WABC "There Goes That News Van"

Here's a fun little spot from WABC. I like the play on regular car commercials and really drives the point across in a simple, direct way.



This is yet another take on the "There Goes That News Van" concept.

I don't get the point

Great On-Air Fight

This is classic. Reporter and anchor seem to have mad respect for each other. Watch!

Favorite, Fun, Out-of-the Box Idea

We see a lot of spots on this site and others - so lets delve into another important area a bit more: outside media or at least not-for-air ideas.

Does anyone have any cool or fun or interesting ideas on non-traditional ways of promoting their station?

Here's one of my favs. When I worked in Houston, the station was in the shadows of downtown. So every once in awhile I would go to the mall downtown and eat at the food court(I love you Chic-fi-la)...

I started looking around and noticed tons of downtown workers(no non-locals - pretty hard to find in a mall!), most adult 25-54 and on every table was one of those signs that promoted something in the mall.

My idea was to place a sweeps promo piece in there every day.

I can hear you all saying: "Wow, idopromoz... what a great idea. Not."

Well, that's not the best part. We called the mall who had really no idea what to do with someone who actually wanted to advertise in their mall.

So for the grand total of $75 or so - we bought gift certificates for them to give away(on our station's behalf!) to people in the mall... we also got our ads on everyt table in the foodcourt, everyday for an entire month. They even had their people fill the plastic sign holders for us!

It was fun to goto the mall and watch if people were paying attention to the ads. I overheard a couple of conversations and noticed people actually reading them.

What outside media campaign can reach adult, working people who live in your market, who love shitty fast food --- every day of sweeps for $75?

Come on Left-Handers!

The poll to the right is showing something interesting. At this writing - 9 people have voted: 4 left-handed and 5 right-handed.

Considering left-handed people are only 7% or so of the entire adult population - that's not bad!

Be sure to vote(especially if you're a lefty - i'm trying to prove a point here!)

Watch and Win!

I've never worked at a station that does "watch and win"... so I'm curious, what do others think about them? Anyone have any good ideas? Does the astrerisk really matter?(I've been told no by one contest running station)

Here is something posted in B&C:

In an old-fashioned "watch and win" sweeps stunt, Local TV station KFOR Oklahoma City gave $500 to 18 lucky late-news viewers last month—with one of those winners randomly chosen for a 60-second romp in a bank vault stuffed with over $100,000 in loose bills.

The stunt was also a hit at sister station WREG Memphis. But while WREG's winner managed to grab around $7,000, Benny Meier walked away last week with nearly $18,000 from KFOR's vault.

Here's the good part: he's blind. But that hasn't stopped Meier, who's in his mid 60s, from running marathons (with a guide) or using his lanky frame to gather a bundle of bills.

"It made for really good television," says KFOR president/General Manager Jim Boyer, who concedes that the vault was stocked with bigger bills than WREG's.

Boyer says he hasn't seen a ratings uptick from the stunt, a practice generally frowned upon by news critics that can earn stations an asterisk in Nielsen ratings books.

But a Nielsen spokesperson says, "As long as they targeted the entire market with the promotion, not just the Nielsen homes, there's nothing wrong with it."

Thoughts? Ideas? Share with the class...

Left or Right-Handed?

I am always surprised when I find another one like me. A lefty... a southpaw.

I mean, only 7 to 10 percent of the entire adult population is left handed!

But as I've learned, there are many of us in this world we call T-V. And I guess that makes sense. It is widely thought that a lefty is more creative.

Left-handed people are better at multi-tasking.

And sorry to report... the word sinister is Latin for left.

IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!! Maybe EVERYONE in TV is a lefty!

We're creative... multi-task like no one else... and there are more than a few sinister characters in my station.

Its actually fun when you run into another lefty in television. You feel like you share a bond. We look into each other's eyes and can see the pain of being forced to use lefty scissors as a child. We nod knowingly.

There are a lot of celebrity southpaws in history: Bill Clinton. Paul McCartney. Marilyn Monroe.

We are cooler than those right-handed people and we know it.

But sadly, its not all a bed of roses for us. Left handed people are supposedly more clumsy and as a result, die up to 9 years earlier than their right handed friends.

So in the end - it is not television that is sending us to an early grave - its the fact that we are freaks.

And I'm ok with that.

Are you a lefty or a righty? Vote in the online poll.