Storm Tussey Just a few thoughts

Season 1 and 2:
Instead of a traditional marketing plan, True Blood created an “in world” perspective. This was done through a vast array of Direct Mailings, Public Relation Stunts like a protest by the American Vampire League in NYC, Social media, digital media assult, and traditional advertising techniques. Posters promoting Tru Blood appeared on buildings and in magazines in the same way liquor ads do. They had catchy phrases like “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drink Friends”. They even launched a website for the Tru Blood Beverage, which rivals even the best high-end beverage sites out there (it’s complete with “type finder”, product descriptions, and of course, merchandise).

Of course, HBO didn’t stop there they took it even further digitally with the clever use of other brands, creating micro sites, blogs, and Twitter.

The vampires’ lives on True Blood parallel the struggles other minority groups have faced in this country and in this universe, the fight for civil rights is not just for the living. Their main opposition, The Fellowship of the Sun has a bright, sunny layout that mirrors the (public) message of the church. It features sermons and words of wisdom to help us “live in His light.” If you didn’t know any better, you might just join the Light of Day Institute. The newest edition to True Blood’s online world is the American Vampire League which is styled to look like governmental and nonprofit websites. The content is what really brings the AVL to life; news, an “Intolerance Watch,” a Vampire Friendly Brands section, and even its own Public Service Announcements. And if you’d like to support the AVL, there is an online kit where you can download fliers and T-shirt designs so that you too can rally for the cause.

Blood Copy is a blog written entirely from a vampire’s perspective. It is updated daily with everything from videos, to social commentary. On July 31st, 2009, regarding the topic of health care in America our blogger writes: “Breathers are so focused on our quasi-immortal lifespan, how we don’t age and, barring a specific (and short) list of conditions, we do not die, they seldom note another critical aspect of our existence: Vampires don’t get sick.”

Like many other media and entertainment professionals, HBO has also embraced Twitter. However, their approach is a little different. The twitter, BonTempsGossip, is named after the small town, Bon Temp, Louisiana, where the show is set. It provides small town gossip as well as leaks teasers for upcoming episodes, again from a first person perspective. Example- BonTempsGossip: Rumor is, Sookie’s in danger. Don’t think she counted on havin’ to get out of a mess without Bill’s help – word is he’s nowhere to be found.

The Integrated Campaign has gotten so much attention that there is even a You Tube Video about their messaging.

Season 3 marketing hasn’t quite been so shocking…maybe they pulled all the stops out for the first 2 seasons. However, they have been highlighting the endless struggle for vampires to acclimate to mainstream civilization in their newest campaign.

Leading up to the June 13th premiere of the third season premiere of “True Blood,” HBO has been utilizing terrifying behind the scenes video clips and clever, crafty posters to wet our bloody appetites. Including collectible mini posters guaranteed to make your mouth water.

What’s great about these posters is that they have continued the “in world” perspective and it’s nice to see that some offices in the “True Blood” universe are offering alternative beverages for their vampire employees, or at least for humans that are intrigued enough by the crimson substance to give it a whirl during the work day. Add in the facebook activity and the contests to become a state Sheriff and you have full interactivity between the show and the viewers.

HBO is really creating a great integrated campaign that will be used in case studies for the next generation.

After seeing HBO’s success with True Blood and a fully integrated campaign that included specialty beverages, viewer parties and even a dating site. Starz premieres Spartacus with a fully integrated add campaign.

Starz mixed digital and traditional marketing strategies to drive tune-ins to the Jan. 22 debut of scripted drama series Spartacus: Blood and Sand, the premium network’s second scripted drama after Crash, but one it renewed for a second season before the first one begun. Starz is trying to reach young viewers through show-specific, gaming applications for Apple’s iPhone and iTouch devices, according to Marc DeBevoise senior vice president, digital media, business development and strategy for Starz Media.The mobile game can be accessed via iTunes and has a Wi-Fi connection feature that lets players amongst each other, he said.

It also is distributing a four-part comic series based on the show. Each episode of the digital comic book series can be purchased at a suggested retail price of $1.99 on Amazon.com, iTunes, Sony’s Playstation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox videogame consoles.

Starz teamed up with male-targeted Men’s Health magazine to create a digital workout around the series. The official Spartacus workout/exercise routine is available as a free iTunes app. More young people are using their iPhone and iPods for entertainment purposes, so DeBevoise believes the digital offerings will help build momentum.

In addition, Starz teamed up with several cable operators to offer free on-demand previews of the series’ first and second episodes. Charter Communications, Comcast Cable, Cox Communications, Insight Communications and Mediacom Communications will air episode 1 on Jan. 20 one and episode 2 on Jan. 27 on demand on Jan. 27, Nancy McGee, executive vice president of marketing, said DirecTV also will offer a preview of the first two episodes on Jan 21 via its 101 channel. Apple’s iTunes and Netflix offers Spartacus episodes day and date with their debuts on Starz, said the network.

This campaign must have worked due to the trending topics on Twitter and the watercooler talk at the gyms… the show premiered with 3.3 million viewers and expected to grow when TiVo results are added and the show became the most successful premiere in the company’s history.

Originally posted by Anna Barcelos and Beth Harte on Beth’s website.

There are a lot of marketers out there that understand that integrated marketing and communications (IMC) is a preferred way to do business because it is an outside-in approach. If an organization isn’t integrated, what are the best approaches to getting management buy-in? Anna Barcelos and I wanted to share nine key ways to provide management with the value of IMC.

Sales-Oriented Vs. Market-Oriented – Which Are You?

It’s often been said that the mindset of “If we build it, they will come” is not viable for long term business. To understand why, let’s look at the difference between a sales-oriented and market-oriented organization.

Sales-oriented organizations have a heavy reliance on promotional tactics to sell whatever products/services the organization has selected to produce. Sales teams, not marketers lead the pack and have the burden of performance (i.e. revenue generation).

In the short-run, markets can be created with aggressive campaigns and sales work; however, the lifetime value of a customer is minimal. The organization mindset is focused on ‘the next big thing,’ hungry and aggressive sales teams, and sales beating up marketing for not dishing up qualified leads or customers ready to spend.

Market-oriented organizations identify what markets need/want first and tailor their operations to deliver products/services that meet those demands as efficiently as possible. Within a market-oriented organization, marketing takes the lead not sales.

Because the market-oriented company has its complete focus on the customer, the end result is often brand loyalty, sales, and strong customer lifetime values.

Getting Management Buy-In

If you are in a sales-oriented organization, how then can you get management to understand the benefits of customer-focused integrated marketing and communications? Here are five areas to focus on:

1. Execute long-term customer acquisition programs across channels instead of short-term lead generation to feed the sales funnel. While the former may take a little longer, the end results produce longer term customers with much higher life-time values. Demonstrate this with metrics and show management. They are always interested in seeing results tied to revenue generation.
2. Emphasize that a customer for life is a much more cost-effective model versus solely focusing on new customer acquisition.
3. Communicate the benefits of how integrated marketing communications delivers a consistent message to both existing and prospective customers.
4. Involve key players from “silos” within the organization in planning process. If you can’t beat them— join them. Realistically, sales-oriented organizations will always have silos due to individual department goals/quotas. If sales and marketing work together, both are vested in acquiring/retaining customers.
5. Build incentives around existing and new business initiatives to not only motivate sales, but customer service and marketing as well.

You would think that a market-oriented organization would have a leg-up on getting management buy-in, but a lot of times there are still silos and separate budgets in place that affect true IMC. But by demonstrating the value of IMC, chances are you’ll have an easier time convincing management of its inherent benefits. Here are four ways to show value:

1. Do an A/B test of an integrated campaign versus a non-integrated campaign (suggested by Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent) Testing is a risk-free, quick way to prove the value of IMC. Large companies shy away from radically changing their current marketing efforts. Testing gets them interested without any disruption in day to day. If tests delivers expected ROI, then scale.
2. Leverage/collect behavioral data and analytics for follow up IMC campaigns with existing customers and build profiles on potential untapped new markets. It’s astonishing how companies have amazing databases that they are not exploiting as much as they could.
3. Survey/talk to customers for the best insight on what works with them and what doesn’t. (“How can we be better?” “ Where do you want to find information?”) Management is always interested in seeing results of these efforts!
4. Maintain communication across all departments. Market-oriented organizations are more customer-centric than sales-oriented organizations. Goals are aligned across the organization from top to bottom. Everyone plays a part in the customer experience. IMC works well within these organizations, but communication is key.

Whether an organization is sales- or market-focused, and the latter may be more beneficial, the reality is that unless upper management encourages a customer-centric culture, self-contained silos and status quo will continue to be the norm. The benefits of outside-in planning that IMC offers will bring you closer to the customer and social media has really helped put that into perspective. The voice of the customer is louder than ever, which is forcing traditional organizations to rethink their marketing communications strategies and encouraging customer-centric organizations to develop deeper relationships with their customers. Both take time, but small efforts across an entire organization will deliver what’s most important—a happy, loyal customer.