MEDIACOM Marketing Digest 17 February 2004

MEDIACOM Marketing Digest 17 February 2004

17 FEBRUARY 2004

TELEVISION

It's Olympics Year again, with this year's games scheduled for Athens from August 13-29. TV One will be covering the Games as usual, with coverage scheduled every day from 7.30pm until 9am the next morning (weekend coverage starts at 7pm).

TVNZ have just released their Olympic Packs for the event. As expected, our state broadcasters have gone for precedent-setting pricing as they continue to extract as many dollars as possible from long-suffering advertisers.

Olympic Pack details are as follows:

* $200,000 for 70 x 30second spots

* $150,000 for 52 x 30second spots

* $80,000 for 28 x 30second spots

* $40,000 for 42 x 30second spots

Nominal discounts on these packages range from 5% to 15% - but that's based on an August 2004 ratecard which (as saw last week) is priced 35% higher than the equivalent period in 2003, so the real cost is 20-30% higher than it would have cost to advertise in August 2003. And, because these are packages, advertisers could end up anywhere from Synchronised Swimming heats to Sailing finals.

By the way, if you're wondering why you receive so many more spots for the $40,000 pricetag, it's because all the 40K package spots fall between 10.30pm and 9am, with two-thirds scheduled in the graveyard hours between midnight and 3am.

What sort of performance can you expect for your money? TVNZ will guarantee Tarps on these packs - but only to reach four specific targets: All People 25-54, All People 18-49, Males 25-54 or HHS with kids. If your target falls outside those demographics, tough luck.

Alas, even if you are lucky enough to have one of those targets, the costs aren't flash. The $200,000 pack is guaranteed to deliver 376 Tarps for All 25-54, 320 Tarps for All 18-49, 357 Tarps for Males 25-54 or 361 Tarps for HHS with kids. That equates to a CPT within the range $530 to $625 -- and the only discount you'll receive on these packs is your TOT base discount.

A maximum of fifteen $200K packs, fifteen $150K packs and ten $80K packs are understood to be available, and package buys will be available from next Monday, February 23rd, first-in first-served -- except that the four major sponsors will have first option. Not a lot of notice from TVNZ for a two hundred thousand dollar purchase ...

100% cancellation penalties will apply from 11 June, with individual spot buys available from the 14th of June (if available). Regional airtime is posible, subject to demand, but no regional packs will carry guaranteed Tarps.

Our peak viewing times coincide with mid-morning in Athens (7.30pm NZ = 10.30am Athens), so there will be peaktime coverage to capture NZ audiences - but many of the finals will fall in the wee small hours, so Kiwi productivity will take a significant hit during the month of August.

For full details of the Olympic packages, please call or email us.

ABOUT MEDIACOM

MEDIACOM, with offices in 80 countries, is one of the world's largest and most respected media service companies.

We create media solutions that build business for a wide range of local, regional and worldwide clients.

With $10 billion in global billings, a commitment to strategic insight, total communications planning, tactical media brilliance and tough but creative media negotiating, MEDIACOM provides unsurpassed value in today's chaotic media marketplace.

KEY LABELLING TRENDS

This year, according to Karen Lovegrove of Admark Visual Imaging (quoted in Food New Zealand magazine), we'll be seeing:

* A move towards more multi-process label manufacturing - for example, foil decoration and embossing - to help stand out from the crowd.

* A trend towards a brand unification strategy, with products under a particular umbrella brand share a uniform look;

* A move away from the use of red and other warm colours, towards cooler colours such as blue and green, presumably to impart pure, healthy or environmentally friendly impressions;

* Tamper-evident packaging is becoming more common;

* Shelf-life indicators are being widely used in Europe, where thermochromic ink indicates whether a product has passed its shelf life or has been exposed to elements that may have caused it to become spoiled.

ONLINE

US Valentine buyers loved the Internet last year; they like it even more this year. Nielsen/NetRatings reports that gifts and flowers sites attracted 2.7 million unique visitors accessing the Internet from work last week, jumping 291% from 687,000 during the same week last year. It reports that the top site within the gifts and flowers category was Hallmark Shopping, which drew 798,000 unique visitors, up 16% from the same week last year. Gift site RedEnvelope.com spiked 87% to 498,000 unique visitors. FTD.com attracted 390,000 unique visitors, up 129% from a year earlier.

Market researcher Hitwise, which measures market share of sites relative to all traffic on the Internet, reports that for the first 10 days of February, the market share of visits to the Flowers & Gifts category increased 26% compared to the same period in 2003.

Godiva.com led flowers, cards, gifts and chocolates in market share growth in the run-up to Valentine's Day, up 36.9% over the year earlier, Hitwise says. Other popular sites in the category and their increases in market share vs. a year ago are RedEnvelope.com, up 34.7%, 1-800-Flowers.com, up 21.9% and Hallmark.com, up 7.4%.

Source: InternetRetailer.com

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WHY THE TREND TO HEALTHY FAST FOODS IS SO IMPORTANT

The 2002/03 New Zealand Health Survey (NZHS) is the third national health survey of New Zealand adults 15 years and over. It is part of the New Zealand Health Monitor, a series of health-related surveys.

Key findings include the following:

Protective factor

* Half of all adults do the recommended 30 minutes or more of physical activity a day on five or more days of the week.

* Two out of three adults eat the recommended three or more servings of vegetables each day.

* Just over half of all adults eat the recommended two or more servings of fruit each day.

Risk factors

* More than half of adults are overweight (includes obese).

* One in five adults are obese.

* One in five adults reported they currently smoke.

* One in seven adults reported they have used marijuana in the last year.

* Almost one in six adults have hazardous drinking habits.

Selected diseases

* One in five adults aged over 45 years reported they have been diagnosed with heart disease.

* One in 12 adults over 45 years reported they have been diagnosed with diabetes.

* One in five adults under 45 years reported they have asthma.

* Back problems affect one in three adults over the age of 45 years.

Health status

* Nine out of 10 adults rate their health as good, very good or excellent.

* Approximately five percent of adults are limited in caring for themselves in some way.

Use of health services

* One in eight Mäori adults have seen a Mäori health provider in the last year.

* One in 12 Pacific adults have seen a Pacific health provider in the last year.

* Four out of five adults visited their general practitioner in the last year

OBESITY & FOOD MARKETERS

It was the food fight of 2003: Marketing, critics charged, caused the obesity epidemic. Too many ads, cheap burgers and irresistible snack foods tempted consumers - especially kids - into getting fat.

Food marketers rolled up their sleeves, slashed trans fats and otherwise reworked their recipes and marketing guidelines, and started doling out advice on nutrition and exercise. Their about-face gains momentum this year as packaged food and restaurant brands debut whole marketing strategies to fight the rap that they force excess pounds onto consumers.

The 2004 spin is a neat 180 that morphs last year's question - Does marketing cause obesity? - into this year's quest: Can marketing cure obesity?

Published by MEDIACOM (NZ) LIMITED, P O Box 3369 Auckland New Zealand, Phone 09 914 4940 Fax 09 914 4903 Editorial Comments or requests: newsletter@mediacom.co.nz To subscribe to this newsletter, please send an email with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line to subscribe@mediacom.co.nz

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