Chapter 13-Launch! msnbc.com’s First-Ever Branding Campaign Figure 13.1 Zero Months to Launch! Once all the planning, preparation, and production was complete, it was time for the campaign to come to life. On April 2, 2007, the first-ever msnbc.com branding campaign launched to the public in TV, print, and online media. Think of this chapter as a campaign portfolio. It will show you the executions and take you through the exact sequence of… Read More »Launch Ever Branding Campaign

Chapter 12- Make the Message Sell: SS+K Ensures that All Components Tell the Brand Story Figure 12.1 Two Months to Launch! You’ve done your homework. You understand your audience, you’ve identified the objectives and strategy for your campaign, and you know what media you’ll use to reach your target consumers. You’re almost there—but you’ve still got to decide how to say what you want to say. Should you focus on reason… Read More »Make Advertising and Promotion the Message Sell and Tell the Brand Story

Chapter 11- Execute on All Platforms: SS+K Goes into Production Overdrive Figure 11.1 Three to Five Months to Launch! The process of execution determines how the message will look, read, or sound in its final form. Does it convey the right tone and attitude? Is it suited to its medium, be it print, TV, radio, outdoor, online, or alternative media? Each media vehicle offers advantages over the other vehicles on specific dimensions and… Read More »Advertising and Promotion Execute on All Platforms

Chapter 10- Plan and Buy Media: SS+K Chooses the Right Media for the Client’s New Branding Message Figure 10.1 Four Months to Launch! Advertisers like msnbc.com face tough choices. An ever-growing portfolio of media offers the promise of reaching different consumers in different contexts and at different times. The tools available to us range from an 8.5-by-11-inch ad tacked to your classroom wall by one of your fellow students who wants… Read More »Advertising and Promotion Plan and Chooses the Right Media

Chapter 9- Choose Your Communication Weapons: SS+K Decides Upon a Creative Strategy and Media Tactics Figure 9.1 Six Months to Launch! The advertiser’s toolbox is a deep one, and it’s expanding by leaps and bounds. Indeed, the problem often is to figure out which tool—or even better, combination of tools—will work best to solve a specific strategic issue. In the old days (say, fifteen to twenty years ago), agencies tended to have one… Read More »Choose Your Advertising and Promotion Communication Creative Strategy and Media Tactics

Chapter 8- Create a Strategy: SS+K Puts Its Research to Use as the Agency Creates the Brief Figure 8.1 Eight Months to Launch! We are now eight months prior to the public launch of the msnbc.com campaign. The team at SS+K and Catherine Captain from msnbc.com have studied their customers. They have spent a considerable amount of time breaking down their prospective audience into segments. They have begun to identify where… Read More »Create Advertising and Promotion a Strategy

Chapter 7-Decide What You Can Afford to Say: msnbc.com Sets the Budget Figure 7.1 Nine Months to Launch! Before the SS+K team could set off to develop their marketing recommendations, Catherine Captain had to set a budget for their efforts. It was important for Russell and Amit to understand the parameters of the work at hand; creative, media, and promotional recommendations would be vastly different for a $2 million effort versus… Read More »Decide Advertising Budget

Chapter 6-Segment, Target, and Position Your Audience: SS+K Identifies the Most Valuable News Consumer Figure 6.1 Nine Months to Launch! Good advertising is all about hitting customers where they live. But before you can craft a killer message to send, you have to know what address to send it to. Here’s a profound idea: people are different. A message that turns one person on may leave another cold. And, of course, not… Read More »Segment, Target, and Position Your Audience

Chapter 5-Know Your Audience: SS+K Learns All About msnbc.com, Inside and Out Figure 5.1 Ten Months to Launch! The more information you have the more effective you can be. Joe Kessler, partner, SS+K/LA Joe Kessler understands that knowledge is power. In the ad biz, that power comes from knowing as much as you can about your audience. Who is buying what you’re selling? What are their hot buttons? What are their… Read More »Know Your Audience

Chapter 4-Consumers and the Communications Process: SS+K Gets to Know Its Consumers Figure 4.1 Twelve Months to Launch! We are now twelve months from the launch of the msnbc.com campaign. The SS+K team needs to start thinking seriously about how it’s going to make consumers crave the msnbc.com brand of news. Before they can do that, however, they need to take a step back to understand how advertisers “talk” to customers—what… Read More »Consumers and the Communications Process