VBR for Video

Inside Radio shares these Nielsen stats in regard to increased interaction with online video:
Nielsen released May video viewing data that shows 134 million Americans watched online video content last month. That's up 13% from a year ago. The number of minutes a typical online video user watched jumped 49% to 189 minutes.

If you have a client that you know is using using tv spots now or in the past, a video pre-roll opportunity on the radio site can take advantage of video that has already been produced, but perhaps not fully utilized due to the higher cost of television airtime.

If the client has a product or service that would benefit from visual expores to our audience in addition to the audio spots already being aired, a landing page featuring product demonstration, client testimonials, or an amusing video that drives home an important point of their service can greatly increase the likelyhood of response by your audience.

Some great examples of video used to promote products:
1. http://www.insurance-mitchell.com/
Take a look about halfway down the page to see this creative use of a simple YouTube video embedding to brand his services and point out some perfect reasons why you need great insurance coverage.

2. http://www.savingsanity.com/
Simple 'talking head' video that promotes the advertiser's product while providing real informational content to the audience via the free tips presented in the video.

3. https://www.getsnuggie.com/
And the classic -- Snuggie. Sales not only increased exponentially once this landing page was created to enhance their already successful television spot, but a cult following developed by simple virtue of the new internet audience being reached. It wasn't long before people took the brand and product and started using it for their own creative ends:
Snuggie Remix (over 300,000 views)
Snuggie Pubcrawls (video from Chicago - WGN Radio, NYC, and San Diego - complete with media coverage)
Snuggie Parody (warning: strong - but hilarious - language) (4 MILLION views and climbing!)

Encourage your clients and prospects to use video.
Who knows where it might lead?

VBR: Staycations

With the already established MixFunGuide.com and TheFanGuide.com websites, the trend toward families cutting costs by reducing the travel and expense of their family vacation is a prime marketing challenge for our advertisers and real revenue opportunity for the creative account executive.

The latest buzzword for the trend mentioned above is "Staycation" and here is some information that can help you craft a compelling VBR that gains the attention of your prospects...

Let's start with Weber, the grill-maker, which released some survey results last month that say this is the summer of staycations and grilling. They surveyed over 1,000 people and received some interesting results:

• Among grill owners planning staycations, a whopping 80% plan to grill weekly
  
• 41% plan to grill at least several times each week
  
• Once having the term explained to them, 51% of the respondents said they plan to take one or more staycations this summer
  
• 24% who are changing their traditional summer vacations to include a staycation this year
  
• 40% say they plan to try new grilled foods or grilling recipes
  
• 13% plan to purchase a new outdoor grill this summer
  
• 7% plan to update or improve their current grill
  
• Others plan on buying grilling accessories (11%) or a grilling cookbook (8%)

What about state tourism organizations as a target?

• In Pennsylvania The Constitutional Walking Tour of Philadelphia is pushing its staycation not only as inexpensive and educational, but as a green-friendly trip.
  
• Connecticut created a web site that highlights staycation destinations in the Constitution State and offers discounts to many of those places.
  
• The Arlington (Texas) Convention & Visitors Bureau has a local and regional campaign designed to get the locals to go to Six Flags Over Arlington and spend the night with the family in a hotel.

Retailers can be Staycation destinations, too!
Wal-Mart is making things interesting for consumers, with its subsite makeyourdollarstretch.com and a downloadable desktop Widget called 101 Days of Summer Staycations.

The Staycation trend may have been created the need to cut spending on the rising cost of gasoline (and everything else!) but it may also have been created to help the innovative marketing professionals earn additional profits this summer!

A Promotion of Operatic Proportions

An article in today's NY Times spoke of a promotion run by their opera company that sells 200 prime seats to every weeknight performance for just $20 each. The idea to appeal to those who might be interested in attending the opera by lowering the cost to attend, thereby lessening the risk of trying something new.

From the article...
Last week, the opera house announced that it would sell 200 seats for every weeknight performance for just $20 each. Tickets for these seats, which would normally sell for $100, go on sale two hours before curtain time. On Tuesday, the day of the announcement, 160 tickets were sold in 20 minutes. The remaining 40 were sold out by 7:10 p.m.

Next door at Lincoln Center, the New York City Opera is in its second season of “Opera-for-All,” selling every seat in the house for $25 on eight evenings over the course of the season. Then there is City Center, where the third season of the Fall for Dance festival, with all tickets priced at $10, concluded Sunday. And the Off Broadway Signature Theater Company, which specializes in American playwrights, is selling every seat at $15 during the eight-week scheduled run of each show through the spring.

This could be a very effective promotion for any of our local theater companies -- Broadway Series, BalletMet, Catco, etc.

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VBRs & HALF-BAKED:

• Catco has an $11.50 @ 11 program theatre-goers who want to see a play mid-week (Wednesday) and mid-day (11 am) at a great price ($11.50).
  
• Use our Keyword (MixWord/FanWord) programs to tag the end of commercial spots and link site visitors to a promotional where they can buy the event tickets for $9.71 or $14.60 (depending on the station). This offers not just a great deal to the listener, but an excellent way to track performance of the on-air offer.
  
• Why not sell 50 tickets at half price, rather than giving away 10 for free?
  
• Tie event advertisers into the Mix Marketplace -- instead of giving away tickets on the air, sell them for a fraction of their face value thru the 50% off site. The promotional mentions connected to the Mix Marketplace package most likely totals much more than they would have received via live contest mentions.
  
• I know, I know -- you're saying "but the client WANTS on-air contesting!" My response is to say the want RESULTS, they just think the on-air contest is the way to get them.
  
• Too often, things are valued by want you pay for them. Giving away free tickets via contesting costs people nothing to receive the prize. Do you really think the station's "prize pigs" -- those 5 or 6 people who seem to win EVERYTHING (and frequently have NO idea what they won when they call in) -- are going to use the tickets? A lot of people simply don't bother to enter contests because they have the attitude of "oh, I never win those things." BUT, offering an excellent value to those listeners who truly want to take advantage of the ofer will go much further in delivering those the results our clients are seeking.