11 October 2010

Comcast's iTV Making a Big Impression with Advertisers

Kansas City Star
More than 160 Advertisers Have Put iTV to work to Reach, Engage & Connect with Consumers
 
With businesses of all sizes looking for more accountability and efficiency from their marketing efforts, Comcast Spotlight is leading the way: its interactive television (iTV) advertising platform is now available to advertisers in more than 30 U.S. markets, reaching more than 10 million homes.

Comcast Spotlight’s request for information (RFI) technology enables advertisers to place an overlay, or banner, on a 30- or 60-second commercial, prompting viewers to press a button on their remote controls to receive materials from the advertiser or to be contacted by the advertiser about the product or service featured in the ad.

“The message from clients couldn’t be clearer: more than ever, their focus is on the return on their marketing investment,” said Kevin Smith, Group Vice President, Spotlight Integrated Media Sales. “Combining qualified leads and accountability with cable television’s reach and ability to efficiently segment audiences makes spot advertising an even more powerful tool.”

To date, more than 160 advertisers have run a total of more than 340 RFI-enabled advertising campaigns with Comcast Spotlight, delivering nearly 280 million impressions.

Clients using RFI to connect with customers include Idelle Management Company. Marc Broccoli, Marketing Director, Hair Care, for Idelle said, “It’s important that we engage our customers with product trial and sampling. Comcast Spotlight’s RFI platform is an innovative technology that enabled us to connect quickly and cost-effectively with our audience, distributing more than 20,000 samples to targeted Chicago consumers in less than one month. We’re looking forward to expanding the campaign to additional markets.”

Regional advertisers also have found great success with RFI. Rebecca Barker, Media and Communications Manager for the city of Joliet, IL, explains how the technology has helped the city boost its tourism marketing efforts: “Joliet began using RFI in our 2010 television campaign and continues to be overwhelmed at the amount of response and logistical information our campaign has been able to generate with this unique and easy-to-use method. RFI works perfectly for our campaign, as one of the main goals is to get viewers to request a free visitor magazine. With RFI, one click is all it takes for our goals to be fulfilled.”

Chicago Rockford International Airport used Comcast’s RFI technology to offer discounted tickets to consumers. Acting Marketing, PR and Communications Manager Geoffrey A. Oman says, “RFD was excited to be a part of this new technology and we put a lot of effort into making sure that the program accomplished its goals. We were able to get both exposure and measurable action from a medium that typically has been all about exposure.”

Proving itself as a powerful new tool for political advertisers, RFI also has the potential to connect with prospective voters. California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has used RFI offer viewers the opportunity to receive a bumper sticker or to be contacted by phone about volunteering for the campaign.

“We believe in cable as a valuable targeted medium on its own, but when we added video on demand and interactive TV to the campaign, our targeting had increased impact,” said Kyle Roberts of Smart Media Group. “RFI overlays generated over 2,000 requests for a free bumper sticker and over 8,000 volunteer leads for the Whitman campaign. Given that this is new technology, we were excited about the level of engagement and conversion. We are continuing to utilize RFI and looking to extend to all Comcast Spotlight platforms for the general election.”

RFI technology also has been used to make a difference in the lives of children looking for a permanent home. In July, Comcast Spotlight, the Ad Council and AdoptUsKids began airing public service announcements in Chicago with an interactive overlay offering viewers the opportunity to request that information about adopting children currently living in foster care be mailed to their homes. Following a successful Chicago pilot, the RFI-enabled campaign is in the process of rolling out to nearly 20 additional markets over the remainder of the year including San Francisco, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, Detroit, Nashville and others.

“Leveraging Comcast Spotlight’s iTV platform is a wonderful opportunity to further engage our audiences,” said Peggy Conlon, President and CEO of the Ad Council. “After seeing the response from Comcast’s support of our Adoption campaign in Chicago this summer, we’re looking forward to bringing the campaign to more cities in the upcoming months.”

In addition to RFI, Comcast Spotlight’s expanding iTV advertising product lineup includes remind record and telescoping. Remind record is an overlay on a commercial that provides information about an upcoming television program. By clicking their remotes while the overlay appears on-screen, viewers can quickly and easily program their digital video recorders (DVRs) to record a program or all episodes of a series. For digital cable customers without DVRs, an on-screen reminder can be programmed to appear shortly before the scheduled program airs.

Comcast Spotlight also is beginning a companywide rollout of its video-on-demand (VOD) telescoping application, enabling viewers to click a button on their remote to either immediately begin watching a VOD program related to the content of advertised in the traditional TV commercial, or to “bookmark” that VOD program to watch at their convenience later.

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