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Are Your Customers Still Tuned In?
Pity the poor TV networks.
An article in yesterday’s TV trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable notes that the increasing probability of a strike next month by the Writers Guild of America against the major TV and film studios means that the networks will probably stick longer with series that otherwise would have been canceled by now.
The article quotes Fox head of program planning and research Preston Beckman saying, “If I cancel a show now and put something in its place, I have eight unaired episodes of that show. We would rather stick with what we have and have [a potential replacement show] to hold on to for a strike. Otherwise, if there is a strike, I net out with eight fewer original hours.”
Good news indeed for the 12 people watching the likes of Cane, K-Ville, and Big Shots, but for those of us who aren’t interested in the high-stakes world of rum production, a buddy cop show set in New Orleans, or an attempt to clone Desperate Housewives with guys, we’re still stuck on the couch flipping through channels, running across Jimmy Smits glowering with a cigar, and saying, “Wait – that’s still on?”
So, forget the networks: Pity the poor viewer.
There’s a lesson here, I think, for companies that may still be producing a product whose sales are moribund at best. “If you build it, he will come,” advised 1989’s Field of Dreams (not so coincidentally, it’s been airing all month on AMC – another alternative to watching Dylan McDermott and his pals behaving badly).
But what if you’re building it, and the customers just aren’t coming?
For the current issue of 1to1 Magazine, I spoke with Carlson Marketing president and CEO Jim Schroer about how the marketing game is changing. “There’s a theory that you can take any product, put a little marketing schmaltz on it, perfume the pig, and it’ll sell,” he said. “That may have once been true, but there was no Internet then.”
If you have a product that you truly believe in – as opposed to the networks, which are sticking with the co-stars of 2 Fast 2 Furious and Scary Movie 4 running around the Big Easy because, well, they don’t know what else to do – but nobody’s buying it, what do you do?
I’d be interested in hearing from those of you who have faced this situation and either triumphed or cut your losses. Are there proven strategies that can be employed in this area – or are there some Chanel-doused porkers that are overdue for a trip to the abattoir?
And don’t forget: on tonight’s very special episode of Cavemen, Nick falls for a hot cavewoman at a yogurt shop.
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