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Every creative services director at a local TV station is operating on a budget. That’s why most of them know how to get the most bang from a buck when it comes to putting together attention-grabbing promos at very little cost.
At Thursday’s session, “Something for Nothing,” four creative services directors from around the country showed off some of their best efforts at being both efficient and effective. Jessica Rappaport, VP, marketing, EW Scripps Company, was our guide through the session.
Pam Baumann, creative services director for CBS-owned duopoly WWJ/WKBD Detroit, kicked off the session with the story of how when she was a little girl, she loved super-sweet bakery cake. She was at the store with her mother and pointing and asking for it, when the store baker pulled her aside and told her that she didn’t want to actually eat that cake. “It’s hard on top, and inside it’s empty. Essentially, it’s frosting on cardboard.”
That taught her a lesson. Make sure you are putting frosting on something that’s worthwhile. In other words, “bake your cake.”
That led Baumann to make four points:
One idea, one ad.
Write the way you talk.
Make me FEEL something.
Remember the power of a (true) testimonial.
When it’s all said and done, you will have created something real to promote around, you will have baked your cake.
Sherry L. Carpenter, creative services director at Graham Media’s WJXT Jacksonville, Fla., emphasized six points.
WTF: Where’s the fun?
“It is possible to break through using humor and really resonate with personality. These are the spots that really break through with our viewers and focus group through the charts,” Carpenter said.
Take viewers behind the scenes.
Viewers who watch your local news are connected to those anchors and reporters and love to get to know better the people with whom they are spending their mornings and evenings. With its tagline, “The Morning Show Makes Mornings Happen,” Carpenter and her team really worked to connect viewers with the show’s talent.
For example, one spot profiled all of the moms who worked at WJXT, connecting them to the busy mothers who are watching the show while feeding their families and getting kids off to school and maybe themselves off to work as well.
“Make mornings with The Morning Show Moms: they are just like you,” the voiceover intoned.
Use whatever star power is available to you.
In spots for its syndicated run of Hot in Cleveland, the station integrated its anchor, Mary Baer, into spots with the show’s stars: Wendie Malick, Betty White, Valerie Bertinelli and Jane Leeves. Baer is a big fan of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and got to travel to the show’s Los Angeles set to meet the stars and tape some promos.
Don’t forget to create social media and digital extensions of your on-air promo.
Rotobrush is your friend.
In several fun promos, Carpenter and her team rotoscoped stars of syndicated programs, such as The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) into the station’s news set.
You tell great local stories every day. Showcase your viewers in your spots, turning the focus on them instead of on you.
Andrew Felix, promotions and creative services director at Gray’s WEAU Eau Claire, Wis., took his task seriously, emerging on stage in a shiny gold sports jacket. Setting the scene for his talk on creating super-social engagement, he gave himself a hashtag: #GoldCoatGuy
But it was all to make a point: how to create buzz around your station. Felix took a page from some of the Internet’s best social media performers.
First of all, narrow your target demo, which tends to be people aged 34 to 45, born between 1970 and 1981. To grab those people’s attention, stations can go with current content or they can take a nostalgic approach.
Felix also showed a round of viral clips – such as Jimmy Fallon’s lip sync battles or James Corden’s carpool karaoke – to get the audience thinking about how to create that sort of content.
WEAU had an anchor who was celebrating her 25th anniversary with the station, and the station celebrated that occasion on the air by filling the set with current and former employees, dropping balloons and giving her a cake on set. The whole thing took place in under a minute and the segment garnered lots of views.
Felix also advocated having a promotional plan in place to continue taking advantage of videos that go viral, like bringing them up on local newscasts—“that post has 10 million views, keep on liking and sharing it.” Encourage guests to your stations to post on Facebook and tweet about their visit.
Finally, Emily Mowers, marketing and creative services director at Heartland Media’s WTVA Tupelo-Columbus, Miss., talked about taking advantage of unexpected success.
“I’m obsessed with marketing to millennials because I am a millennial and I’m obsessed with myself,” said Mowers, who arrived on stage with personality plus. “Millennials can see through propaganda, they tune it out, it’s white noise. I wanted to get to a place where I was creating more organic content.”
To that end, Mowers showcases her station’s talent in authentic, and often funny, situations, shooting simple spots around them.
Mowers also has the advantage of having a weathercaster and evening anchor who are married, with one baby girl and another child on the way. “I’m exploiting that baby for all she’s worth,” said Mowers. Letting viewers behind the scenes into talent’s family lives is a strong way to connect them to your station.
Mowers, a true millennial, also has a strong grasp on social media, featuring her station prominently on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so forth.
“I’ve seen a dramatic increase in shares, likes comments, all the engagement that we have to have,” she said.
Image of Andrew Felix and his shiny gold coat courtesy of ImageGroupLA.
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