| Today's Top Stories | | #1 | MediaCom Extends Its Global Media Partnership With Volkswagen
| | | The agency has held the account with the German automaker since 1998 and includes strategic media insight, as well as media planning and buying for all VW Group brands: VW, Audi, SEAT and Skoda. MediaCom will also add commercial vehicle brand MAN to its responsibilities, as well as all VW brands in Poland. MediaPost reports the extension came without a formal review but that VW held competitive pricing talks with several agencies.
Why This Matters: The account is huge. VW ad spending globally, according to RECMA, is more than $3 billion, so this is a big keep for MediaCom. It was, however, not totally unexpected. MediaCom has produced several award-winning campaigns for VW brands, including the Beetle Shark Cage in the U.S., which won numerous awards, including at Cannes Lions.
A Take: MediaPost
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| | #2 | Mike's Hard Lemonade Abandons TV for Digital in Attempts to Protect Turf
| | | The 15-year-old brand faces growing competition in the flavored-malt-beverage category from Diageo and Anheuser-Busch, among others. To keep pace, the brand has switched creative agencies, tweaked its logo and is moving off TV, where it spent almost $19 million in 2012 and 2013, and all into digital advertising, Ad Age reports. Mike's is expected to spend about $13 million this year on digital sites that include Woven, Vevo, BuzzFeed, Discovery, the Weather Company, Onion and Complex Media. Its digital video ads were created by independent agency Tri3sect out of Chicago.
Why This Matters: A major gamble for Mike's. It is targeting millennials, but abandoning TV—with major competitors and heavy TV users A-B (Bud Light Lime) and MillerCoors (Redd's Apple Ale) gearing up promotions—could be risky. Time will tell.
A Take: Ad Age
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| | #3 | Marketers Roll Out Annual April Fools' Day Pranks
| | | In 1996, Taco Bell announced it had bought the Liberty Bell and renamed it the Taco Liberty Bell. Two years later, Burger King announced it had added a left-handed Whopper to its menu. This year, FreshDirect is promoting its "eagle-caught salmon" and Cheetos has been promoting its faux fragrance "Cheeteau." The fun goes on and on.
Why This Matters: April Fools' Day pranks have usually led to the creation of heavy buzz around brands if they can go viral on social media. Once that happens, TV newscasts sometimes do reports, leading to more free publicity. But like any prank, it could always backfire and do a brand more harm than good.
3 Takes: NYT | Ad Age | Digiday
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#4 Yahoo in Talks to Buy Online Video Service NDN (WSJ)
#5 Captivate Grows Elevator Ad Network; Acquires 2000 Screens Owned by WSJ (Ad Age)
#6 Pep Boys Initiative Hopes to Target $300 Billion Women's Auto Market Spend (Adweek)
#7 Macy's Coproducing YouTube Fashion Competition Series With Maker Studios (Ad Age)
#8 WPP's Wunderman Acquires U.K.-Based FusePump (MediaPost)
#9 Well-Drawn New Peanut Campaign Highlights It as Energy Food (NYT)
#10 Twitter Poaches Another Social-TV Partner Away From Facebook (Ad Age)
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|  | • 48
Percentage of marketing professionals worldwide who use social media for real-time marketing purposes, according to a survey by Evergage.
– Reported by eMarketer
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| | MBPT Spotlight | Age-Old Question Remains: Why Not Target Boomers?—Despite its more than $1 trillion in spending power, 55-64 demo continues to be largely ignored by advertisers
By John Consoli
Baby boomers are the fastest-growing demographic in the country, with the 55-64 age group alone possessing spending power that amounts to more than $1 trillion annually—a figure that is only increasing. They have more disposable income than younger demo groups, particularly millennials, and are spending it on restaurant meals, trips, new cars, consumer electronics and home improvement.
Boomers are also heavy watchers of broadcast network television and, thus, an easy target to reach en masse. Yet to most marketers they are just not desirable enough a demographic to specifically target with their media ad spending, basically being written off for younger demo groups with less spending power. And that's not going to change in the near future, certainly not during 2014, according to media agency and TV network executives.
It's a situation that is unsettling both to agencies— who say they are making research available to show their clients the desirability of reaching baby boomers—and to the broadcast networks, particularly to NBC, which has offered major presentations on its "Alpha Boomer" audience, and to CBS, which reaches more baby boomers with its programming than any other network.
"It is a little frustrating," says Alan Wurtzel, president of research and media development at NBCUniversal, who four years ago initiated a study to tout the spending power and desirability of the 55-64 group. "This demo today is hipper and more economically sound than their predecessors. They have spending power of more than $1 trillion, which is not chump change. They are heavy users of technology, smartphones and Facebook. They just use some of them differently than the younger demos."
Why aren't boomers being marketed to more? And how much do experts see that changing in 2014?
For more, click HERE (sub required)
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| | Fates & Fortunes | • LYNN POWER was named a managing director at JWT New York, and will share strategic direction and client relationship responsibilities for the office with current managing director Claire Capeci. Power, former president of Arnold New York, spent eight years at the agency, including five as president, prior to departing last summer. Since then she has worked as a consultant. Power and Capeci will report to Gustavo Martinez, global president of JWT Worldwide.
• PHARRELL WILLIAMS has signed on as a coach for the seventh season of NBC singing competition series The Voice. Williams was previously an adviser to Usher's team during season four. Most recently, the singer-songwriter-producer and fashion designer has had an Oscar-nominated song, "Happy," and won a Grammy for his collaboration with Daft Punk on the song "Get Lucky."
• TRENT GREEN has joined CBS Sports as an NFL game analyst. His on-air partner will be announced at a later date. He will also appear on CBS Sports Network shows NFL Monday QB and That Other Pregame Show. Green has previously been an analyst on Fox NFL regional games, and a studio analyst for the NFL Network show NFL Total Access. He also has worked on Thursday Night Football radio broadcasts on Westwood One, and on Kansas City Chiefs preseason TV telecasts. Green was an NFL quarterback from 1993 through 2008, playing for the San Diego Chargers, Washington Redskins, St. Louis Rams, Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins. |
| | What They're Watching | BROADCAST RATINGS
'How I Met Your Mother' Wraps on Series High
CBS' How I Met Your Mother ended its nine-season run on Monday, going out with a series best for its hour-long final episode among total viewers and the adults 18-49 demo. Following How I Met Your Mother, the series debut of Friends With Better Lives improved 35% over what Mike & Molly drew in the time slot last week. Rounding out the night for CBS were Mom, up 16% from last week, and Intelligence, up one tenth. CBS finished second among the broadcasters. NBC was the night's top-rated network. The Voice declined 8% from last week and The Blacklist was even. ABC finished third as Dancing With the Stars fell a tenth. Fox came in fourth place. Bones grew one tenth and The Following was even. The CW's Star-Crossed grew one tenth and The Tomorrow People improved two tenths.
For more, click HERE
CABLE RATINGS
'The Walking Dead' Finale Devours 15.7 Million Viewers
The season-four finale of AMC's The Walking Dead delivered a series-finale record 15.7 million viewers and a whopping 10.2 million adult 18-49 viewers, besting the zombie-themed series' April 2013 season-three finale, which drew 12.4 million viewers, according to network officials.
For more, click HERE
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| Overnight Ratings: Monday, March 31
| | 8 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | CBS
| HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
| 5.3
| 12.9
| NBC
| THE VOICE
| 3.1
| 11.5
| ABC
| DANCING WITH THE STARS
| 2.1
| 13.1
| FOX
| BONES
| 1.5
| 5.6
| UNIVISION
| POR SIEMPRE MI AMOR
| 1.0
| 2.5
| CW
| STAR-CROSSED
| 0.4
| 1.1
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| | 9 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | NBC
| THE VOICE
| 3.6
| 12.6
| CBS
| FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES (8)
MOM (8:30)
| 2.7
2.2
| 8.0
7.2
| ABC
| DANCING WITH THE STARS
| 2.3
| 14.3
| FOX
| THE FOLLOWING
| 1.4
| 4.2
| UNIVISION
| LO QUE LA VIDA ME ROBÓ
| 1.3
| 3.3
| CW
| THE TOMORROW PEOPLE
| 0.5
| 1.1
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| | 10 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | NBC
| THE BLACKLIST
| 2.8
| 11.4
| CBS
| INTELLIGENCE
| 1.2
| 5.5
| ABC
| CASTLE (R)
| 1.1
| 7.4
| UNIVISION
| QUÉ POBRES TAN RICOS
| 1.1
| 2.6
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| | TOMORROW'S BIG RATINGS STORIES TODAY | • '19 Kids and Counting' Back for Eighth Season
The Duggar family, which includes mom Michelle, dad Bob and their 10 boys and 9 girls, all with first names that begin with the letter "J," returns for season eight with 10 new episodes airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. During this season, daughter Jessa's "courtship" with Ben will be featured—she met him in church and they are saving their first kiss for their wedding day. One episode has Jessa and Ben on a double date with his parents. Some episodes also center on married son Josh and his wife Anna, who are home-schooling their kids. The upshot: TLC only announced the return of 19 Kids and Counting in February, so it seems like it was clearly on the fence. Last season it averaged about 1.4 million viewers per episode and wasn't as popular as the TLC series it led into, The Little People, which averaged around 2 million viewers. But the Arkansas family still seems to have a following and its viewership for season seven was up slightly from season six.
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| • Fox Continues the 'Project'
Sitcom The Mindy Project returns from a hiatus to complete its second season on Fox. It will air Tuesday at 9 p.m. with two new half-hour episodes before moving to Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. next week. The series, which stars Mindy Kaling as an OB-GYN who navigates both her personal and professional life, has struggled since its first season. This season it is averaging just 2.6 million viewers, ranking it 24th among all broadcast primetime sitcoms. And it is also averaging a 1.3 18-49 demo rating, which places it 19th among primetime sitcoms. The upshot: Fox has already renewed the series for a third season. The series has a younger skewing audience and does better among 18-34 year olds, but its viewing levels are still more like a cable series. It does do better in delayed DVR viewing, however. Some media buyers believe the studio is pricing it reasonably to build up episodes for syndication, where it might fare even better.
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| • Season Finale May Leave Characters 'Twisted'
On Tuesday at 9 p.m., the one-hour ABC Family drama will conclude a lengthy first season, which saw the series premiere last June, go on hiatus in the fall and return in February. Twisted follows character Danny Desai, a 16-year-old with a troubled past who has returned to his hometown after five years in juvenile detention. When a female student is found dead, Desai becomes the prime suspect. In a series with lots of twists and turns, the finale sees the triangle between characters Danny, Jo and Charlie coming to a head, though one can expect to see some loose ends. The upshot: Twisted averaged close to 1.6 million viewers and a 0.6 18-49 demo rating before it went on hiatus in the fall. However, since it returned in February, it has averaged only 1.3 million viewers. The series is still very popular among ABC Family's 12-34 demo audience and with teen and millennial females.
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| Media Buyer & Planner Today
Editorial Team
John Consoli, Contributing Editor
Phone: 201-314-0424 | Send Email
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Phone: 917-281-4735 | Send Email
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Phone: 917-281-4708 | Send Email
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