Ford Enters Boxing Ring with Trio of Trucks
MarketingDaily

Ford is putting its F-150, Ranger and Super Duty trucks in the boxing ring in a trio of spots for the ongoing Built Ford Tough Sales Event.

The effort, produced by L.A.-based production house King and Country (K&C) for Ford’s WPP agency consortium Team Detroit, uses a "Main Event" prize fight as a central motif, and continues the rant-style voiceover that Ford has used in the clearance campaign since 2008, which features the no-BS voiceover of actor/comic Denis Leary.

Each of the new ads has one of the Ford truck models leaving a stadium after ostensibly fighting in a boxing match. In each spot for one of the three trucks, the camera pulls away from the truck showing a computer-generated landscape of construction projects. A ring girl holds up round cards promoting key features and a punching bag is banged with a one-two punch intended to embody the dual virtues of EcoBoost technology and J.D. Power & Associates' Initial Quality rankings for Ford pickups.

Drew Neujahr, K&C's head of production, said the company evolved the look of the 2010 Rant campaign from a 2D to 3D space, with the camera appearing to move across rugged terrains with CG buildings, construction environments and other landscape elements. "The new spots feature truck footage we shot on several locations last year, along with new footage where we shot the ring announcer and ring girl on green screen with practical props. We also created the boxing ring, banners and punching bag, all in CG," he said.

Said Team Detroit group creative director Todd Chumley: "'Rant' is easily one of the longest-running, most successful campaigns Ford has ever produced. Why? Because the spots keep getting better."

In Tough Times, Cash-Strapped Consumers Shift Brands, as Ads Shift to Cheaper Digital
AdAge

The global recession has devastated many industries and left millions of Americans without a job or underemployed. The negative impact on consumers' spending power has been brutal. Average U.S. household income fell by 10% from December 2007 through June 2011, according to Sentier Research, and even for households headed by a full-time worker, median income has fallen by more than 5%.

How can we quantify the impact that this loss of spending power has had on brand choice? Since 2008, comScore has been tracking consumers' response to the question: "Do you buy the brand you want most?" We have examined brands in health & beauty aids, over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, food, household products and housewares.

The results aren't pretty. In 2008, about 54% of consumers said they bought the brand they wanted most. By 2010, this had dropped to 45%, and 43% this year. Declines were observed in every category, with the most severe drop (17 points) in over-the-counter medicines and the lowest in the household category (6 points).

If consumers aren't buying the brand they want most, what are they buying? Often they are switching brands when a "peer" brand is on sale, with 38% in 2011 saying they did this compared to 33% in 2008. But they also turn to a cheaper product. About 19% of consumers switched to private-label products in 2011, up from 14% in 2008.

NBA Lockout: Who are the Winners and Losers in Media and Marketing?
AdAge

Coming off one of the most dazzling NBA seasons in recent memory, fans, teams, players and sports marketers had circled Nov. 1 on their calendars—the start of the 2011-2012 season.

But on Friday Commissioner David Stern announced that the first month of the season would be wiped out, as the players continue to be locked out, and dismissed the notion of an 82-game season in the midst negotiations for a new collective-bargaining agreement with the league and its team owners. Below, we take a look at those who have the most to lose (and, in two cases, win) from a prolonged NBA lockout or worse—a complete cancellation of the season.

LOSERS

Regional Sports Networks
A lockout hurts any TV network that carries NBA games, but regional sports nets have the most to lose because they don't have easily substitutable live sports programming. (Sorry, high-school-sports lovers -- the ratings just don't match up.) "There's a huge disparity in ratings between a live game and a studio show or rebroadcast," said Brad Adgate, senior VP-research at Horizon Media, who predicts they'll be hardest hit of all media. And if cable operators ask for refunds on the fees they pay to these networks, "they could be hit financially in both revenue streams."

Turner
TNT was scheduled to air 52 regular-season NBA games, along with the All-Star game and the Western Conference Finals—together, the core of the network's lucrative sports programming. The uncertain environment is leading buyers to proceed with caution for buys later in the season—and secure the ability for cash back, said Jeremy Carey, a U.S. director at Optimum Sports, a division of Omnicom Group.


Consumers More Accepting of Video Ads in Premium Online Content
MediaPost

Video ad-serving company Auditude will release a report Friday suggesting consumers have a higher acceptance of ads in premium content compared with user-generated, and online video publishers, content owners and distributors can generate higher advertising revenue as viewer acceptance increases around TV-like commercials in online videos.

In fact, completion rates of ad breaks streamed in live content jump significantly higher—86% compared with those within video-on-demand content at 60%—suggesting that live content actively engages viewers who know they may not see that content again after its current availability. This makes them willing to sit through digital commercial breaks.

The Auditude Video Monetization report shows how content type, length of video stream, ad format and placement affect viewers' response to ads. The analysis is based on a sample of more than 11 billion ad impressions running through Auditude’s video ad-serving platform.

When it comes to professional content, Auditude’s study shows that viewers accept ad breaks in exchange for premium content, similar to watching a television show. With multiple ad breaks inserted effectively within digital video, publishers can amplify revenue opportunities for their content.


NHL Seeks Higher Engagement More Than Numbers
MarketingDaily

I attended a panel Friday morning sponsored by GuyRilla Marketing Group. While the panel, moderated by Robert Flores of ESPN, included Jeff Plaisted, senior director of U.S. strategy for Microsoft, and Brian Cristiano, founder and CEO of independent agency Bold Worldwide, I was mostly interested in what the third panelist—National Hockey League's SVP of corporate sales and marketing, Keith Wachtel—had to say.

That's because in the midst of the familiar topics on engagement, cross-media strategies, screens, and content, there were insights on how the NHL differs fundamentally from the other big four sports and how younger fans differ from older fans used to watching it all on TV. "Mobile is where things are taking place," said Wachtel. "If a person is watching on TV, he's doing it on iPad, too; he's on mobile. Or he's buying and sharing it on Shazam. Our fans are young, tech-savvy high earners."

He added that the days of big sports leagues letting fans find them are over. "It's us finding them, because they won't go to NHL.com; they are more likely to look for NHL content on sites like ESPN," he said. "So we have had to change our model: If you want our content, we will give it to you because at the end of the day, the platform shouldn't matter. The younger demographic is always changing where they are -- using social, not traditional sites. The question is, where are they? You have to find them before pulling them into the brand."

Also interesting were some points about the nature of NHL fan loyalty and of the realistic potential size of the NHL audience. Wachtel said the goal is not to grow the fan base, since hockey has geographic limits other sports don't ("If you can go outside and play the sport there, we'll be big there," he said), but to create the kind of league-level loyalty among fans that other sports enjoy—not just team-level loyalty.