PromaxBDA’s 2013 Station Summit happens this week in Las Vegas, featuring four days of meetings and sessions focused on the trends and emerging business opportunities that are driving success in local television. In light of Thursday’s Summit session, “Tales from the Lost Remote: How TV Stations Can Capitalize on Mobile and Social TV,” we present a series of case studies looking at how local stations are finding innovative ways to tap into their social communities. Today’s case study features Tribune’s KTLA Los Angeles and how it converted some of its most passionate fans into on-air “brand ambassadors.”



Shows may come and go, but for many viewers, their local news of choice is for life. They have a deeply personal relationship with their news, with the talent who present it and with the way it is presented. And thanks to social media, these dedicated viewers can now go beyond merely being idle viewers to engaging with the show across any number of platforms.

Noticing a spike in social activity surrounding its morning news (both the 4:00-7:00 a.m. and 7:00-10:00 a.m. slots) KTLA decided to harness the energy from those who “bought into and engaged with our brand,” said Marshall Hites, VP of marketing and creative services for Tribune Broadcasting—and let those positive vibes resonate to realms beyond Facebook and the usual list of online arenas.

Selecting from the more active members of its online community, the Los Angeles station invited these “brand ambassadors” to participate in focus groups wherein, over two days, they would give their honest opinions about the Morning News and its team, Michaela Pereira, Frank Buckley, Sam Rubin, Mark Kriski, Eric Spillman, Gayle Anderson, Allie MacKay and Jessica Holmes.

On-camera, the participants discussed why they felt connected to KTLA, why they found its morning news programming unique, and why it was an important part of their morning. The candid, conversational atmosphere “allowed us to feature the type of comments we commonly received on social media from fans,” said Janeen Vogelaar, creative director, creative services for KTLA/Tribune West Coast. That footage alone, as this clip demonstrates, made for effective promo.

But the best part was yet to come. Unbeknownst to the selected viewers, the very KTLA talent they’d been discussing was hiding behind curtains in the room where the interviews were being taped. On a signal, the KTLA morning news team emerged from their hiding place to greet them, creating a moment of genuine “raw emotion and excitement,” said Hites.

The promos cut from this footage were released in two main tiers. The first tier included all spots without talent, letting the viewer at home get to know the brand ambassadors as stand-alone personalities. Only in tier 2 did the promos provide the big reveal of the talent entering the room, “to extend the conversation the viewers had been having,” said Vogelaar. “We wanted the message to continue, not shift gears.”

The two-tier effect makes the viewer feel as though they, too, are being surprised by the talent and communicates that KTLA has “both a group of talent and a format that is informal and allows the viewer to feel connected and develop a deep level of loyalty,” said Hites. This approachable brand aura is only heightened by the participants describing the hosts as authentic personalities with whom they could have a cup of coffee. “We had a new appreciation for the personal connection our hosts have with the audience,” said Hites.

In culling a list of brand ambassadors from the social media space and injecting that energy into promos, KTLA created a sort of feedback loop between its online and on-air assets, each playing off the other and strengthening it. During May sweeps, the KTLA Morning News Facebook page featured albums of the brand ambassadors with KTLA talent, and three of the participants were interviewed for a special Facebook “Fan Highlight” feature. Additionally, the marketing team created a page on KTLA’s website. showcasing short vignettes of the brand ambassadors and the anchors schmoozing at the shoot. Visitors were encouraged to upload their own comments.

It all works to communicate a morning news brand marked by two-way engagement and accessibility, and that’s helped KTLA to overtake ABC7 as the market’s top performer in the morning news ratings race.

“Promo makes a promise and the product has to deliver on that promise,” said Hites. “This was a creative way to promise what the product is already delivering.”

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