The battle for the cable box has moved to the mailbox. Facing increased competition for their share of the television market — and challenged to sell a variety of new services — some regional cable services are fighting back with, of all things, a printed magazine.
Regional cable companies around the country have signed on for a new custom publication, DElight!, a quarterly lifestyle magazine that reinforces the advantages of cable, while upselling customers on the value of new high-tech services, such as digital video recording, video on demand and high-definition television.
“DElight! is a branded, custom publication that delivers not only product relevancy and understanding, but also includes the offers people need to be motivated to purchase,” says Joe Weidert, co-founder and chief creative officer of BRAND Spank’n NEWS, the Wisconsin-based marketing company that’s currently marketing and producing the magazine across the country.
“In effect, we’ve taken the price and product messaging cable typically delivers to acquire and upgrade their customers and wrapped it up with deep lifestyle content that provides the reason these services are worth their price,” he says.
“The magazine is branded with the cable provider’s logo and is available completely customized or pre-designed with customizable sections, including the cover,” he adds.
EDUCATING CONSUMERS ABOUT CABLE
BRAND Spank’n NEWS has worked with the cable industry for about six years and typically mails about 30 million pieces to consumers in a year. The company turned to a custom publication after studies indicated consumers needed more education on why they should choose more technologically sophisticated services, such as digital cable or on-demand.
“What we found was there was a large gap in the understanding of these new services,” says Weidert. “Consumers had no way to understand the value of receiving 200 new TV channels from an everyday lifestyle perspective.”
To fulfill that need, DElight! features stories that reinforce the benefits. A recent issue included the story of a mother whose child woke at 2 a.m. with a fever. She gave him some medicine, but all he wanted to do was watch his favorite children’s program, which wasn’t on. But, using her on-demand service, his mother found the show, comforted the child and got back to sleep.
Other articles have featured interviews with television stars, tips for staying connected with kids who head off for college and great electronic gadgets for the home. “These are the kind of in-depth stories we tell, and we need a multi-page format to do that,” says Weidert.
BRIDGING THE MESSAGE DISCONNECT
BRAND Spank’n NEWS began the project by looking at the information consumers needed to understand the value of upgrading to pricier services like digital cable and other services cable companies were providing.
“What we discovered was an incredible disconnect between the message cable companies were spending millions of dollars to send, and what these consumers really wanted and needed to hear,” Weidert says.
“We felt that the best way to help cable was to provide true product relevancy and to build a deeper emotional connection to cable as the provider of choice. The average direct marketing they are doing today doesn’t come anywhere near accomplishing this. We launched DElight! magazine to bridge the understanding and the intimacy gap we had discovered.”
Results from the first year of the magazine are encouraging. More than 40 percent of those receiving the magazine said it improved their opinion of the cable company and 62 percent said DElight! had helped them learn more about new products and trends.
The next step for the magazine is making it even more targeted to its audience based on existing knowledge. “As we continue to build our magazine’s messaging, our plan is to begin adding personalization and even one-to one marketing to our delivery strategy,” Weidert says. “Only direct mail will be able to accomplish that.”
