated by an attractive paperweight that sports the Ad Conexion L.A. logo. The contents, presented in digestible bites, provides a wealth of media data about L.A., which is home to 18% of the U.S. Hispanic population. "After presenting to more than 30 key agencies we’ve added new advertisers, are in talks with several more and we’re forecasting a double-digit increase over last year’s budget," says Dereck Messana, director of sales. Adconexion sells access to 44 cable networks and is owned by Time Warner Cable, Charter and Cox. MARKETING TACTIC: NETWORK-ALL OTHER MEDIA

IMAGINASIAN TV’S ORIGINAL SERIES, COMEDY ZEN, MICHAEL HUH ImaginAsian TV’s VP of marketing Michael Huh contends Asian-Americans have yet to penetrate the comedy scene in America, particularly on TV. Comedy Zen is ImaginAsianTV’s attempt to rectify that. ImaginAsianTV taped comedy showcases in Los Angeles and broadcast them on the channel. To create buzz for Comedy Zen, ImaginAsian TV held special screenings at major Asian American events, where it also distributed flyers. Huh also rolled out a multi-platform approach, clips were heard on ImaginAsian Radio and Zen segments were distributed online and via e-mail and podcasts. Comedy Zen tapings were sold out, averaging 1,500 guests, and the comedians touted IA on stage. Traffic to the IA website rose tremendously, with the Comedy Zen section getting more than 10,000 clicks per month. MARKETING TACTIC: NETWORK-DIRECT MAIL

UNIVISION NETWORKS, "YOU ARE THE CHAMPION" WORLD CUP CAMPAIGN, JASMINE REZAI Few genres can match sports in its ability to hook subscribers. And few sporting events top The World Cup’s popularity or its ability to unify the diverse Latino population in the U.S. That was the thinking of Univision Television Group’s VP, affiliate marketing, Jasmine Rezai and her team, which created a three-panel self-mailer urging Latinos to order cable’s Spanish tier. The direct mail campaign was used by nine systems across four MSOs. Leveraging Cup coverage on Univision, TeleFutura and Galavision, the piece looks simple, but details were critical. To entice Latinos who are dominant English speakers and those who speak Spanish most of the time, the creative was bi-lingual. The photos were chosen to have a multi-national appeal, allowing operators to reach the diverse Latino audience with a single design. The photo on the cover (see above) encapsulates the pitch—men and women enjoying Cup coverage, emphasizing that cable gives you the chance to be a champion. In Charter’s Western region, 125K pieces were mailed, resulting in nearly 4K connects and a healthy 3.25% response rate. 2nd Place (Tie):
TuTV Free Latina Magazine Subscription, Ariela Nerubay;
International Networks, Passport to Savings!, Shelly Kurtz MARKETING TACTIC: CABLE-GRASSROOTS & GUERRILLA

WEST BAY MARKET/NO. CALIF. REGION, COMCAST, SUNEOS DE LA NINEZ, LAND OF CHILDHOOD DREAMS, KIER KRISTENSEN It’s an immutable fact of nature: There’s only one Dora The Explorer. Not only is the Nickelodeon cartoon character bilingual, but she’s fun and educational, which means kids and parents like her. To attract traffic to Comcast’s booth during the two-day Carnaval event in San Francisco, Comcast West Bay’s marketing manager Kier Kristensen was able to lure Dora to the Bay Area to be co-grand marshal of a related parade, appear at a VIP party and, of course, take pictures with kids. Comcast was the event’s title sponsor for the third time and organizers felt the parade would be more kid-friendly with Dora there, Kristensen says. Additional buzz was generated by a Dora-dominated 30-second TV spot, 100K bilingual direct mail pieces and some 10K posters. More than 1,300 kids took photos with their hero and Comcast made some 128 sales. Sounds easy, get Dora, make sales. Not so. Kristensen booked Dora one year in advance. Fortunately, "we have a great relationship with our partners at MTV/Nickelodeon," she says. (1ST PLACE TIE) MARKETING TACTIC: NETWORK-GRASSROOTS & GUERRILLA


BET AWARDS ’06, SELENA SPENCER Leave it to BET EVP, corporate marketing, Kelli Lawson to successfully marry a pair of summer staples: the star-laden BET Awards and ice cream. "Kelli’s idea was`let’s get into the community,’" says VP Brucetta Williams. As Ms. Williams adds correctly, "It’s the summer, who doesn’t want ice cream?" To maintain its market share and augment the show’s appeal to 18-34s, BET embarked on a five-city tour that featured a BET Awards-wrapped ice cream truck that provided tune-in info. Celebs often joined the truck, many even served ice cream, particulary "Rocket Pops,” which went well with the show’s celestial tagline "It’s All in the Stars." In addition to vanilla and chocolate soft serve, inside the truck was BET merchandise, all distributed free. Info on the truck resulted in 700K online votes. The show became the No. 1 program in BET’s history and top cable show ever among African-American households. IFC’S YO SOY BORICUA, PAQUE TU LO SEPAS!, NANCY HENNINGS Everything about Rosie Perez’s debut as a documentary director felt genuine. Clearly she drew on her experiences to create Yo Soy Boricua Pa’Que Tu Lo Sepas! (I’m Boricua, Just So You Know!), a film about the history of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican experience in the continental U.S. To maintain that genuine feeling, IFC’s Nancy Hennings, director of marketing of IFC Brand Statory, engaged graffiti artist and Perez friend Lee Quinones to do the artwork for Yo Soy’s multi-platform grassroots and guerrilla campaign. The effort culminated with a float at the Puerto Rican Day parade in NYC. Street teams distributed fans and pins promoting the documentary, which, not coincidentally, premiered the following evening on IFC. Rosie and narrator Jimmy Smits appeared on the float and stopped to sign autographs. While commercial-free IFC is not Nielsen rated, internal data showed a 50% rise in viewing the Monday night that the film premiered, IFC says. 2nd Place: TeleFutura, 800# World Cup Campaign, Jasmine Rezai (1ST PLACE TIE) MARKETING TACTIC: NETWORK-INTERNET & NEW MEDIA

GMA PINOY TV WEBSITE, JOSEPH JEROME T. FRANCIA The Filipino network GMA Pinoy TV launched its website primarily as a marketing tool, providing information 24/7 on schedules, new shows and celebrity updates, J.J.T. Francia, the channel’s head of operations, says. In addition the site has become a sampling tool, allowing potential subscribers to experience GMA Pinoy TV through downloadable video clips. The site also lets the company mine data about potential subs and create a community among subscribers. As of July, hundreds of thousand of registered users had made 35,000 postings on the site. IMAGINASIAN TV’S USE OF VIMATION WEB VIDEO TECHNOLGY, MICHAEL HUH Visiting ImaginAsian TV’s website is a colorful and exciting experience, particularly for 13-39 year-olds, the demo IATV seeks to entice with interactive content and video. Much of the content is made available using Vimation’s Video Interactive Media module, an online video solution based on Flash technology. The visitor can access video clips from a plethora of genre-specific sub pages, including originals, drama, anime, movies and variety. Almost 40% of IATV’s online visitors interact with the videos and 22% watch the complete video when initiated. 2nd Place: Si TV, Unacceptable Behavior Campaign, Douglas Dickstein MARKETING TACTIC: CABLE-OUT OF HOME

BET AWARDS, SELENA SPENCER Sometimes the best way to stand out from the clutter is to get right into it. To push its signature show BET Awards ’06, BET posted signs in high-traffic areas in 15 major metropolitan areas. The billboards, resplendent in dark blue and stars, mirrored the creative used throughout the BET Awards campaign, particulary the tag: "It’s All in the Stars." "Since the awards show already has a strong reputation, we wanted to keep the message clean and simple, emphasize the stars who would be appearing and the tune-in info," says VP Brucetta Williams. It worked; The BET Awards ’06 (June 27) became BET’s top program of all time, scoring a huge 31.94 rating in black households. 2nd Place: Ameredia, Russian New Year Campaign, Pawan Mehra MARKETING TACTIC: CABLE-PRINT

OPTIMUM GIVES YOU MORE!, VALERIE GREEN Cablevision knows that its growth is tied, in part, to being relevant to the Latino community. That knowledge informs its information-packed, eight-page free-standing Insert, that’s been included in 11 Hispanic publications this year and distributed at community events. Fortunately Cablevision recognizes the Latino market is far from homogenous, being divided by heritage, age, gender, generational position and language preference. The result is a bilingual insert that explains simply what Cablevision considers the unique features of its Optimum video, data and voice offerings. This insert has been the company’s top Hispanic print tactic, consistently garnering 2,000 to 2,700 calls per month and triple-digit sales for Optimum products. MARKETING TACTIC: NETWORK-PRINT

MUCHO MUCHO MAS—HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH PRINT CAMPAIGN, ADRION PORTER For a print campaign aimed at 18-45 year-old bilingual Hispanics, HBO/HBO Latino decided to marry the breadth of its entertainment offerings with the richness of Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15). Indeed, its creative featured a bevy of programs, including concerts, a boxing show hosted by Oscar de la Hoya, the detective drama series HBO imported from Spain Epitafios, the film Maria Full of Grace and programs for kids. The impressive results: 523,600 HBO On Demand orders and 70,000 orders for Epitafios. 2nd Place: Si TV, You Lost Me at Hola, Norma Manzanares MARKETING TACTIC: NETWORK-RADIO

COLLEGE HILL & LIL’ KIM: COUNTDOWN TO LOCKDOWN, BET, SELENA SPENCER Believing that two is better than one, BET paired returning series College Hill with Lil’ Kim: Countdown to Lockdown in a clever bit of programming called "Taste It Thursdays." VP, off-channel marketing and promotions Brucetta Williams and her team followed the lead, touting both shows in a single, 60-second radio ad that pushed the night’s fare as raw and uncensored. Since College Hill already had a reputation, BET spent more time during the ad on Kim, using dramatic music from her latest album and compelling clips from the show. "We basically did an audio feed from the TV ad, where she says `I have 14 days before I go to jail,’" Williams says. Lil’ Kim set a record as the No. 1 original cable series among black households; College Hill‘s third season debut was the No. 1 cable and prime-time telecast among black households (Feb. 27-March 2). 2nd Place: IFC, Yo Soy Boricua, Nancy Hennings MARKETING TACTIC: CABLE-TELEVISION

TIME WARNER CABLE, HELP, MAIDA CHICON The quality of cable operators’ commercials is on the rise. Evidence can be seen during a 30-second spot for Time Warner Cable called Help, where a woman is on the phone, watching TV and online. She hits pause on her DVR and is assisted in using the computer by an unseen male voice. At the ad’s pivotal moment, the male turns out to be her little son. The Spanish-language spot has resonated with Latino audiences because "it’s inter-generational and shows an everyday occurence," says Maida Chicon, TW Cable’s director of multicultural marketing. The ad also works by familiarizing viewers with TW Cable’s product suite. In the end, the mother, aided by her son, is able to purchase him sneakers online and both are happy. "The mother has made her family’s life better, which all Latino mothers strive to do," Chicon says. Time Warner’s internal quantitative tracking, done quarterly in L.A., N.Y. and Texas, showed subscribers’ advertising awareness rose 12.5% versus pre-campaign levels. In addition, when 500 subs surveyed were asked about adjectives in relation to TW Cable, "excellent reputation" was up 20%, "trustworthy" rose 12.5% and "makes life easier" jumped 10.9%. 2nd Place: Time Warner Cable, Raza, Maida Chicon MARKETING TACTIC: NETWORK-TELEVISION

GO DIEGO, GO! LAUNCH, NICK JR, SUSAN NAVE Families with small children know Go, Diego, Go! is among Nick Jr’s most successful series. But those words also describe the success of Nick Jr’s pre-launch marketing. For those not wise in the ways of Dora The Explorer’s extended family, Diego is Dora’s cousin. If that weren’t enough to make him cool, Diego has a penchant for rescuing animals. That informed Nick Jr’s marketing, as it launched a grassroots campaign with the American Zoo & Aquarium Association that resulted in 1.6 million posters at 80 events. The campaign was comprehensive, including print ads in People en Espanol, Latina and Healthy Kids en Espanol and sponsorships at parades, film festivals and the N.Y. Hispanic Day Parade. Online ads were seen on Yahoo! en Espanol, Mi Gente and Univision sites. There were also radio promos and Spanish-language phone cards. Some 370K Spanish-speaking customers dialed Diego through 5K phone cards. Not only did this help make Diego Nick Jr’s top-rated preschool show, it became Nickelodeon’s second-most ordered VOD play. 2nd Place: BET, Rap-It-Up Testing PSA’s, Sonya Lockett