Programs Details
WTVD faced a dilemma. In viewer’s minds,
the ABC station’s weather coverage significantly trailed
the coverage on WRAL, home of top-rated meteorologist Greg
Fishel. Compounding matters, extensive research over many
years demonstrated that viewers choose an overall favorite
newscast based primarily on its weather presentation. With
so much at stake, WTVD made a major commitment to address
the problem, starting with an expensive upgrade to its forecasting
technology — a key factor in viewer perception.
But the marketing challenge remained. It’s
often difficult to get viewers to recognize changes on a station
they watch infrequently. While the new technology delivered
superior radar coverage, viewers didn’t believe this
claim until they could see it for themselves, and too many
of them weren’t watching.
To overcome this inertia, MarketingWorks
principal David Rhoades developed a large multi-media marketing
campaign to introduce the new changes. In addition to TV and
radio ads, the campaign included an attention-grabbing direct
mail component. Targeting ZIP code areas most likely to contain
WRAL loyalists, WTVD sent these viewers a five-minute videotape.
The video introduced viewers to the new gear and actually
demonstrated on-screen how it performed. Response to the campaign
was so strong it spurred a feature article in the area’s
largest circulation daily newspaper.
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